Read more of our newsletter at Issue 11, December 17, 2015
A Letter from Rev. Sue
(Reprinted from her Facebook Page with her permission)
This would be our End of the Year letter if mail did not take over a month to go from Monteverde to the States…so, FB will have to do.
Hi All,
Just checking in and wishing everyone “whatever it is you want to be wished” at this time of year. In only 10 days we will be returning to the States. It is impossible to describe in a few brief paragraphs what we have experienced in Costa Rica.
Hopefully, you have been following us on Facebook and have seen all of the MANY pictures we have posted. We were gloriously welcomed wholly into the community here and have been immersed in life in Monteverde. Monteverde is a small community in the center of Costa Rica at about 5000 feet. There is a dry, wet and rainbow season and is located in the heart of the Cloud Forest. The temperature here is always between 70 and 85, so homes here do not need any kind of heating or cooling systems at all. Monteverde is home to the most dense species diversity in the world and it is not uncommon to look out the window and see 6 or 7 different types of hummingbirds at your yard flowers. Fruit, birds, butterflies (and bugs) are abundant and the cost of living is low. When we want to leave the temperate climate we can drive two hours down the mountain and enjoy some of the finest beaches in the world. The living is simple here, slow paced, mostly organic and beautiful at every turn. The country got rid of its army in 1949 and invested in education, the town we live in was developed by Quakers and this year Costa Rica has used NO fossil fuel to power the country’s electric grid (hydro, wind and solar instead.)
Both girls attended the Cloud Forest School (CEC) (www.cloudforesetschool.org) and did very well academically. They were fortunate to have the best teacher in the whole world, Eva Alicia Hernández García, to learn Spanish and near daily experiences in land stewardship and environmental education.
Grace plays soccer on her high school team as well as the Monteverde women’s team, she has a live radio show on Tuesdays at 5:00 with her friend JP Jose Pablo Castro Salazar on Monteverde.FM (monteverde.fm) and has been very involved in musical productions at coffee houses and talent shows. She has an AMAZING group of friends here! We even rented out a little restaurant so she could have her Sweet 16 party. You will not be surprised to hear that she has decided to stay one more semester!!! Most of her friends will graduate this year so she will finish the year with them becoming even more fluent in Spanish and continuing her studies. She will be changing schools and attending the Monteverde Friends School (mfschool.org) (not far down the road from the CEC).
Ellie has immersed herself in the school and the community. She was part of the opening crew of the first public library in Monteverde and remains librarian extraordinaire! She has also been engaged in a ton of new art experiences from giant tile and concrete mosaics to acrylic painting, zentangle, drawing and more. She has also performed at coffee houses and talent shows. Ellie’s love of horses remains despite being thrown off a horse at about 90 miles an hour in Nicaragua and she has also been zip lining through the canopies of the rain forest, and climbed giant ficus trees.
I have been working on my dissertation. Progress is slow, but I hope to be done by the summer. I also have been immersed in the wonderful community of women here and have enjoyed the time and luxury of daily walking and enough sleep. I volunteered over 100 hours in the CEC library helping organize the collection and mostly helping the kids to learn to love books. I also help with the public library. I have had the opportunity to learn the art of mosaics, Tica cooking, Spanish and enjoyed worshipping each week at the Quaker Friends Meeting.
It has been a VERY restful and healing time. We will all be returning to the United States on December 17th and moving into a new home in Yarmouth thanks to Lori for being my scout and Team Soft Landing from both churches for helping assure that Ellie, Grace, Penny and I have a nice place to move into. (details about why we are back to being the fierce-some threesome are available privately, if you want to know) Grace will return to CR toward the end of January (and likely return for a visit near Easter time.) Ellie will be returning to 7th grade in Yarmouth and I am thrilled to be serving both the Sanford (13th year) and the Saco/Biddeford churches beginning in January (each at ½ time.) Hope to see everyone soon!