Costa Rica, How, well...Rica!

The rich coast really did apply to me last month when Colegio Americano treated me to a week-long conference in San Jose, Costa Rica. Teachers where I come from in Colorado aren't really used to this kind of treatment; it kind of seemed more like something fancy suit-types would go to rather than geeky teachers, but why not!

We arrived in San Jose after a short flight from Quito, and were greeted with a room at the very fancy Intercontinental Hotel. Here's something I never knew growing up sleeping in sleeping bags and the dirty floors of camping tents--an amazing bed filled with down above and below you and with soft-soft-soft sheets REALLY does help you sleep! I hit that bed at night and didn't roll, toss, or turn until my alarm woke me up with whatever songs from my i-pod I had synced it with the previous night!

The conference was an annual gathering of international schools from Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. We attended a pre-conference on a new online assessment we are administering this year in Quito; mostly I was excited that this fact allowed me to milk the lap of luxury for three extra nights! Our Director General generously treated us to steak and lobster dinners, sushi-bars, and the breakfast every morning, which was, well, a bit ridiculous. That plate in the lower corner is all salmon, yes, all of it. My breakfast special was a bottom layer of gallo pinto and Lizano (rice and beans and Costa Rican salsa), with two friend eggs, and salsa ranchero, cheese, and sausage on top. Maybe with a waffle and some fresh fruit as well. Yes, Costa Rica is quite appropriate.


Breakfast was only the beginning, the whole facility embraced this kind of opulence. The pools had this great design, where the water cascaded over the top of the pool, only to fall into a crack a foot back from the stone-work. Just the kind of thing for some kid to get his foot stuck in and sue in the states, but in Costa Rica it was just good architecture. The exercise gym was filled with full circuit machines, and a waiter who brought you a ginger towel and cucumber/lime water while you ran on the treadmills (equipped with personal TV's, which would accept your i-pod if nothing good was on TV). Speaking of TV, I was watching my flat-screen TV one morning, drinking Britt coffee when I realized I was watching Channel 9 Denver News. Funny, the local U.S. TV station in Costa Rica is Denver--looked like they had some black ice on Kippling that morning, I hope Glen's commute to work was okay.

But, really, there were two highlights of the trip. One, was the great people I met at the conference. International educators are my kind of people--and we had a great time, working hard during the day, and playing (read--drinking) hard in the evenings. One night--mid conference--several us from Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador ended up at a World-Cup Haiti V.S. Costa Rica soccer match. The game was awkward, they don't serve beer in the stadium, and Costa Rica is embarrassingly critical of their own team, but as we wandered the bars late at night after the game, I realized this was my zone. My friend Ray actually did a workshop one year on how to balance working out V.S. working at these kinds of events. All I know is the gym was full every morning at 5 AM with teachers that I had been partying with mere hours before.

The second highlight was pretty simple. Across the street from the hotel was a grocery store; stocked with Guiness and Red Seal (California) beers. As I've bemoaned before on this blog, Ecuador is bereft of good beer, and so this was a god-send. The Ben and Jerry's and Quizno's subs were just icing on the cake....