Crocodiles, Chocolate, Luau, Goodbye Osa, back to San Jose

We had great flights back from the Osa, leaving at noon, and are now relaxing at the Best Western. Here's a quick recap of the last 48 hrs or so -- we had a crocodile tour Friday night, the Finca Kobo Organic Farm tour Sat morning, a quick afternoon (last) swim in the Golfo Dolce, a beach luau with Adonis and Killian last night, a last beach walk this morning, quick flight from the Osa, shopping and cultural excursion to downtown San Jose this afternoon, and now a quick swim in the pool before dinner tonight. That was a mouthful!

It's as busy as it sounds -- and the students, our fantastic SMS representatives, have shone brightly in this Costa Rican paradise. They have jelled as a group and gotten to know each other in many new ways. They were able to take the lessons learned in the classroom and experience them first hand. They soaked in a plethora of knowledge these past 9 days!

A message from all of the chaperones: we would like to thank Mrs McBrayer, Ms Pater, and all the faculty, students, and families of St Mary's for allowing us to be your ambassadors on this incredible journey. We have been incredibly lucky to be able to watch over these blossoming young adults. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And a note from me, CB: it's pretty obvious that I am by far the luckiest person on this trip, to be able to help guide a second group of awesome St Mary's students to the Osa. What is so different this time for me was to be able to spend more time observing the wonder and excitement of the students. I hope I was able to capture at least a small slice of that in this blog. Special thanks to Mrs McBrayer, Ms. Pater, and the Morgans. And thanks to Mrs B for all the great computuer equipment -- still working!

We are sad to leave this great country, but excited to come back to our friends and family to share our experiences!

Pura Vida -- and for one final time,

CB out

Here's our final two student bloggers:

Ryan

In the afternoon we had a good time shopping for all the people back home (Hope everyone likes their gifts!). The blocks of stores were part of the central market that had a street opened to only pedestrians. There were clowns, street venders, ice cream shops, dance parties, magicians, and much much more. Plus the clothes were a lot cheaper than normal at most stores. I bought two shirts for only 4400 colones (eight dollars). Many other deals were found too. We found an ice cream store where we all had something to cool us off. Delicioso! The shopping spree was then brought to an end as people finished their treats. We loaded on the bus for the last time without our entire luggage. To think that our trip will end tomorrow makes me sad. Not that I won’t be happy to see everyone, but to think that we have to leave this beautiful place.

To my family at home: I’ll see you guys tomorrow and will have gifts for all. Hope you like them all. Don’t worry about Dad and I because we’ll be fine. Bye for now!

Chas

(Sigh.) Today was the last day on the Osa. We were all up early as usual because of the howlers but some of us had a late night of poker and other shenanigans. After a breakfast of fresh food and eggs, we had to do a little clean up, like cleaning our beds and what not. Thankfully we got some free time and got to chill out and replenish our tongue with a bit more of Costa Rica. Unfortunately, it was time to go and our stay at Guanabana was over. It was time for us to head for the airport literally in the small town of Puerto Jimenez. Soon we were off to the capital of San Jose, Costa Rica for our final leg of the trip. As they say in Costa Rica, Pura Vida, and that is truly what we lived.

And here's a message from Moira on behalf of the Morgan family:

The Morgan’s here on blogging duty tonight! On behalf of the entire extended Morgan Family, we’d like to express our gratitude to St.Mary School and the parents for the opportunity to share our special place on this planet with such a wonderful group of kids and chaperones. We hope that their exposure to this environment will spark a continued interest in preserving and conserving the earth’s resources. Thanks for sharing your children with us….they were so kind to each other and helpful to the adults…you would have been so proud! Their eagerness and curiosity to learn about the environment and to understand the culture was impressive. The chaperones played an instrumental role and took on various duties that were able to ensure that the trip went off without a hitch. And thanks especially to Gary Moscarino…with his previous experience as a chaperone in 2007 he was able to take a HUGE load off of Gary Morgan by being instrumental in helping to organize us all with his thought to all details and his excellent leadership and planning skills. We hope to be exposing and educating kids about the rainforest for years to come, but I’m not sure we can top this group or this trip! Pura Vida!!!!

