Quick photo updates

Still having an amazing time in Costa Rica, in spite of my technology problems. I seem to have found workarounds allowing me access to all of the photos I've taken.

Out first full day included a trip to Sarchi, where they make the traditional hand-painted Costa Rican oxcarts. We got to see the world's largest oxcart and visit the factory where they are made.

 

Our final stop that day was the Los Angeles Cloud forest near the Arenal Volcano. Great spot for a group photo!

Yesterday we visited el Triangulo precario (slum) and the organization El Niño y la Bola. Even though the homes there were small and poorly constructed, the families have televisions and comfortable furniture.

 

Our Amazing Guide explained to us that in Costa Rica a "Soda" is a small restaurant. There is an economy in the precario. We saw several stores, a barber shop, and places selling mobile phone minutes. El Niño y la Bola set up a bakery in the community.

I spent time helping students Sonya, Raquel, Jose, Andrea, and Miguel practice their English. Raquel is graduating from University soon. Jose has one more year of high school, and the rest are University students.

Back near the hotel I walked to the nearby park and took a picture of the pink school.

Last night we attended a cultural dinner 1500 feet about San Jose and the Central Valley floor. Amazing views, good dancing, and fun times.

Frustrations...

Oh, how I would love to share with the world what a beautiful country Costa Rica is, and all of the cool things we're doing here. But my laptop will not recognize the media storage from either my camera or my phone - even after purchasing a new card reader today. I also do not have administrative access to the laptop, so I can't explore potential solutions. Oddly enough, the laptop does recognize the School's camera that Emily has, and Justine's camera. It just seems to think I don't really need to post any o f my own photos.

I'm starting to get a little worried that my camera memory card will fill up and I have no way to save photos from the card to a computer or even cloud storage. I will be in the rainforest when I have to stop taking pictures. Fun times!

Meanwhile, I can continue to post a picture from my camera here and there via email, but only after we get back to the hotel at night where I have WiFi access.

Love it here - it's beautiful. We've done some really cool things. I just can't stay up all night trying to figure out how to access the photos and/or writing about it.

Is this the world's best travel blog post?

First Full Day in Costa Rica

We had a long but wonderful day yesterday. Interesting visits and beautiful scenery. Here I am at Villa Blanco Hotel in the Los Angeles cloud forest. That peak disappearing into the clouds behind me is the Arenal volcano.

I have very little time to blog, but I posted last night on the Kelley Study Abroad blog (link on the right). Also having technical difficulties getting photos off of my real camera. I'm off for another long day today!

One our way!

My third trip abroad with Justine! We're off to Costa Rica. Left the house at 1:22 am - a very early start, but no insurmountable problems so far. I got to go through expedited security! Kept my shoes on and left everything in the bag or in my pockets.

Tweeting

I've never Tweeted before, since I don't have my own Twitter account, but in Costa Rica I will be contributing posts to the Kelley School Study Abroad Twitter account. Follow along at @KSBStudyAbroad.

Getting Ready

The trip to Costa Rica is now less than two weeks away. Our final class to prepare for the trip is this coming Monday. Things have been so busy around here, I don't feel prepared to travel. Between moving offices this week and two concert performances this weekend, there hasn't been a lot of time to prepare. We did finally meet and review a draft of our itinerary, and at least I've started a packing list.

In San Jose, we will stay 6 nights at Balmoral Hotel before spending two nights in the rainforest at Selva Verde Lodge in Sarapiqui. While in country we will visit a cloud forest, a butterfly farm, a women's embroidery craft shop, a health clinic, an agency serving a Nicaraguan refugee community (where we will read to children and paint a bakery), and several other sites. It will be a busy time.

In addition to blogging here, I may also contribute to the new Kelley Study Abroad Blog.

Next Up: Costa Rica

The Kelley School has been rolling out a revised curriculum, and along with that comes a new component: the sophomore-level Global Core. The Global Core is a set of three required classes, and some sections of the third course include an immersion component - short-term abroad programs in other countries. This year we have seven classes going abroad, and there are already two new trips approved for next year.

I have been selected to accompany the Social Entrepreneurship & Economic Development in Costa Rica class to the country May 12-21.The faculty member teaching the course is Tricia McDougall, the same faculty member I spent three weeks with in Oxford in 2009. (Check out that blog here!) Stay tuned...