Monday, November 26, 2007

PHOTOS







Finalmente!! Photos!!



I finally found another internet cafe that is configured to take our USB photo thingy! I have a horrid cold and no voice but otherwise we are well. Toby has decided he likes learning spanish which is a good thing since they started with full morning lessons today. Dave and another guy from Sweden have now joined our class previously of two and significantly ratcheted up the level. Vicky (from England) and I are struggling!! This weekend we did two cool excursions. We went Saturday to El Explorador - a totally wacky garden with found objects, piped classical music, play things, inspirational sayings and flowers. The kids loved it. Sunday we hired a cab to take us to the end of the road below Volcan Baru to the ranger station where the Quetzals trail started. You need 4wd to get there and then hike a very rough road for acouple km then join the trail. Beautiful cloud forest, towering trees, wild epiphites, wild green parrots, rushing rivers, mud, sun, sheepherders. We just finished reading Heidi and the first part of the hike was almost like Switzerland - sheep, herders huts, pine trees, flowers, then you drop ontot the otherside where it turns into cloud forest with thick trees and lush undergrowth. Mostly indigenous folks work up in the mountains (Ngobe Bugle). The kids did great with the hike which took almost 4 hours and involved getting Cassidy´s new red shoes totally mud coated (minor fit here). Unfortunately, the hike did me in and my cold set in for real. Here are some pictures from the hike and garden and our house.
from Toby; "We went to the Explorador, we saw funny things there . there was some sewing machines which had faces which were funny. We went to the mi jardin es su jardin, and there was cool bridges shaped like golden gate bridges but you couldnt drive on them you could only walk.there was wooden sculptures and a little salted sea village which had been recovered from water. and there was a tunnel covered with vines. this is back to cassidy
from Cassidy "I had fun at the Explorador. There was a little science cab. I had so much fun on the swings. we played billy goat gruff on the bridges.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice pics. Thanks! Sounds like quite an adventure, muddy red shoes & all. As always, you guys are an inspiration. Hang in there, get healthy & know that we're thinking about you. Look forward to the next post!

Love, Matt, Jen & the Girls

Darryl Fuller and Susan Jordan said...

Shannon, Dave, Toby, and Cassidy,

I finally found some time to catch up with your adventures, sounds adventurous, and fun. How awesome to be immersed in such a different scene.

We skied a bit this week, but there is troublingly little snow. 10" last night and more today/tonight, so perhaps they will open more than 1 run. It's been a great fall for bike riding, but now that December is here I'd say its time for winter.

Best wishes,

Darryl (and Susan!)

MEYER FAMILY said...

Darryl and Matt nice to hear from you. Hard to imagine winter here. It is 68-78 all the time here.