First Day of School & Volcán Irazú

Alphonso (my Tican Dad) went with me in the car to school to make sure I didn't get lost.  I was cutting it pretty close, we arrived at 7:25.  Things were supposed to get underway the first day at 7:30, but no one showed up until about 7:40, typical laid back approach to time.  It was funny that Alphonso was a bit peeved at the tardiness.  A young woman showed up and unlocked the security gate.  We went in and she turned off the alarm.


Alphonso knew her and introduced me to Alice.  It turned out that she was my teacher.  There are only two students in the school this week.  Since there are 2 teachers it works out well.  What may have been group lessons turns out to be private lessons.  Good luck for me--3 hours each day of individual tutoring.


Alice spent a few minutes of our first session introducing herself then we had a 30-minuted conversation where she assessed my level of Spanish.  It was very relaxed and amiable, we chatted comfortably.  No need to elaborate what we're going to work on this week but it's exactly suited to me improving the parts of the language where I'm weakest.


We have a 15-minute break each day and class finishes each day at 11:15, leaving the afternoons free for exploring.  Lili is in charge of the agenda of tourism; she and Alphonso are my guides.  I drove back to the house and picked them up then we were off to lunch (my treat) and then the Irazú volcano.


On the way we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch.  Here's a picture of Lili and Alphonso at our table.

Lunch was good, I had fish fingers and they both had the house specialty rice.  Plenty of food, especially what they ordered.  Then it was on the road to Irazú Volcano National Park.  It took about an hour to get there, including a 10-minute stop waiting for a road crew to clear the road of dirt and small plants that had collapsed  from the side of the road.


It was a beautiful day, lots of clouds that we could drive through on our way up the side of the volcano.  My ears were popping as if I was in a plane instead of a Rav 4. Temperature was dropping, the dashboard has a thermometer that speaks Celsius.  It went down to 11 degrees at the caldera of the volcano--52 degrees Fahrenheit.


We walked a short way and caught some good views of the primary and secondary calderas between the clouds.  It wasn't long before a ranger motored out and asked us to leave--the parks here close at 3:30 PM.
Here's a picture of the primary caldera--it's about the same depth as a football field.

Irazú hasn't erupted since the 60s but it gives off a sulphurous odor like it means business and one of these days just might blow its stack again.


We left and wound our way back through Cartago, where I passed on visiting a fancy church.  I'd already seen it from the outside on the way to Turrialba and I was getting tired of driving, plus it was getting dark.  We still had a stop to make at the supermarket near the house to buy a few things, like a bottle of red Chilean wine for Alphonso.  He favors wine, Lili will drink an Imperial with me.


We have a plan for the afternoons, Tuesday it's the Guayabo National Monument.


I've held back up until now but I have to say it to close this post, "Pura vida!"