traditional Morgan jungle lodge photos

Jerry's howler pic

Sat morning walk

birthday boy Jerry is the king of the world! the sea WAS angry that day, my friend (this morning)

scarlet macaw

downtown san jose

capt morgan

yesterday's blogger

lunch back at the lodge after finca kobo

last swim...

red snapper, getting the grill heated up

Jose Wonka and the Chocolate Farm

Hi to all, we are passing back through town on our way back from the organic farm, so we are getting in a quick blog while we can. Sorry, no pictures today since we do not have time to edit all the pictures. Everyone is doing great - the day was very educational for the students and adults. Franklin is our student blogger and will give you all the details. The students are doing a little souvenir hunting while we get this blog in. Tonight is dinner early by the beach hopefully around 5 before it gets dark. Our flight out is at noon tomorrow and we hope to go downtown in San Jose to the central market after we check in to the hotel. We will post a full blog, unfortunately our last, in the evening.

Our best to all of you,

CB out

Salutations! It is Franklin blogging from Puerto Jimenez. I am going to talk about our adventures here on the Osa Peninsula from last night and today. Last night after dinner, instead of a game, we had a wonderful talent show. There were several acts, including singing, and magic tricks. We then stargazed for a bit, and Mr. Dankenbring told us about some of the stars. We then cleaned up and went to bed. We all woke up this morning and had our breakfast consisting of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and an assortment of fruit. We then relaxed for a bit before we all hopped on to our bus and headed to Finca Kobo Farm. The farm consisted of secondary and primary forests as well as farmland. We were greeted by our guide for the day, Alex, and headed offf to the fields. While we were walking to our first destination, Alex spotted a boa constrictor in a compost pile about 30 feet away. We took a few pictures of it and continued on to our first destination. The first area we visited was a small area consisting of fruit trees and herbs, and we smelled and tasted them. While in that area, we learned that organic pineapples take 14 months to grow, while nonorganic take 9. The chemicals and pesticides used in nonorganic pineapple slice the growing time by 5 months, but can cause cancer. We then moved to a forest consisting of cacao trees, along with many other vegetation, including a giant ficus. Alex told us about the vegetation and animals in the area, and gave us a brief history of the cacao trees. We then continued along the dirt trail, which eventually moved into the open, and saw some more cacao trees, and got a chance to taste the beans. After this, we moved to an area in which Aex showed us the process that produces chocolate. We then moved back to the main building and had a snack of various fruits and chocolate sauce, which was muy delicioso. After this, we departed from the farm and headed to town which is where I am now.

Hi dad and Leah, mom and I are doing great and we are both safe. We both miss you and love you and cannot wait to see you when we get back. I hope Fallon is doing okay, also. See you soon! Adios everyone!

Students in the Mist

Buenos Tardes,

The troups have just finished the zip line adventure, had lunch in town at Carolina’s and are now up the beach at the bay in town. Refer to the earlier photo from the Palms – they’re up ahead on the right side of the bay at the public beach. Adonis will guide the group into the nature refuge to view the crocodiles in their natural habitat (from a safe distance of course!). Not many pictures of the actual zipping today -- we learned why they call it a RAIN forest. The mist you see above floated right by us on the canopy platforms. What a cool adventure that Connor will tell you about.

Looks like we had a technical error on yesterday’s video blog – I missed an entire segment of Cate and Mary Kate, so make sure to go back and view it. CB must have been slacking off yesterday at the Pearl of the Osa…Also, I wanted to say one more thing about the beach experience yesterday:

The sea was angry that day, my friend.

