Yanuario Quezada School

Thursday’s trek led us from the jungle and beaches of Manuel Antonio Park on the Pacific coast, to our final destination, the city of San Jose. Last night we checked into the the classic, yet cozy, Britannia Hotel.
After getting some much needed shut-eye, we enjoyed a small but delicioso breakfast that, of course, included fresh Costa Rican coffee! Our trusty driver, Francisco, took us across town back to the Yanuario Quezada School to review the results of our service project we completed last week and interact with the students and staff.


We were greeted by Principal Carmen and fifth grade teacher Nadia, who is the only English teacher at the school and our valuable translator/guide. The entire staff was so appreciative of the work we did. It was rewarding to know we made a valuable contribution to the school by developing an emergency evacuation plan, installing signs and classroom numbers, painting over graffiti, and picking up trash. We hope that we have instilled a sense of pride for the students and they will continue to care for their facility.

As we walked around the school to inspect our handiwork, a few of the older boys were busy squirting Liquid Nails on a couple of the evacuation signs we attached to the concrete walls last week that had loosened. It seems as though the combination of aging paint, humidity, and curious students caused some adherence problems. Not to fear… with a little help, the ambitious young construction workers reattach the uncooperative signs, and all was well.

The whole school was buzzing with students celebrating the on-going matches of the World Cup. That’s futbol (soccer), in case you haven’t been following along. Costa Rica is simply mad about futbol! Fans young and old watch it whenever they can (even though the Costa Rican team did not fare well this time). The performance room near the center of the campus was jammed with students watching South Africa and Mexico play on a tiny TV. Some students were operating a snack table set up in the hallway just outside the cafeteria to feed the hungry sports fans.

The staff at the school had scheduled

an evacuation drill during our visit. This gave us the opportunity to see our plan in action. The basketball court at the north end of the school grounds had areas coned and marked for each classroom. Teachers marched their students from classrooms to the appropriate areas in just a few minutes.

One of the highlights of the visit – and a heck of a lot of fun – was giving the students official ASU tee shirts, highlighters, and pens.

We were quite surprised when the staff arranged for us to be entertained. One of the high school boys played guitar and sang several songs. He was truly talented. We found out later he was mostly self taught, had parents who were musically inclined, also played piano, and wrote his own songs.

Other students, dressed in traditional costume, danced to traditional music - and pulled us off our chairs to join them!

Traditional sights and sounds were just not enough. After the performances, we headed to the cafeteria for a meal of traditional foods prepared just for us, which included yet more entertainment! A female student sang with an angelic voice, accompanied by one of the music teachers on guitar. Then, two young students showed off their talents on the violin. It is quite apparent that music is an important part of life at Yanuario Quezada.

After saying adios to the staff and students at the school, we headed down the street for yet another shopping adventure. While some of us gave up a few hundred Colones to buy snacks at the supermarket (http://www.masxmenos.co.cr/), others found a farmacia to buy hydrocortisone cream to relieve the itch from bug bites (yikes! the jungle is full of small, hungry critters!).

Francisco arrived to drive us back to the Hotel Britannia, where we prepared for an evening of R&R. Some decided to go dancing, while a few of us headed off to the Multiplaza (http://www.multiplazamall.com/), a huge mall just outside of San Jose. Imagine any American upscale mall with many familiar stores but with signs in (mostly) Spanish and prices in Colones instead of Dollars. There were even young teenage “mall rats” milling about, especially in the food court. The Cinimark (http://www.cinemarkca.com/) offered a variety of current films, some dubbed in Spanish and some with Spanish subtitles. At $3.43 (with student ID), it was a bargain! You even get to choose your seat!

Well, just one more day until departure. Gee, I hope it doesn’t rain. Are you kidding? Of course it’s going to rain!