Friday, 2/18/05
Tukie the toucan came to our breakfast table and stole scrambled eggs.

still Friday, 2/18/05
Drove to GEMA, which is a women's cooperative in Peñas Blancas, started by a peace corps woman. All the workers (and owners) are women - which apparently caused some problems with their husbands and fathers, who were not used to having women work outside the home. They grow and sell medicinal and herbal teas. I bought one that is supposed to be good for colds and throats, a combination of ginger and lemon grass. It was very good. Earline and I had some that night.

still Friday, 2/18/05
We drove to the Escuela San Rafael in Peñas Blancas where we were each greeted by a host child (my greeter was Fabiola Obando Castro).

Escuela San Rafael
Peñas Blancas
Aptda. 49 - 4417
Fortuna, San Carlos
Costa Rica

The children presented the Costa Rican and US flags and sang both national anthems. (The children sang our US anthem better than we did!) Then the children danced several folkloric dances for us, and got us to join them for one dance.` They were terrific!

still Friday, 2/18/05
After the school visit a group including Lynn and went with Carla (age 9) and Luiz (age 4) Vargas to their home at:

Anna Daisy Vargas Mora
San Rafael, Peñas Blancas
Apdo. 494417
Fortuna, San Carlos
Costa Rica

Carla showed us her dolls and the house.

still Friday, 2/18/05
Her mother, Anna, cooked us a fabulous lunch. After lunch we played a game of hot potato (passing around a ball until “IT” interrupts, at which time the person who is still holding the ball becomes the new “IT”) and a game where we have to hold a coin between our knees and walk across a room and drop it into a tin can.

still Friday, 2/18/05
After lunch a neighbor came in running and calling for us to come out and see the sloth. A 3-toed sloth only comes down from the trees every week. He comes down, digs a little hole, defecates in the hole, and covers it up again. Then he climbs his tree again. But the neighbor had seen one and wanted us all to come and see. S/he was fantastic! Up close and personal. S/he did indeed have moss on his back, along with black and gold markings that made him look like he had a hole in his back. S/he was clearly running as fast as s/he could, very anxious to get away from all these people, but s/he moved in slow motion toward the nearest tree.

The Sloth
by Leonard Trawick

Our guide spotted it in the bushes near the road,
told us they come down once a week to dig
themselves a latrine hole, then fill it in again
before climbing back to the treetops. We had to laugh,
this fellow labored so hopelessly to escape,
not running but swimming in nightmare slow motion
through the underbrush toward its tree,
its back and small head green with algae,
the long claws perfect hooks to hang from branches
but shackles when moving on the ground.

Forgive me, little brother. Who wouldn't be upset,
surprised in the bathroom by a bunch of strangers?
Why should I laugh, who have spent my own life
upside down gazing at the sky, browsing
on whatever leaves I found within reach,
inept at everything down-to-earth?
Is there moss in my hair?
Something unknown is coming,
and my limbs move so slow.

still Friday, 2/18/05
back to our eco-lodge, Bosques de Chachagua.

still Friday, 2/18/05
Back to our eco-lodge, Bosques de Chachagua.
That evening Alejandro gave us a lecture on volcanoes. There are 112 volcanoes in Costa Rica. Four of the more active ones are in the area. The most active in the Americas at the moment is Volcán Arenal, which we will try to see tomorrow. There are 5 kinds of volcanic eruptions:

• Strombolian: with lots of ash and gases, moderate fire activity (like Arenal)
• Plinian: with pumice, big pyroclastic explosions up to the stratoshpere
• Peleean: hot volcanic material and gas rapidly (~95 km/hr) flows down the slope.
• Phreatic: heated ground water converts to steam
• Hawaiian: basaltic lava extraction volcanic rock supplies aquifers.

The Arenal volcano is growing at the rate of 3 feet per month. since 1970 the flow has been entirely on the east side, but soon that will have built up so much that the flow will go down the west side where the town of La Fortuna lies. The Arenal volcano has three separate vents. when the clouds clear, you can make out the twin cone tips at the top. The third vent is on the right side as you look from La Fortuna.