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| a scarlet macaw |
I promise you we are actually working on this trip! Today we visited one of the release site of the
Ara Project. "The Ara Project is a non-profit organization that breeds macaws in captivity for release back into the jungles of Costa Rica. The project is aiming to repopulate this area with Scarlet Macaws." The birds are absolutely gorgeous. I cannot conceive why anyone would want to harm these creatures. Alex, Jenny, and Katie are living here in Punta Islita for the project. Everyday they look after the birds to make make sure they are integrating into the jungle properly. Alex is a field biologist. Both him and Katie are from England (yes, their accents are awesome!). Katie is actually our age. She decided to volunteer right after high school (or college as they call it). Jenny is the site veterinarian and is from New Zealand. We stayed and bird watched for a while while they told us funny stories about the birds. They allow the birds to pick their own mates to breed with and then slowly set them into the jungle. Surprisingly, we haven't had the proper time to enjoy the beach. The other days we walked along the shore but it was far too cold to actually swim. Today we made peanut butter and m&m sandwiches and headed down to the beach for some sun time. That afternoon we met up with Megan and started on the
Nave Computacional project.
Nave is a computer learning site/program that the Peace Corps decided to create. Intel originally conceived the program to teach people in the US how to use the basic Microsoft programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc). The Peace Corps made a more kid friendly version in Spanish. Our job is to finish writing the 5th unit of the program: the basics of Excel. I might have the kids create a crew list with everyone's names, ages, and favorite colors and make table to organize the data. Margaret and Mattie are doing a Spanish immersion stay at Aurora's house for a few days. Jamie and I decided to have a slumber party up at her parents place. We are actually watching Shakespeare in Love right now! Tomorrow we need to wake up early to make it to Samara, a nearby surf town (it's like something out of Soul Surfer).
word of the day: tica/tico = a Costa Rican
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| alex explaining the ara project |
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| there are a ton of dogs around here |
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| our living room |
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| gratuitous self pic |
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| Mattie catching some rays |
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| hola! |
