For whatever reason, the intervening weeks post-kitten rescue have become increasingly hectic. There is a National Honors Society induction to plan, there are French classes to teach, there is the impending library move to the new elementary building... not to mention the day to day work of storytime, teaching literary concepts, shelving books, and the like. Don't get me wrong-- my work is not stressful. The students are lovely and I enjoy what I do. However, there is a constant flow, and if you get behind for a day, you find yourself struggling to catch up. [I suppose that's true of many jobs.] In this intervening time of activity, though, there have been some highs and lows.
The first high is that I had the most wonderful opportunity to travel to Arenal Volcano, one of the most beautiful places in Costa Rica, with the 7th and 8th graders. The group that went on the trip was absolutely wonderful, and we stayed at a beautiful resort about 1mi from the volcano's base. As it is nearing the peak of rainy season, the evening saw clouds around the volcano, but we could see orange and red lava sprays in the air. Oh-- did I neglect to mention that Arenal is an active volcano? The other neat aspect of our hotel was that it had three beautiful pools with neat water slides. One (my favorite) was a short waterslide into a hot pool... so relaxing! There were also two cold waterslides: a short one into a small pool, and another one about five stories tall into a bigger pool. Now, let me begin by saying that it was pouring down rain when we arrived, yet this did not deter our 7th & 8th grade charges from immediately changing into bathing suits and heading to the pool. Nor did it deter them from repeatedly enjoying these stone water slides. The tallest one had both a tunnel (tunnels make me nervous) and a few overhangs where water spilled down onto the slide. Easily coerced by 12-14 year olds, I agreed to go on the slide. However, I did not account for A) the rain, B) the water pouring down, or C) needing to duck to watch my head due to the overhangs. My contact lens knocked out and water pouring in my eyes, I slid at breakneck speed down the slide and as I reached the bottom, braced myself towards the left. Bad decision.
As it turned out, the bottom of the slide had a stone lip up on the left to prevent people from sliding up as a result of the final turn. Not seeing this, I braced the wrong way, and my left temple slammed into the stone with my full body weight after coming down about 5 stories. Given that force = mass * acceleration, I am going to guess that my force was pretty high entering that collision. Immediately after, I shot into the deep, cold pool with the sense knocked out of me. My head throbbing, I dizzily flailed in the water, attempting to locate the stairs, or even the side. Fortunately, the 4th chaperone (a student's mom, certified in CPR) had preceded me on the slide and heard the crack as my head hit the side. She put her arms out and helped me out of the pool and to a chair. The moral of the story? Do not succumb to middle school peer pressure at the age of 22. The rest of the week continued with some pretty bad headaches and dizziness... I think I probably suffered from a mild concussion, but since I didn't go into a coma either of the first two nights while asleep, I'm not too concerned. However, I'll still be avoiding blunt head trauma in the future.
The rest of the trip to Arenal was incredible... our hotel also had a horse farm, a crocodile garden, a butterfly room, an entire setup of leaf-cutter ants (ridiculously strong!), and a diverse array of wildlife on the hotel grounds. In addition to the crocodiles, my favorite was the "Jesus Christ Lizard" (Emerald Basilisk Lizard) we saw, thus named because they run so fast that they literally walk on water. Extraordinary. Visit this Youtube video for a 30-second clip of the same type of lizard, so you can see for yourself. Other than the wildlife, we also went on a hanging bridge tour... about 2 miles through the jungle on suspension bridges up to a few hundred feet high. One allowed for a beautiful panoramic view of Arenal Volcano. The volcano overlooks Lake Arenal, a massive body of water often used for sailing because of the strong winds over its choppy waves. Although I haven't seen much else of Costa Rica other than Guanacaste and San Jose, I think Arenal is my favorite area so far... truly what one imagines when one thinks of Costa Rica. The volcano itself did indulge in some pyroclastic flows while we were there, with one smoky eruption on the final morning where we could see debris flying out. The students had to do a lab (after all, it IS an educational field trip) and discovered that, should the volcano erupt, we would have had approximately 44 seconds to get far away. In other words, we would have been goners.
That may look like a friendly cumulus cloud, but it's actually the result of the smoking, spitting, fiery volcano just moments before. A bit unsettling, to say the least, though extraordinarily beautiful-- I took this picture just a few minutes before we headed to the hanging bridges.This week began Monday night with a terrifying interaction with a scorpion (some of you have already heard the tale), but I'll leave that for tomorrow or Friday when I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard.
For any of you who are thinking about visiting, please contact me! I would love to have you and I might be able to provide cheap accommodations (this is especially true for low-maintenance students). Keep me posted-- it's a beautiful country and I think you will love it.
Til next time...
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