Week 13: Halloween, Hiking and Red Tide

This week was Halloween and the boys’ school spared no expense on going all out for the festivities! Although Halloween is not celebrated in Costa Rica, it IS celebrated in the U.S. (and Canada); since the boys attend an “American” International School they choose to celebrate Halloween. The Parents Association puts on a huge night as a fundraiser the Friday before Halloween. This event includes students at the school as well as any other children from the community who want to trick-or-treat, play Halloween games, or enter the Haunted House. Ray worked the haunted house, which he said you couldn’t pay him to do again (keep in mind he was in a coffin for an hour in a humid 90 plus degree space with strobe lights!). The school also has a door decorating contest and the parents go overboard on these decorations as well. Below you can see the “It” clown on a 4th grade classroom door!

That’s John on the left and Ray dressed up as his favorite teacher!

Hiking nearby:

Since we have had the opportunity to sub quite a bit at the school, we have had the chance to get to know some of the teachers. Two of them showed us a top secret hiking path behind the school that includes a waterfall. We took one trip with the teachers and then ventured off on our own one day to climb to the top of the mountain to overlook the town and ocean. Although many parts of this area remind us of northern Wisconsin, it is clear that we are in a different environment when we see all of the vines and cactus plants!

Red Tide:

Costa Rica is experiencing “red tide” right now. Red tide is a bloom of algae that makes the beaches and coastline smell like rotten fish (or worse!). It is disgusting and makes it very difficult to visit the beach, walk on the beach, and swim. Here is Wikepedia’s definition of red tide: “Red tide is a common name for a worldwide phenomenon known as an algae bloom when it is caused by species of dinoflagellates and other algae. The upwelling of nutrients from the sea floor from massive storms is most likely the cause of these events.” We have been experiencing this phenomenon for a little over a week and hope that it will end soon. Some days are better than others; some beaches are better than others. Because of this red tide, we decided to drive the 1 kilometer to the waterpark down the road, Parque La Boya, to see what they had to offer. For $7 a person it was pretty fun!

Other interesting notes:

Grocery stores here sell more than just food. Check out the machete that Mark was able to purchase for less than $6!
What are you going to do when your ball goes in the school pool? I guess you have to go get it (according to John!). I think this was planned…