WanderingSusan: TRAVEL TO CHACHAGUA

We're headed toward the Arenal volcano area. The Bosques de Chachagua Lodge is lovely! Betty and my hut has a lovely 3-sided porch with hammock, a beautiful bathroom with a rain shower head, two huge queen beds, with a fan over each. Up at the restaurant/bar (with a happy hour from 5-6 - 2 for 1 drinks!) is a nearby pool with fresh spring water. They emptied and refilled it yesterday! No chlorine! And a stream that roars by our cabin. Lovely place with trails around the rainforest that we haven't taken advantage of.

Yesterday we drove out for our Day in the Life experience and visit to a school, all in the same little village. The family we visited first was making "moonshine" from sweet potatoes." We sampled the distilled liquid- fiery hot!! then it was mixed with a red something and a Bailey's like mixture. Very tasty! the father was there with 6 sons and Isobel the sister. She made some delicious yucca/cheese cakes fried and another light pastry. She also did handiwork using egg shells, coffee grounds, rolled newspaper - all kinds of crafts were around her house. They all lived there in two or three houses.

The school was across the street. $10 of every trip booked with O.A.T. goes to supporting a school. When it started 3 years ago, this poor village school had one room. OAT has built additional rooms, toilets and running water. They now have 3 rooms, 60 students from Pre-K - 6th grade. There are two shifts: 7-11 and then 11-3. We saw a group of 16 or so and two teachers. They performed a little local dance with 4 of the students. Many of the students were workers' kids from Nicaragua. At first they were afraid to send their children, fearing they would be kidnapped and sent back to army or worse in Nicaragua. But they have been reassured and now send their kids, some of whom had never been to school at all. Very challenging teaching with so many ages and levels.

Education in CR is free and mandatory from Pre-k up to about 16. Uniforms are required in all schools. These kids had white shirts/blouses and dark skirts or pants. Alex said you can tell their poverty level by their shoes. I thought they all looked pretty much the same. Each child took one of us around the buildings and playground. My little boy was very shy and hardly said boo! They study science, Spanish, math and social studies. They have put in for an English teacher but so far no one wanted to come out here to the boonies!

We walked across the soccer field to another house, where one of the sons from previous family lives for lunch. We had shopped at a Comiserato (supermarket) for salad stuff with our budget of $16. Then some began chopping up vegetables for the lunch. Too many hands so I cleared plates after lunch instead. The son who had been making the moonshine lived here with his wife, daughter who was very pregnant, her husband and a three of the kids from the school we had visited. We sat on an outside veranda. Then he had the key for the local Catholic church (they get a priest visit every two weeks. Since it was Ash Wednesday, we had hoped we'd find a local service somewhere but no luck!) So we walked next door and had a quick look at the very simple church. CR is mostly a Catholic country but not many attend services - only on holidays, special days, weddings, etc. This also seemed the same in Ecuador. Betty and I had visited churches in Peru and Argentina and they were PACKED!!!

At cocktail time around the pool, Juan Carlo our driver and Alex made hors d'oerves from Plantains fried with mashed beans, or tuna on top. Delicious! Too much food so I ate hardly any dinner. Can't do these 3 meals!!