Drake Bay

Drake bay is on a peninsula in the south of Costa Rica.

It is very hot and humid in Drake. There was a creek near where we stayed, so we rented kayaks and paddled up the river. We saw a sloth and a caiman. It was very pretty up the river. There were some beaches and mini waterfalls. We paddle up as far as we could, to the start of the rapids and stopped and swam. There is a caiman that lives in the river, but swims out to the ocean to catch fish during the day. There are Scarlet Macaws in Drake Bay. We had already seen one by the time we got to our hotel. They like to eat the almonds from the almond trees. We went out to Caño Island. It is about an hour boat ride from Drake. We went snorkelling on Caño Island. There wasn't much coral, but there were a lot of fish. All of the fish were making clicking sounds. At the top of the island there are huge stone spheres. We didn't go and see them.They think that they were made and put there by the inhabitants of Costa Rica, long before Spain found Costa Rica. They think that the island was a burial site. It was all good until someone stole my backpack. He came into our room at about four in the morning, so I was asleep. He had gone through my duffel bag, and only found clothes, so he left it. Then my dad woke up and saw the man and jumped up and ran after him. The man grabbed my backpack and my dad's day pack. He tripped going down the stairs and dropped the day pack, and a kitchen knife which he had been using to try and open other people's doors.

Monteverde

I had another week of Spanish school in Monteverde. Monteverde is a cloud forest up in the mountains. Monteverde has a very interesting history. In 1951, 11 Quaker families fom Alabama moved to Costa Rica when two of them were jailed because they refused to fight in the Korean war. They looked at different places in Central and South America, but they chose Costa Rica because they had gotten rid of their army in 1948. The families bought 3000 acres in Cerro Plano hill. They named their land Monteverde. It took them three months to travel 18 kilometers from the main road to their land because they had to make the road as they went. Two years later, in 1953, the Quakers founded the cheese factory. The cheese factory is still there today, and we went to see it. They make cheese and meat products, because when making cheese, only 10% of the milk turns into cheese. The rest turns into whey, and they have a few hundred pigs which they feed on the whey.
Spanish school was good. My teacher didn't speak any English, so I learned a lot more than in Heredia. The weather in Monteverde is strange. Since you are usually in the cloud, it doesn't really rain, though it is misty most of the time. We went on a night tour and saw a fox and two Agoutis. Agoutis are like huge guinea pigs with long legs. We also went to a humming bird cafe. Outside they have 8 or 9 hummingbird feeders. There are always lots of hummingbirds around, and they are not afraid of people. Some of them fly really close to your head. My dad saw eight different types in the hour we were there. It is amazing how agile the humming birds are. It is also amazing how they can fly so fast because Monteverde is at 5600 feet (2000 meters) so the air is thin, and they must breathe very fast. We went to a bat jungle. We learned that there is a type of bat which eats nectar, and it beats  its wings even faster than a humming bird. They also have small fruit bats which get a piece of fruit and hang upside down while they eat it. They are very cute. They didn't have any bug eating bats because a bug eating bat eats 500-3000 mosquitos each day.

Volcan Arenal

After we finished Spanish school, we went to Volcan Arenal. Nobody knew it was a volcano until it erupted in 1968, killing 97 people. Since then it has been steadily active.The first place we stayed at was amazing. When they put food in the bird feeder, toucans came and ate it. They also had a waterfall and a funny spider thing. There were so many spiders that when you scared them, they all moved and it looked like the plants were moving. After that we stayed at Los Lagos. We could see the volcano from the window in our room. They also had 4 hot pools, 3 cold pools and 3 water slides. Their waterslides went much faster than regular ones. You went about twice as fast as the water. The also had butterflies and a crocodile farm.

   

Water slides are much more fun when there is a big drop at the end.

The view of the volcano from our hotel room.

There was a gecko in my suitcase.

Our "Tico" Familia

The Tico (Costa Rican) familia that we stayed with.

The Ticos call this a "Suicide Shower"

Costa Rica

We flew into Costa Rica and spent the night in San Jose. The next day we went to the Manual Antonio beach. We took surfing lessons. Surfing is hard. I fell off a lot. The next day we went to the Manuel Antonio Park. We saw monkeys, Three Toed Sloths and racoons. One of the monkeys tried to steal a man's bag of snacks. Every day the racoons come to the picnic area and steal people's food. One man fed the racoons and then was surprised when the racoon tried to steal some of  his food. Then next day we went on a canopy tour. You go on zip lines and swim in a waterfall. The zip lines are amazing. They are fully supported by trees. The longest one is over half a kilometer (one third of a mile) long. The waterfall was very cold. The next day we took a bus to San Juan, the town that we stay in with a family and do Spanish school.

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                               

Spanish school

Our first day with our family was very tiring because we couldn't understand anything that they were saying. They have three very friendly dogs. Our first day of Spanish school was very tiring too. We took a test to see how much we knew. The teachers can speak English but don't during class. The only other person in my class is a 4 year old who speaks quite a lot of Spanish. In my class we do fun things. We play with balls, watch movies and draw things. By the end of the week I could understand a few words. By the end of our second week, I could understand a bit more, but I can't say very much.