We finally had a chance to visit the site where we will be spending the next two years. It is a lovely town of 1400 people in the mountains of the province of Herrera. It is at an elevation of 2000 ft, which means that we have nice cool weather. The average day ranges from around 68 degrees at night to the low 80's in the day. It is an incredibly scenic spot, right on the edge of a forest preserve.
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| Our host family house |
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| The view from the window of our house |
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| Ormelis with our host parents Aristides and Odilia |
Ormelis is an English teacher who lives in the same house with us. Heather will be co-teaching with him this year. He stays here four nights a week and goes home to the regional capital Chitre on weekends.
The first day on site Aristides took us in his 4x4 pickup to a really nice swimming hole. The road was really steep and washed out in places, but we made it.
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| "El Salto", the waterfall |
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| The intrepid swimmers |
In order to get to our town, we have to take a pickup truck. There are four which make the trip, each one set up with benches on each side, which makes room for ten people. Sometimes there is an overflow - strictly illegal, but often done!
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| This is the only way to get to or from our town |
On Monday Heather went to the school where they gave her a warm welcome. Steve was at a meeting with ANAM, the governmental environmental authority, and didn't get there until Tuesday.
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| Heather and Ormelis |
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| Opening assembly for Middle School with principal |
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| The school gate |
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| The view on the way to school - flowering trees |
Aristides took us to his "finca", a small farm with a pond where he keeps a dugout canoe.
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| Paddling the dugout canoe on the family pond |
On our last day in site we went to the far end of the town (over a mile) and we got a (hazy) view of the Pacific Ocean!
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