We're Here!!!!

Queridos Amigos… Estamos en paraíso, verdaderamente.
So much to say to you all.... Firstly, thank you thank you thank you on top of thank you to the people who helped with the frantic packing and cleaning: Kieran, Graham, Eli, Jane, Susan, Emma, Kai and Lucy and to the true saviors who helped above and beyond, we couldn’t have finished without: Kirsten, Hannah and Rachel. People cooked for us, washed a grimy closet, cleaned toilets, threw away an embarrassing amount of trash, took away things that are still usable but we no longer need, all with amazing good cheer that kept our spirits high. Thank you again and again. You know we’ll do the same for you when we return.

Now, onto the stuff you want to know…
Costa Rica is amazing. Travel here was miraculously quite smooth, with the exception being that we couldn’t bring Toast. Most airlines won’t fly animals if it’s predicted to be over 85 degrees Fahrenheit in any of the places the plane is on the ground at the time it will be there. We might have to wait a long time until it is under 85 at noon in Miami. I miss her already, though I know she’s in good hands with Rye until then. There is another airline that shuttles animals around in climate controlled vans and therefore has no temperature limit, but they charge a million dollars for that service and don’t have a very direct route from Hartford to San Jose. We don’t have a million dollars. We sat in exit row seats on the first flight (always appreciated by my extra long legs) and on the second flight chatted with a super nice guy named Leo who is from Costa Rica but currently lives in Miami. He gave us all sorts of info that it is sometimes hard to ask people. Thanks Leo. We found Risë, the school’s assistant director and our ride to Monteverde, easily. The taxi that carried us up the mountain was a big van with a super nice driver named Walner. He spoke slowly so I could understand and drove very, very carefully, which is somewhat unusual around here. Roads are scary and taxi drivers are scarier. I felt very safe in his taxi. He’s also good at navigating the potholes and bumps on the dirt roads closer to our destination. Wow it’s bumpy. It was dark by 6:45 and as we drove higher there was more fog, but then we came out above it. Reinforcement that we are really in the cloud forest. He drove us right to the door of Emily House, the name of our home. I want to say this very loudly… It’s so beautiful!!!!!! One of the original settlement houses, it’s made entirely of wood with metal roofing and it’s huge for two people. There is even a single guest bed, so all you big talkers who say you’re going to visit better get your butts here. Some other day where there is less to say we’ll describe the house in detail with lots of photos. Summary, it feels like we’re living in a cabin in northern Wisconsin (we’re both from the Midwest, so that is our association) and it’s dreamy. Someone left us roast chicken with veggies and breakfast fixings so we’d have something to eat right away. This school where Annie is working is really going all out to make sure we feel welcome and have what we need to adjust to living abroad. We spent some time unpacking and then slept for many, many hours. It’s been a long time since I’ve slept well and the night before traveling we slept only one or two hours. I feel so much better today.

And today was also awesome. We’re almost done unpacking and finding places for everything. Then we called Risë again and she walked us around, showing us places, introducing us to people, taking us grocery shopping. Then she passed us off to Heather who has been here for two years and she took us to the fábrica (cheese factory), which is awesome. We bought a lot of cheese. Next, we went to look at the Escuela de los Amigos, where Annie will be teaching and Heather showed us around. It’s so beautiful. We checked out some books from the library, since we brought nothing to read. Then we walked home. It’s about a 20-25 minute walk to the school, mostly uphill, but not too steep. It feels a lot like living in rural Vermont, but people walk everywhere instead of drive and everyone is so friendly (except the tourists). I am going to have to be really friendly and chatty to make sure people here don’t think I’m a tourist. Already my Spanish is getting better and I can understand people when they speak at a slowish pace. Heather was talking to a teen who takes violin lessons from her and I understood everything. Heather also thinks I might be able to teach some lessons, since she does it reluctantly and there is high demand for violin here. I’ll probably be able to borrow a fiddle here, but I didn’t bring any of my music books, so I might be asking folks to send me stuff. When I teach music I like to require performance/service elements, which could be playing for contra/square/English country dancing, which all happens here, often accompanied by records! We’re planning to attend the square dance tonight, though we are mostly “contra snobs.” But we need to meet the dance community to stir up some interest in contra. I brought my tiny collection of dance calls in case I was ever “called” on to lead dances, but if anyone has any favorite dances, they should email them to me. (That is specifically a request for Alex and Rachel Nevitt by the way, though anyone is welcome to send me dances).

Okay, I think I might be caught up, obviously omitting some things because this is already so long and Annie hasn’t even had her say yet. Photos to come. Accidentally left the camera in the taxi and don’t have it back yet.

And we don’t have internet at home yet, so we have to walk to the Instituto, about 25 minutes, to blog or email. We’ll let you know when we get set up at home and if it is dial-up or high-speed. We do have a phone if anyone wants to bear the long distance charges for a quick call: 011-506-2645-5001.