Journey North Mystery Class Spring 2003

Introducing Mystery Class #10
Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica ( 08.700 N, 83.483 W)

Greetings from Mystery Class #10, located on the edge of Corcovado National Park, in Costa Rica. I am actually a student from Maine, USA, but I was visiting here along with my parents.

Our home here in Costa Rica is located on the Osa Peninsula, which is on the southern coast of Costa Rica in a very small town called Playa San Josecito, at a Biological Reserve called Campanario. This is located right on the Pacific Ocean between Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park. My parents were volunteering there and we were here for 5 months.

Here I am on my way to school. Doesn't this trip look pretty cool?

There are not regular roads yet in this part of Costa Rica. But there are dirt tracks where some SUV's can get through when it isn't the rainy season. Everyone travels by foot, horse or boat. The town we live in is very small. Not many people live here all year round, but there are quite a few tourists when it isn't too rainy. There is one small store, a church, a school and one small resort that has a restaurant, tent platforms and a cabin. The only store called a "pulpuria" sells just a few things that don't need to be kept cold like candy, rice, beans, crackers and laundry soap. It is right next to the school so I buy candy there. I tell my Mom it is a good way to practice my Spanish and Math at the same time! We get the rest of our food from far away. It is packed up in boxes and is delivered by boat.

It is really really cool living on the Osa Peninsula because I have to walk an hour to school through the rain forest. We only go to school for three hours. I get up at 5:00AM every morning in the dark and start my walk to school at 6:00AM. It takes about an hour to get there. We have to watch out for snakes along the way and during the rainy season we have to wear high rubber boots to protect our legs from snakes. Every day on our walk we see leaf cutter ants carrying different colored blossoms from the flowers in the canopy of the rainforest. It is very hot here, about 75-85 F every day.

A three toed furry Sloth friend hangs lazily from the canopy,
Hardly moving unless it's very hungry.

These tiny leaf cutter ants parade across the forest floor carrying bites of leaves, petals and bark to their nests then return for more

School is small, one room, and the food is different than in my school in Maine. There are 18 kids at our school, 9 come in the morning and 9 come in the afternoon. We start school at 7:00AM and end at 10:30AM. We eat lunch all together then we walk home. Here there is no electricity, we eat our lunch on picnic tables inside a very small building with a leaky metal roof, a cement sink and a two-burner gas stove top.

Rice and beans and beans and rice
Coffee, mango, plantanos and gunavana are nice
But our lunch at school every day stays the same
Arroz and frijoles are their Spanish names

ur lunch every day is about the same, rice and beans and some sort of fruit drink. The bathrooms are outside in another little building. We do not have computers but we have pencils, markers, crayons, tape, glue and paper. We have to keep things in plastic or covered up because of the rain and the mist from the ocean. The kids play soccer every day in the schoolyard and on the beach at low tide. We have Math, Social Studies, Reading and Writing just like in Maine. I carry all my books and water in my backpack. I have to wear a uniform to school. I t is a white shirt and dark blue shorts and socks. The walk home always takes longer because we have to look at tide pools and explore!

This is a branch 50 feet high in a tree!

Here in the South the mountains are all covered by trees
While up North the smell of active volcanoes can make you sneeze

Every day we see different animals and plants, blue iridescent morpho butterflies, monkeys etc. Macaws are very loud birds that are bright colors and like the almond trees in front of the school. I learn Spanish from Bryan and Christian who live right next to us and walk with me to school every day. I also learn Spanish from the teacher and the other kids at the school. They don't speak English so I have to speak Spanish.

After school we have a snack and spend the rest of the day swimming in the ocean and exploring. Sometimes fishermen moor their boats where we live and give us fish in exchange for water. We eat dinner early and are in bed after the sun goes down around 6:00 or 7:00PM.

At dusk and dawn one of the most exciting features is the flight by the thousands of these winged creatures

We saw something that is long and brown with white spots.
It lives in the sea and it slithers a lot!

Kids in Costa Rica don't have as many toys or books as we do, but they do have television even when they only have solar power. Even though they don't have lots of toys or books they are still happy and find lot's of things to do outside. I have played with a lot of kids here both in the city of San Jose and on the Osa and learned to speak Spanish better than my parents.

After school we have a snack and spend the rest of the day swimming in the ocean and exploring.

Birds like this Macaw are colorful and loud all during the year, but one in particular we especially like to hear. It's beautiful red and blue plumage is a sight to see as it eats the almonds off the trees.

Flowers bloom here all year around up in the trees and on the ground.