Monteverde Friends

I'm thinking about my time here and how fortunate I am to have such dear friends here in Monteverde. Folks here say that they want it to be my second home and it feels like that in so many ways. As I head into my last two weeks here I find that I wish I could clone myself.  I miss Saturna and my home and especially my garden but I love it here and also would be happy to stay a bit longer.  The simple life, the close knit community, the older Quakers, the students and the strange diversity of interesting people who manage to come up the mountain on that crazy one  lane dirt road.

Well here is a sample of my community ...

This is Liz and Don, friends from Argenta days. They now live in Nelson, B.C. and have volunteered here every winter for the past 7 years. I found them last year on my first day at Friends School. We generally have a date every Thursday at Hotel Belmar (or some other upscale drinking hole) for Happy Hour and to watch the sunset.

 This is Kenna who is from Nova Scotia.  She comes to Monteverde two times a year and probably would live here save her kids and grandkids who live in Halifax.  She is a retired English Prof. from Dalhousie who then decided to teach creative writing part time at a Community College and now works teaching reading in english to Grade 3/4 Tico students.  She has a mouth like a sailor and a heart bigger than the province she is from. You can't see it in this photo but her eyes are the same colour as the turquoise wall behind her. 

This is my Costa Rican "daughter". She and her Mom, Marisella, are my best buddies here. 

This is Zinna, my Spanish teacher and friend.  She is an amazing cook, loving and has a laugh that is so infectious! At the moment she has pink hair, more the colour of her sweater than it shows in this photo.

 This is last night's birthday party for Zinna and Sonia (2nd on the right).  Vegetarian pizza and two kinds of desert.  My pal Marisella is on the far right.  Wilbur and his wife Sande (old Peace Corps Volunteers) and daughter Kati are in front.
Just a sample of the interesting combos of people who live here.

I couldn't resist adding this photo of my GG's (gardening girls) who work in the school's garden with me every Thursday afternoon.  The stakes in the foreground are for tomatoes, behind them corn is peaking up.  We do have a problem with the boys who kick soccer balls or basketballs into the garden.  Much heated discussion about space!!!

 

 

This is morning assembly. Leonora (in the blue) is signing and singing with Heather who is the high school science teacher. Leonora is one of the Abuella Adventureas 

And this my friend Kirk, the high school math teacher and a fellow Dead Head.  What more do I need to say. He and his girlfriend Heather and their roomie Mari (who has a Grateful Dead near tattooed on her ankle) are my 20 something buds. Great friends who totally make me laugh.