As February sped into March, the full extent of the dry season became evident. March and April are, according to todos, the hottest and driest months in Guanacaste. The palette shifts from blue and green to blue and brown, the vegetation shrivels, and forest fires dot the hillsides. It's a crucial time to be in and around water.
To everyone's surprise, especially hers, S signed up for a 500 meter open water swim competition near Samara. The swimmers were taken by boat to a nearby island and had to swim back to shore. She saw 3 large stingrays, which motivated her to swim faster in case their shark friends were also out there.
La Paz Tiburones! There were about 100-150 people in the competition in all, and it felt like a marathon or trail race environment with all ages and spectators cheering all the participants on.
Our days are full of school, after school activities, unpacking from school, grading or lesson planning for school, packing for school. It's still a manageable level of stress, but it's nice to take advantage of the downtime in our middle school hammocks. Here, Mike is relaxing with Oreo or Tuxedo (Depending on which student you ask), our Tenorio stray cat. He's mostly chill, but will swipe at you if he's had enough of the pre-teen/teenager attention.
On the 100th day of school, P and the other Miravalles students dressed as old grannies and grandpas.
P had her first field trip to the nearby tide pools at Brasilito for their "Tierra y Mar" (land and sea) unit. After, she had a swim and fancy lunch at Gracia. We love that she is getting these learning experiences outside of the school at such a young age.
Megan treated the girls to ice cream after school while I snuck off to Colorado, giving Mike a solid half hour to catch his breath and walk the nearby beach.
I got permission from my amazing administrators in September to take a couple of days off to go to Colorado for one of my favorite weekends of the year: our annual ski trip to Beaver Creek. I was nervous about the time and expense of getting to Colorado in such a short time frame, but it was worth every penny and minute to get to see, talk with, ski with, hike with, and laugh with my besties.
The girls and Mike joined Audrey and Alberto in Matambú for a guided hike to a waterfall and also to learn about indigenous cultures of the region. The hosts were very impressed the girls ate and tried all of their traditional foods. All those years of forced vegetarian has taught them to never pass up a meat based soup when offered, even if it is unlike anything they've ever had in the past. Win!
This vine is colloquially known as escalera de mono, "monkey ladder"
The next weekend we headed out of town for our first trip to San Jose. Mike rode the bus with S and the rest of the swim team. They were so excited to stop at the huge mall to go shopping. The highlight was renting PowerWheels and seeing the kids race each other up and down the walkways.
Parker, riding backpack with S, is her closest friend on the team. They always share a lane and do such a great job supporting each other and pushing each other to improve.
The Tiburones travelled to Humboldt Colegio to compete against a few other club teams from the area. There were lots of strong swimmers. Coach Diego has been working hard to build the program at La Paz and does a great job with all of the kids, from 2nd grade up to Juniors in high school.
Tiburones warming up.
Coach Diego is kind enough to let Mike train with the team when we bring in S for practice on Tuesday mornings. I swim at the same time Thursday mornings. We hosted a masters swim meet and because Mike was 1 of 3 men in his age group, he cleaned up, medaling in almost all of his events!
We'ev really enjoyed the training, and La Paz's outside pool is such an amazing space and environment to exercise. The added benefit is that each practice is a mini spanish lesson interpreting Diego's instructions and direction.
First Tico haircut! Mike hasn't changed a bit in his adventurous spirit surrounding his hair, so he asked the barber to give him the same haircut he gave the 4 year old little boy before him, but to add "una linea o algo genial..." He nailed it!
As part of their unit learning about rivers, S’s 3rd grade class went to Poza Los Coyotes for their field trip to swim and tube down the very blue and very cold waters of their natural pools.
We had some very special visitors in March: my brother, his wife, and our niece K! Our Spring breaks didn't line up, so unfortunately we had school during the days, but our girls played a day of hookie to hang out and it was really nice to get the cousins together.
The girls spent a lot of time in the complex pool, parallel reading, playing games, and going to the many beaches. P said, "It was really fun playing Spot-it and Sushi Go with K!"
According to S, "K and I were playing animals in the waves, and then we played Taxi and rode on the waves. It was fun to play in the waves together."
Cousins in the sand at Playa Flamingo. I loved spending time with K and getting to know her more as she grows up. She is a curious, funny, and loving kid and we’re excited to spend more time with her and family during our summer break in July.
We definitely miss family and friends the most, so we are so grateful when people come down to visit.
