On Tuesday and Wednesday, we went on our last two excursions. Tuesday we went to a butterfly farm. Costa Rica has around 14,000 varieties of butterflies and moths. This is due to the wide variety of microclimates at different altitudes and the fact that it doesn’t freeze here. The butterfly farm we visited started as just a farm. They originally operated just to grow butterflies for export to zoos and such. Now they have it opened for tours.
Because the group that went on Tuesday was all in at least Intermediate 1, we did the whole tour in Spanish. What was really impressive was how slowly the guide spoke and how he managed to use vocabulary we knew. There was a big garden with lots of butterflies. They are not afraid of humans at all, and so lots of them landed on us. I think I had one hang out on my hand for a good 20 minutes.
We saw the whole life cycle, from mating butterflies (seriously), to the caterpillars, to the chrysalis (moths have cocoons, butterflies have chrysalis), to butterflies emerging from the chrysalis, to the butterflies flying everywhere. At the end of the tour, we saw chrysalises and cocoons being sorted and packed for shipping. It was pretty neat to watch.
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| Butterfly eggs |
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| A Chrysalis, there were lots of different kinds, but I thought this one was cool. The metallic color reflects the leaves around it camouflaging it. |
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| Caterpillars |
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| This butterfly has 3 faces. The first is its real face. This is the second, see how it looks like a snake or lizard head? |
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| The third face is an owl. |
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| I just think this turned our cool. I think they might be flirting. |
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| Sorting chrysalis and cocoons for shipping. |
Oh one interesting fact, did you know there is just liquid inside a chrysalis until right before the butterfly emerges?
Wednesday, we went to the Poas Volcano, the most active volcano (of the 371) in Costa Rica. Now that sounds a bit scary, but the good thing about it being active is that it is always letting off pressure, so they don’t worry as much about a big eruption. When we arrived we could hear it rumbling a bit. Once we got to the main crater we could see the smoke, and smell and taste it. It was an experience for all the senses.
The water in the main crater is around 50o C or 120oF. The steam for lack of a better term has been measured around 700oC or 1300oF. The smoke is toxic. Luckily it always blows in the same direction. Nothing grows on that part of the volcano.
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| Poas and I |
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| A closer look at the water in the crater |
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| See how nothing is growing in the smoke? |
We got back to school on Wednesday just before class started. So we ran over to the AutoMercado (the grocery store down to block) and grabbed sandwiches to eat at break from class. Wednesday was the first really bad day I had in class. I was already kind of grumpy, then we hit vocabulary I didn’t know while we were doing an exercise. It was one of those things where it wasn’t that I didn’t understand what to do, I just didn’t understand what the words meant. To make matters worse, the guy right before me kept getting cards that I understood. So I got even more frustrated. Ah well… the fact that I went 3 weeks before Spanish class made me want to cry may be a new record. I don’t know what it is about language class, but I get frustrated enough to cry on a regular basis.
After class I walked home to get rid of my frustration before I had to interact with people and speak more Spanish. After dinner, Jorge and Isabel told me I looked tired and should go to bed… it was only 8:30. I managed to make it to 9:30. I was really tired… I’m not sure why.
Today (Thursday) we didn’t have an excursion so I slept in. Then I went to school to upload pictures and hang out. Not much of note happened. Class went much better.
This evening for homework I had to watch and episode of a telenovela (Spanish Soap Opera) for homework. I’m not sure it I’d have understood it in English. In 40 min, a woman was drunk in the park but some priests saved her from being arrested, a couple announced they were pregnant, a woman told her husband she wanted to be separated, a man (the son of the drunk woman) found out is girlfriend? Wife? and her mother had been kidnapped by bad guys, and a woman was shivved in jail, and got her release papers. IN 40 MINUTES! And I left out some stuff…that was only the more dramatic stuff.
After the telenovela I sat and talked to Isabel while she ironed clothes. She is sooo patient when it comes to talking to me. She has been wonderful about letting me practice Spanish.
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