We spent the first weekend orientating ourselves to our new surroundings and prepping for the girls to start at their new school. We are living in Monteverde, which is located in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. The elevation is about 4,500 ft and we are situated two hours behind our normal time zone, which nicely aligns us with Elise’s parents Sunnie and Joe in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the Mountain Time Zone.

We woke to a Mott Mott at our back door on our first morning and some incredible coffee that was grown and roasted nearby from Cafe Monteverde. That first weekend was spent exploring our new neighborhood with a walk up the very steep hill to the girls’ new school, a visit to a Community Gathering, and checking out the local supermarkets and restaurants. We got a great feel for the weather as it changed repeatedly from sunny to rain the entire day. Most of the time it was no more than what the locals call, “Monteverde Mist,” which feels lovely and refreshing.

We stumbled through multiple interactions with our broken Spanish and learned first hand that Duolingo doesn’t prepare you for everything. That being said, we walked several miles and the girls were able to keep up with us despite the numerous hills we navigated with very little pushback. Cleo and Gene have fully embraced a diet that consists of 75% rice and beans and their strengthened appetites have led to more clean bowls and plates than we are accustomed.

We continued to make our house and rooms as comfy as possible to make the start of school a success. Elise’s decision to pack fairy lights for us all helped make our rooms sparkle and glow.

On Monday the 24th, the girls started at their new school, the Centro de Educacion Creativa, also known as the Cloud Forest School. Cleo is in 7th grade and Gene is in 3rd grade. (Note: it took me a while to figure out this blog, so I am catching up on these posts from the present). The girls are already in love with this school, their teachers, classmates and more. They are embracing the challenge of not being native speakers and come home everyday with so much to share about their days. We could not be happier about our decision to send them to this school.

Elise and I have been easing into our own schedules now that the girls are in school. I will be sharing more about what we are up to in future posts. Thank you for your interest and for reading this far down…