Actually, it wasn’t, but I’ve always wanted to say that on a blog…

Ok, we keep getting questions about how the howlers sound. Well on Wed afternoon a group moved on the property and stayed until the next morning. The first part of the following video is this group on Thur morning at 5:03 am. This is the howling noise that is prevalent in the mornings at just before darkness is lifted each morning. The second part of the video is actually from Wed afternoon when I instructed the students on how to talk to the howlers. You’ll hear their barking noise that they do during the daytime. Thanks to Dirk Morgan for training me on the 2007 SMS trip!

Ok, those comments are getting better and better, but remember, I’m reading these out loud to the students each night. Many of these posts are very touching and CB must maintain his composure at all times -- what I really mean is: Mike Duncan’s jokes are bringing me to tears…

CB out


A shout out from the whole group to Papa Bob Morgan – without his foresight, this trip would never have been possible!

Today’s student bloggers are Mark and Connor:



Hello everyone! It’s Mark blogging today about our activities last night after Mary Kate and Cate’s wonderful video.
After we had enough pounding from the waves, we headed back to the lodge for homework time, dinner, and games afterward. Since most of the kids are a little behind on some of our homework, we were diligently working for an hour straight. We had another delicious dinner of arroz con pollo (rice and chicken), broccoli, chayote, and of course gallo pinto (rice and beans).
After dinner we played what we think we will be in ten years, and movie charades. After the games were over, the chaperones decided to have a little fun with the kids. They told us a story about a man who used to own the property. They claimed his wife left him and he got in a serious car crash and has terrible amnesia. Apparently he is still walking around in Costa Rica trying to find his old house in progress. He was supposedly last seen a couple miles down the beach running towards our lodge. Even though all the kids knew something was going to happen because Mr. Laudeman had suddenly disappeared. Mr. Laudeman popped out from the main hallway, with a Stone Cold Steve Austin mask on, in the lodge and aroused some very ear-shattering screams; one from Abby who looked like she jumped out of her pants. Chas tried to defend himself by throwing Cate’s homework at the strange man. It was funny to see all the girls, and even some boys screaming in terror. Also, it caused kids to go around and scare each other, making strange noises, or just running around screaming. Overall it was a very interesting night, and can be used for scare tactics in future nights.

All of us are having so much fun and are disappointed it’s so close to being over. We are all so grateful for being privileged enough to come on this life-changing trip.

I want to say to Mom, Mary, Jane and John that I miss you guys a lot and am disappointed I didn’t see you on your spring break John. Hoped you didn’t mind having the ps3 and flat screen to yourself…


And now from Connor:

Today we went on a breath taking canopy tour through the rainforest. Due to bumpy road conditions, we had to leave our bus on the way to the Canopy Tour Bosque Mar and take taxis the rest of the way. After our harnesses were on and a brief demonstration, we were ready to embark upon an astonishing zip line canopy adventure. The zip line was divided into seven different sections, the longest being about 1,200 feet. The great views of the valleys and hills through the trees were an amazing sight to behold. The ride itself was also very exhilarating. While I was zipping, I could hear distant high pitched screams. I know now that the girls were having a screaming contest, of which Mary Kate F. was the winner. Even though our canopy adventure was interrupted by a sudden downpour, we still had a great time. And despite the limited visibility due to the rain, we were still able to see a toucan and a tree sloth. It was an amazing experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. Right now we are having lunch at Carolina’s, a local restaurant in Puerto Jimenez. And after this we are going to a public beach by the bay and to a nature reserve where we hope to see some crocodiles.

To Mom, Michael, Morgan, and Patrick: I am having a great time in Costa Rica. I miss you guys and can’t wait to see you. Dad and I are both healthy and happy here.. I love you guys. See you in three days.

Today’s chaperone blogger is Senor Tom Dankenbring


Whoops, not him... but he did carve this!

Here's Tom...


