Monteverde

CPI in Monteverde--The dogs follow us everywhere!

     We arrived in Monteverde last Monday and we will be here for two weeks. I absolutely love my familia tica. There is a mom, dad, and two little girls, Yendry (11) and Sophie (2). My house in Monteverde is very different from my home in Heredia. Things are very open and there is little privacy. My room and the bathroom are the only rooms with doors. I also noticed that there are no gates or bars on the windows of houses here. There were bars and locks on everything in Heredia. There are very few paved roads here in Monteverde and I have a hike to the closest meeting point. Every morning I have to walk up a massive mountain of mud and rocks. I am sweating and completely out of breath each time I reach the top! People around here also walk everywhere, which is probably why I have yet to see someone over weight.

My home in Monteverde

     My mama tica takes English classes at night Monday through Wednesday. She tries to speak to me in English at home but it is only a few broken words. Which I’m sure is exactly how my Spanish sounds to them! The daughter, Yendry is in 5^th grade and is also learning English through school. Last week I helped her study for a test on the body parts. While I was helping her learn body parts in English, she helped me learn the body parts in Spanish. My mama tica is very involved with Yendry’s education. She makes sure she does her homework every night and she often motivates her to study. This directly ties into my research project. I want to find out more about parent involvement in the children’s education here in Costa Rica. The first week we were here, I made up a survey with questions about the importance of education and involvement for people to fill out. Of course it is in Spanish. I used a scale for most of the questions to make it easier to analyze my data. There are however, two open ended questions that I will need to translate later on. I sent surveys home with my peers to have their families fill out, in both Heredia and Monteverde. I also gave out some surveys at the hotel this weekend in La Fortuna. I think I will have a good sample of people to pull from throughout the rest of the trip.

Sophie

Mama Tica, Yendry, & Sophie

     My mama tica is one of twelve children. Most of her brothers and sisters and their families live nearby. There are people always coming over and running in and out of the house. It is very exciting all of the time! Everyone is very close here. I don’t get much privacy or much rest, but it doesn’t bother me much. Every morning the two year old, Sophie comes in my room and sits on my bed. She just watches me brush my hair and put on my makeup. In the evenings when I return from a long day of hiking and four hours of Spanish class, I am ready to nap or at least sit down. Not likely. My mama tica’s sister who is 16 and the daughter Yendry come in my room and say, “Vamos! Bailar!” Let’s go dance. We do Zumba in the living room. It’s a lot of fun! I am learning many different dances: Cumbia, Salsa, Samba, Flamingo, and the Marenge. Needless to say, I have slept well every single night! It’s hard to believe that we only have one more week left!