CPI Central Panamerican Idiomas

Just a quick post on CPI.
We came down to Costa Rica for two reason. One was to surf the other was to learn spanish. When we were in Costa Rica last March, we heard about this school from a number of people we met at the hostel in Saint Elena. CPI is located in the town of Playa Flamingo which is on the Guanacasta Pennisula. It provides individuals with intensive spanish language classes. You can study for as short as a week or for months if you want. We, of course, only had time to do one week.

I would say that in general, it was a really great experience for us all. The kids were in a class together and Dan and I were in a class with two other people. We definately learned a lot. We would love to come back and do another week or two next summer.
The students in the program range in ages from 7 to 65. Many of the students were American but there were also students from as far away as Russia, Switzerland and England.

If you have an interest in learning spanish, in a spanish speaking country we would highly recommend this program. The program has three different locations in Costa Rica; Playa Flamingo, Heredia and MonteVerde. They even have some resident bats!!!

In general, you attend classes in the morning and then can participate in various excursions in the afternoon. You have the option of staying in a modest villa, a B&B or a homestay with a Costa Rican Family. We opted for the villa which was nice and very economical.





We finished with our program on Friday and today we left Playa Flamingo and traveled to Tamarindo to start our week of surfing. we will miss Playa Flamingo and our new friends. We would like to wish Tomar, Evan, Beth, Lean and Michael a safe journey and a happy New Year. You all made our expereince so much more memorable. We hope that our paths cross again. Evan, good luck with the whole college thing and let us know if you caught some waves!!!

Pura Vida!

Playa Conchal

Well we made it through another morning of Spanish lessons. We are all progressing. I can manage some Spanish slightly above basic. So at least when we are in a restaurant or need something (like our laundry done) we can more or less get the point across intelligently. The six years of Spanish that I took in high school and college is slowing creeping back from the abyss.

Today after class the school sponsored a trip to the lovely Playa Conchal. It is a beautiful white sand beach in a large cove. We were able to do some snorkeling and enjoyed the little bit of sun that was out. The water here is a great temperature and such a beautiful color.
The highlight of the outing, however, was the troop of howler monkeys that lounged all afternoon in the trees right behind us. There were about ten all together including very tiny baby that kept hanging upside down by its tail. A sad fact about the monkeys in Costa Rica is that 80% of all deaths are cased by electrical shock. The country is developing very fast. There are now electrical wires and roads that cut through the monkeys routes to the beach. Monkeys are regularly getting electrocuted as they try to swing on electrical wires to get across roads.

At the moment, we are doing our homework together at the kitchen table. When we are done we will walk down to the Heledaria for some ice cream. We are exhausted but in a good way. The last two days have been so great here and we are really getting into the groove of being in an exotic country. We are happy to know that we still have a week of surfing ahead of us.

Nos Vemos
Pura Vida

La Playa Penca

This is a beautiful sand beach north of Playa Flamingo that is off the beaten track and barely used. There is excellent body-surfing in this protected cove that looks out onto picturesque rock formations and islands. From here we explored 3 more beaches to the North, by walking along the rocky points at low tide. The kids loved exploring the tidal pools that swarmed with crabs, sea anemones, brittle stars, darter fish and sea slugs.

Monkey Park

El Parque De Monos

Tuesday
December 19, 2007

It is our fifth day in Costa Rica and our third day of Spanish classes at CPI. For part of our morning session we went to an animal rehabilitation park about twenty minutes from the school. It is called El Parque de Monos, which translates to The Monkey Park.
Although the park was not much to look at, it was a very interesting trip. The guide, who was from Venezuela, was very knowledgeable and passionate about his work. He is a volunteer as is everyone who works at the park and their main objective is to rescue animals and release them back to the wild.
Most of the animals that we saw are permanent residents because they would not be able to survive back in the wild for one reason or another. But many of the animals do get released back to the wild.

While we were there we saw fur types of monkeys, several exotic birds, crocodiles, wild pigs and the Costa Rican version of a raccoon. This last critter has been released several times on the large reserve and keeps coming back. They let him just roam around for a bit on the grounds but he kept coming up to the tourists and growling at them. Apparently he is quite friendly but can be scary if he shows up behind you growling. So they have him back in the cage.

Costa Rica

We arrived in Liberia, Costa Rica yesterday. The weather is beautiful.....but hot. We are certainly not complaining. We swam at the beautiful Playa Flamingo Beach this afternoon with the jack fish. We were woken from our afternoon nap by the cows mooing away behind our Villa. Playa Flamingo is an odd tourist town built primarily on a hill overlooking a bay. We forgot to bring the camera to the beach today but we'll be sure to get a picture tomorrow.
We are staying at the Villaggio Flor Del Pacifica.
We spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon at the pool. We begin Spanish classes in the morning. In Playa Flamingo it is hard to find someone who speaks English so we have been working the Spanish and getting by. We are excited about seeing our nephews Jonathan and Steven at the end of the week.
Until tomorrow....Pura vida