Buenas Viernes de Guanabana,


Since it is Friday morning and no wild activities have transpired since yesterday’s blog, this one will be a big picture swath of the past week at Morgan Jungle Lodge and environs, with some daily detail sprinkled in.
This morning we were awakened at 4:53 a.m. (6:53 EDT) by a cacophony of Howler Monkey calls. This is a standard wake up time for the monkeys. Yesterday they were very close around the camp, beginning at the south end, and like a wave cheer at a football game, they passed their sounds along a 200 meter tree top balcony to the north end of the camp. Today they sounded like they were about a half mile in the distance.
The typical schedule has been like this:
After the Howler Monkey alarm about 5 a.m. the papaya colored sun arises on its path behind the mountains of Panama across the Golfo Dulce to the east. Individual shadowy figures of bleary eyed 8th graders emerge from their cabinas and make their way to the showers and sinks. Maybe a McCaw screech will break the new morning silence. At 7 the meal bell is rung and breakfast is served. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, French toast, cereal, and chunks of fresh fruit are the general fare. The native crew of Vlad, Jackie, and Fabio do most of the cooking and cleanup. Then the activities begin. Today the students are buried into their books and journals; spread out on hammocks or circled on outside tables 15 meters from the beach. At 10 this morning we will load the big white bus, capably driven by Fabio, for the 1 hour bump-along the gravel road ride to the Zip Line. Morgan’s Jungle Lodge lies about half an hour drive from Puerto Jimenez, on a rough gravel road frequented by large timber trucks hauling harvested teakwood. Most of the roads diverge from Puerto Jimenez, so the students are now familiar with the path. Yesterday Fabio spotted a Crocodillo (crocodile of course) at a local pond, so we all stopped and checked it out with binoculars.
After lunch which includes sandwiches, a local dish of pinto gallo (rice and beans), tortilla chips, and more fruit, activities including homework, beach walking, kayaking, soccer ball kicking, and cabina cleaning take place. On Wednesday, approaching storms from across the gulf provided an opportunity for a first hand lesson in weather patterns and thunderstorm formation, from yours truly. Corollary subjects of ocean tides, navigation basics, and some airplane tidbits ended the half hour on-the-beach lesson.
At 4:30 the students are instructed to go to their cabinas to do a “critter check” and grab their flashlights, as sunset is soon upon us. As the Morgan Lodge is carved out of the jungle, unwanted critters can infiltrate the tent-like cabinas, so being aware of one’s surroundings is paramount.
The sunset is a slow shading to blackness as it descends behind the layers of trees to the west, a total contrast to sunrise. By this time, around 5:15 pm, the students are all gathered around the large table in the lodge, socializing or studying.
Dinner at 6:30 is introduced by the standard table prayer by one of the students. I think previous blogs have included the dinner entrees.
Post dinner activities have included multiple interactive games such as charades. Tonight the plan is for a talent show. These last until about 9pm when the students quietly (?) make their ways to their cabinas, after brushing their teeth, and washing their faces of course.
We have painted a somewhat vacation-like picture of this trip in previous blogs, yet there are challenges involved in the day to day activities of course. My main point for everyone to take note of in this blog is this: the “Love Spoken Here” motto of St. Mary School has definitely been infused into the students. I, and all of the chaperones, have been impressed with how each student cares for the others. There have been multiple challenges where the students have conquered their fears, and each has helped the other. They are a rich group of 8th graders, with talents and personalities. All of you who are associated with them should be proud of these young men and ladies.

Now, on a personal note: hello to Mindy and John, Jane and Mary. Sorry we missed you John. Thanks for your messages.


Franklin's photo -- three toed sloth in just outside the front door of the lodge!

beach find on CB and Jerry's 4 mile walk this morning -- saaweeeet!

high schoolers...

CB sharing the daily blog post

Cameron and his lizard friend -- he'd love to share with Ashley's first graders...

before zipping

after zipping...

should he just throw the shirt away?

out of the rain...

lunch at Carolina's -- dirty but hungry crew...