Monday, July 13, 2009

Breaking News, Mae

To keep you in tune with all things "Costa Rica" (if you are experiencing this place through your child, brother, sister or friend); it's important to teach you this word:

mae (pronounced "my") n.: coloquial term for a friend, such as the American "brother", "man", or "dude". Example: "Que pasa, mae?" means "What's happenin, man?"

Now that we have that cleared up, let's move on to the most recent news.

Kendra, the instructor for our 15-Day Multi Element, just came back with her group from rafting in the Pacuare today! They're busy in their dorm showering and cleaning up right now, and they spend their last day tomorrow doing some touring of the city.

Owen's and Pablo's 24-Day Multi Element group had two students at base today who recounted some of the exciting adventures they've experienced since they arrived June 30th. See this video on our YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/croutwardbound.

Kathleen, our Communications Director, just returned from Avellanas beach after spending five days with the Girl Scouts Catching Waves, and she reports a few fun details: the girls loved fishing (and three of the girls caught fish!), they woke up a few days at 4:45am to surf, ALL girls have gone out past the break to surf (a VERY advanced surfing level!), they went running a few times on the beach, and they taught each other to make useful items out of natural beach debris (including tables and lawn chairs). Oh, and Kathleen adds "The girls loved the soccer game against the locals of Santa Cruz. We lost. I won't tell you what the score was." But we finally got it out of her: 8-2. They return to base tomorrow for rafting on Wednesday.

Scott, our Program Assistant, just returned from a few days in Playa Hermosa with the Spanish Emphasis group. He was happy to report PERFECT weather as well as a successful mission to help nest turtle eggs. To further explain this: poachers find them during this time of year and try to sell them, so the purpose of their experience was to rescue these eggs and put them in a secure place where they could mature and hatch safely.

As for the rest of them:

Girl Scouts Rainforest River and Reef #1 (with Shannon) is coming back to base today! They will get to raft tomorrow, then do a city tour on Wednesday. The Girl Scouts Rainforest River and Reef #2 course (with Olivia) are surfing in Manuel Antonio on the southern Pacific coast. Summer Semester is hiking, hiking, and hiking. They went from Valle Escondido on Saturday to Ante Cuesta yesterday to La Cruz today. Lastly, our Surf Intensive courses are surfing in picturesque Tulin right where the River Tulin empties into the ocean. Ryan and Santiago have led our other 24-Day Multi Element to the Lopez's (Santiago's family!) in Piedras Blancas, a remote village that takes at least two hours by foot to reach from the closest town.

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