La Paz Waterfall Garden & Poas Volcano

     On Saturday and Sunday (sabado y domingo), we had guided tours of the La Paz Gardens and Poas Volcano which were absolutely stunning!  The bright colors of the wildlife made them seem to "jump" out of the vegetation, especially the toucans that they put on our shoulders. And we were all amazed with the beautiful butterflies and hummingbirds!

     After our working breakfast at the La Condesa Hotel, we met up with our guide; Javier!  Javier would prove to be a wonderful companion during all of our excursions and is a man who speaks 4+ languages and constantly educates everyone!  I especially was very fond of how he spoke to sustainability and respecting our environment.  I feel like he left a lasting impression on us all and transmitted a message that our group will continue to consider and pass on to others.

Kudamundi

     Everyone had an opportunity to try out their rain gear and umbrellas at the waterfall gardens, but the showers were short and it never rained too hard.  The hike to the waterfall was my favorite part of the day and while I was walking behind the group I heard a noise in the leaves.  Much to my surprise a kudamundi came out of the forest and walked to the other side of the path! At the end of the hike we made it to the waterfalls and they were equally fantasitc, or as the locals would say:  "La vida es magnifico!"
     

        The following day we visited Poas and were able to see some good views of the volcano there.  This trip offered a little bit more in the form of a serendipitous "teachable moment" when we came across a group of tourists who were feeding the squirrels even though the signs were posted in many places which read: DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.  Javier explained that when people do this, the animals eventually lose their instinct for foraging and often suffer or even later die when there are no tourists to feed them.  This really stuck with me and I thought about it a great deal during the entire trip.  In many ways, we are faced with that moment when we are tempted to feed the "squirrel"--especially as teachers!  One part of Cambourne's Model of Learning talks about expectations and this was also something that Dina (lead teacher at Calle Hernandez School) mentioned.  As teachers, we have to have high expectations for our students, and by doing so, we instill that same expectation within our students.  Students who believe they can and students who believe they can'--have one thing in common...they are both correct!