JUST A LITTLE OF COSTA RICA

As far as many people are concerned, Costa Rica is full of wonders. Just one entry is not enough to show them all. While pursuing my TESOL CERTIFICATE at Centro Espiral Maná (Mana Spiral Center), I had the chance to explore a little of its northern rural area. The few things I saw made me want to come back and continue exploring this magnificent treasure in Central America.

It was the rainy season and seeing the Volcan El Arenal (The Arenal Volcano) was not that easy because of the fog.  Fortunately, I could take a picture of this wonder in Costa Rica. This volcano is located in La Fortuna District, 8 kms away from La Fortuna City. 

During that month of hard study, I could visit Ciudad de la Fortuna (La Fortuna City), which is in San Carlos canton, in Alajuela Province. Fortuna is translated into English as fortune. Before the Arenal Volcano eruption in 1968, El Bohío was a town to the east of the volcano. The eruption destroyed some towns to the west. Fortunately, El Bohío was not touched by the eruption. Due to that, the town’s name was changed into La Fortuna.

The wonderful learning experience at Centro Espiral Mana helped me improve my English teaching practice.  That place is an educational institute in which mostly English is taught. It is located in EL INVU (Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo), a rural community in Peñas Blancas. I had the opportunity to share with students, other English teachers and trainers from other countries such as Mexico, Chile, England, and Argentina. The experience was full of professional development and integral growth.

A spiral is the logo of Centro Espiral Mana. This one, made with plants, is as natural as Costa Rica. 

These are my fellows at work. They are a group of English teachers from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Chile. 

Like in millions of Latin American and European people, soccer seems to flow through the blood of The Ticos (Costa Rican people). That is why a plaza -as they call the soccer field- is commonly seen.

I saw a great natural diversity, which includes colorful flowers. My lens and I found this one very beautiful.

We could see interesting mammals such as this sloth, which visited us one morning when my classmates and I were as busy as always. All of us enjoyed the pleasant interruption and the cute animal became our pet for a while.

I could see many insects such as this grasshopper.  I saw it when I was taking a relaxing walk. 

Also, during my relaxing walk, I found this beautiful butterfly getting nectar from a beautiful flower. In fact, my classmates went on a trip to the Botanical Garden. When they came back, they told me they had seen a very interesting butterfly farm. That is one of my places to visit in my next trip to C.R.

Finally, the best way to end any kind of event is enjoying the hot springs near The Arenal Volcano. They reach 45 Degrees C. However, once you have been in the water for a couple of minutes, you do not want to get out of the pond.

To explore the Spanish version of this entry, please, go to:

https://maxhumano.blogspot.com/2020/07/un-poquito-de-costa-rica.html

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2020

A MEMORABLE ARCH

Hello everyone,

With great excitement, my wife and I drove south from the noise in Santo Domingo, capital city of the Dominican Republic, on Friday, 20^th, 2019. San Juan de la Maguana, my beloved home town, waited 187 kilometers away. Our aim was to celebrate our wedding anniversary. As always, we were eager to feel the fresh breeze of Christmas season there, whose temperature drops from 25 to 20 degrees C.

As soon as we arrived, we made plans to take a walk around EL ARCO DEL TRIUNFO (The Arch of Triumph). We went there after dinner.  This time besides the colorful lights, the traditional decoration included high technology. Ruth got so excited with its beauty that she recorded a video and sent it to my sister in Spain. Navidad sin mi Madre (Christmas without my Mom) by Tomás Santana (known as El General Larguito) was heard as background Typical Merengue music.

The Arch of Triumph is located in a circle not too far from the entrance of the city. It is surrounded by The Hotel Maguana (Maguana Hotel), built in 1948; the Parque Duarte (Duarte Park); the Palacio del Ayuntamiento (Town Hall Palace); and the Palacio de Justicia (Justice Palace). All this is in the cross formed by Avenida Independencia (Independencia Avenue) and Calle San Juan Bautista (San Juan Bautista Street). Lots of memories come to my mind because I spent most of my childhood on that street, just five blocks away.

Let me share a Little bit of the arch’s history with you. In 1939, the dictator, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina and his companions passed through an arch built for them in the intersection formed by Avenida Independencia and Calle Colón (Colón Street). It seems that arch inspired some residents to make the beautiful arch we have now. The project was managed by Guillermo Prince who was considered the father of construction work in San Juan de la Maguana in those times. He was accompanied by Mr. Mendoza, the master builder. They hired workers from all over the province. The Petty Majors were in charge of hiring the bricklayers they needed.

Whenever my wife and I have the chance, we travel to what has become her beloved San Juan, take day and night walks around The Arch and enjoy some of the events that are held around it. I hope you enjoyed this journey through one of the most important places in San Juan de la Maguana, The Arch of Triumph.

To see the Spanish version of this entry, go to 

https://maxhumano.blogspot.com/2020/04/recuerdos-del-arco.html

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 2020