July 18 – 24
We’re at a Spanish language school/ scientific research station on the shores of Laguna de Apoyo. All four of us take private Spanish lessons for 4 hours in the morning. In the afternoons, we swim in the lake which is in the crater of an extinct volcano. The land along the shore rises steeply, the forests protected by a reserve that encompasses the entire lake. There are houses, hotels and a school within the reserve. We are surrounded by what is called a dry tropical forest although it doesn’t seem too dry right now as we are in the midst of rainy season in Nicaragua.
We arrived here during a downpour and the clothes we washed that day took 3 days to dry as it rained right through the weekend. Some of the clothes we had to wash again as they soon smelled a bit moldy. Later in the week the weather retuned to the normal rainy season pattern of sun in the morning and rain showers in the late afternoon or at night.
Most of the week a troop of 10 or more howler monkeys hung out in the yard near the school. Their otherworldly howls greeted us at 5am every morning and they frolicked in the trees above us as we tried desperately to concentrate on our Spanish verbs. Bjorn and I had our classes under the trees where the monkeys played and ate and occasionally had to go to the bathroom. Sometimes we’d hear water and wonder if it was yet another tropical rain shower and then realize that the others weren’t experiencing the same shower. Time to move our table. One day we saw a huge 2 foot long iguana prowling through the yard like something out of Jurassic park. All of this was delightfully distracting from our struggle with tenses and pronouns.
Each day we spent lots of time down at the lake swimming. The water was warm but just cool enough to be refreshing in the heat and humidity. One day while swimming, Emma picked up something she thought was a piece of styrofoam but it turned out to be a rock! There were pieces of floating pumice all over the place and Emma swam about collecting rocks on the water. There are apparently layers of pumice surrounding this caldera and when it rains, pieces wash into the lake.
Look closely at these leaves. They are actually a butterfly disguising itself. This was found on the grounds of the school during a moth study to survey biodiversity.I think the official name is leafwing butterfly.
-Margit
long4adventure
What a fascinating and delightful location to study Spanish! Makes me want to just pack up everything and leave for my favorite place in Costa Rica. Looking forward to reading more about your ‘jungle school’ in the days ahead.
Daniel F.
Hi Family,
Your stay at the reserve sounds magical: monkeys, rain forests, a volcanic lake, and treasures to collect! Hope you are now communicating fluently with the locals! Stay safe and healthy.
Ah, hace mucho calor! Be sure to buy a little beach chair and carry it with you for the rest of the trip! 🙂
Your adventures are like reading a book .. hard to put down. Thank you for taking us along on your trip
Where are the robert pictures? I saw Johnny Thunder, but no robert pictures, I’m posting a comment because you don’t e-mail me much…
Love reading about your adventures. Keep ’em coming! Stay safe….