Hello everyone! I am writing this the night before school starts and I couldn't be more excited to meet all of my little first and second graders tomorrow!!! It's been a busy last few weeks with getting settled here and preparing for the school year. Here's a little recap of the last 2.5 weeks:
I landed in San Jose on July 28th. It was an easy travel day and I was reunited with Dan at the SJO airport which was lovely! A board member from our school volunteered to pick us up which was so kind. We made the three hour drive up to Monteverde and were dropped off at our house!
The following day, we had a happy hour at our principal's house with all of the other staff. It was so fun to meet everyone and enjoy good food together. That night we came across a big discovery, Dan and I only had 4 day visas.... Needless to say, this was not the best discovery to make. To explain, Costa Rica has required tourists during the pandemic to purchase a special kind of insurance in case of contracting COVID-19. However, as of August 1st, vaccinated tourists did not need to adhere to that rule. Therefore, Dan and I only bought insurance for four days (until the 1st). Additionally, we entered as tourists but have been undergoing the process to become legal residents but this won't be official for another couple months. Our Costa Rican insurance started August 1st too. Regardless, we only received 4 day visas and needed to extend them ASAP.
With only two days remaining before our visas expired, our school worked really hard to find out the steps we needed to do. First, we got COVID tests on Friday the 30th. We needed negative results in order to make a border run to Nicaragua. Next, we left at 5:30 am on Sunday, August 1st for a full day journey to Nicaragua and back. We had a wonderful woman take us who has a lot of experience with this sort of stuff which was very reassuring. She couldn't cross the border with us but she explained what we needed to do and everything went fairly smoothly. I'm happy to say we now have 90 day visas that hopefully won't need to be extended again!
On our final day before work officially started, we decided to get a hike in. We hiked the Cerro Amigos trail in Monteverde. It takes about 2-3 hours and the first half is straight uphill. It was a workout to say the least. The hike is to the highest point in Monteverde and then back down. It was a mostly cloudy and rainy day so we didn't get the best view but we have plenty of time to go do it again.
After a busy but fun first week of professional development, the Cloud Forest School staff and their families enjoyed a relaxing getaway to a hot springs! It was a very nice, family owned business and the day was so much fun! We swam, relaxed, played card games, and ate good food. I can't wait for my next hot springs experience in Costa Rica!
Over the last couple days, Dan and I made a short trip to Jaco! We lived in the Jaco area for about three months this Spring. We surfed, we ate at our favorite spots, and we met up with two of our friends! We were so happy to see them after a few months away. The journey was not bad. We took two different busses to get there and two to get back. In total, it was about a six hour journey each way. We are already looking forward to our next Jaco trip!
Overall, it's been very busy but very, very fun! Dan and I have made new, awesome friends already from school and the community. I'm hoping to post again next week about how the first week of school goes. Thanks for reading!
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