new week & new group

Buenos dias! I survived the weekend.

Friday night I had a great time with Selma, the guide who had been staying with me in Monteverde this last week with her group. We went to Bar Amigos and enjoyed some great live music by Calle *, a well known band. They played some great salsa and cumbia, and we danced and had fun people watching: there were a LOT of gringos! Apparently I do not dance like a gringa, which I was very pleased to hear. From now on I have a "Tia Selma," haha!

On Saturday morning I hiked with the Texas A&M group to San Luis waterfall, where we sat and swam a little in the ice cold water at the base of the waterfall. We hiked back and everyone left to have lunch: I went back to Casas del Toro and showered, then came to CPI and prepared to leave for Heredia to pick up my group. I was accompanied by Leslie, another chaperone who is in training: he is only 18! and this is his first summer working with CPI Groups (I felt like I was hanging out with Peter the whole time!). We arrived at CPI Heredia and went top get dinner with the other chaperones, Jessica and Sonia who had been prepping folders and group info in the office all day. We went with Don Carlos (my boss's husband) and Ronny our chofer to a Chinese place in San Joaquin for dinner, and then Leslie and I sat tight in the office until we went to get some students from my group at 10:30pm. We picked them up and dropped them off at the B&B and returned to CPI to be picked up by another chofer in a HUGE tour bus: and then we returned to the airport to pick up the rest of the group. We waited around checking the arrivals board constantly: the status of the flight had been delayed to 12:15am, but for 20 minutes the status read "confirmed." Then it changed to "delayed," without an updated time frame. THEN it was changed to "arrived," and the group filed out and we hopped on the bus and went to the B&B, around 1:30am. Unfortunately, I do not know this B&B, La Dehesa, as well as I thought I did. There was a massive wait until I discovered which wing my students were in, and then another wait for the keys to one room that had no door handle. I went to sleep around 2:30am.
The next morning we woke up around 7am in my room, and had breakfast at 8am. My chofer with the huge bus was right on time, and by 9:05am we were on the road to Monteverde, dropping Leslie off at CPI to pick up his own group: what a crash course for him! But I was very impressed with him, being patient and proactive: He will be a great chap! There are several new chaps I have not yet met, many of whom are in Heredia: I wonder if we will ever meet? Once groups get going I think the only contact we will have is passing each other on the highway, haha.
My group arrived safe and sound to Monteverde around 2pm and we were finally through with interviews, placement testing and orientation around 5:30pm. Thanks to Jessica for helping me with orientation! Afterwards we changed and went to dinner, and who should I see at the bar but my friend Gustavo Mora, who was a guide with me for a West Coast group last summer! We chatted and lamented that he would not be working with CPI this summer. It was good to catch up. Then Jess and I crashed at home. I slept well.

Today I am going on a walking tour of Santa Elena with my group, and we have a cooking class at noon, which means free lunch! Then I move them into classes and working on making their student IDs this afternoon...
Hasta pronto!