The time my parents came to visit

This past week has been one of the most eventful weeks of my time here.  As most of you have probably heard, we had a pretty significant earthquake last Wednesday here in Costa Rica.  I was running a bit late that morning and so I left the house around 8:35am and soon saw the gates surrounding my neighbor's home shaking pretty violently.  At first I thought it was the children being silly and pulling on the gates, but I soon realized that the ground below me was shaking as well.  Not realizing that it was an earthquake, I continued walking for a few seconds and then got enough sense to STOP walking until it stopped.  I think the whole thing lasted about 40 seconds or so.  The rest of my walk to the bus stop was very interesting as I passed a school where all the children where outside in their duck and cover positions, and many a mom was running towards the school with concerned looks.  I had a few of my neighbors ask me if I was ok and I let one man know that "I'm from California so I've experienced an earthquake before."  When I got to work, Jose informed me that the epicenter was in the Guanacaste region, which is several hours away from us here in Desamparados area, but that there had been damage there and it had been a significant quake.  A very interesting day to start the morning and the students were talking about it all day long.

That evening, I took two buses from my home to the international airport to pick up my mom and dad!!  I was so very excited to see their smiling faces and to get big hugs from them.  We went to the rental car place and got their car for the week (along with a GPS) and made our way to my home.  After catching up a bit, we went to sleep to be ready for work in the morning.  

The classic long-arm shot in my kitchen when they first got here. 

Thursday morning mom and dad came to the tutoring center with me.  Even though they had rented a car, I wanted them to walk with me to the bus stop and ride the bus so they could experience a bit of what my everyday life looks like. 

Walking in my neighborhood

Waiting for the bus

Dad and mom were super helpful with labeling books, putting pictures from the summer in frames to be displayed, cutting things apart, and helping with both English and math with the students.  It was fun to see them interact with my students, and I got a lot of "you look like each other" comments from my kiddos.  

At lunch time I wanted mom and dad to see a bit of my neighborhood, so we went for a walk.  Come to find out when we returned that I had brought my home keys instead of the tutoring keys with me, and Jose had also left his keys inside because I had told him I had keys.  :(  Almost 2 hours later, Jose was able to track down some co-workers who had keys to the Center and we came back in for a few hours of tutoring and art in the afternoon.  We had a great time of practicing math facts, English, and just talking while we were "stranded" outside.

Playing games together out on the sidewalk

Practicing English

One of my kiddos in her school uniform

Beautiful day in Los Guido

Friday morning we came back to the tutoring center and Mom helped me with Girls' Club while Dad helped two of my co-workers with a repair in the tutoring center.  We left at lunch time to do some exploring of San Jose before the soccer game in the evening.

Frappuccinos en Plaza de la Cultura

In front of the National Theatre

Cailah joined us for the soccer game between Mexico and Costa Rica.  Our team lost but we sure had a great time!

Saturday morning we headed out for Monteverde for the next few days and had a fabulous time.  Rather than describe everything in great detail, I will post a selection of our adventures together and write a brief description of each.  :)

Even though I look kind of grumpy, I loved the beautiful scenery outside our hotel balcony.

Ready for our "night hike" in the rain

Going zip lining!

My adventurous parents

So relaxed in the middle of the cloud forest

Walking through the forest on the hanging bridges

The hanging bridges were a fabulous way to take in the gorgeous cloud forest

Exploring Monteverde Biological Reserve with our guide, Giovanni

Sweet little waterfall named "Tobacco Spit" in Spanish.  Too pretty for that name in my opinion

So beautiful it's almost unreal

Checking out the coffee plantation at the Don Juan coffee farm

Beautiful sunset over the cloud forest

We got back to my home on Tuesday afternoon and my parents were so sweet by helping me clean around my house and out in our garden area.  Then they headed out to go to a hotel for the night before taking an early flight on Wednesday morning.  What a blessing to have them here with me for a week, both to get to experience my life as an SI staff member in Desamparados and also to enjoy some of the most beautiful places the country has to offer.  Can't wait for them to come back in the future.  :)