Iguanas

On Friday, we traveled from the mountainous region of Costa Rica to the Pacific Coast, and boy did I love the beach! It was so natural and undeveloped and I could have spent days there.

We stayed in a development called Hacienda Pinilla, which has hotel rooms and houses. I was in the Casa de Golf suites, and outside our residence there were a number of iguanas. It was typical to see two or three sunning in the driveway, and they hoped we would give them some fruit.

The Daddy Iguana

Zip-Line Daredevils!

After we officially dedicated the Costa Rica campus, we went on a canopy zip-line tour. It was great, once I got over my fear of falling and dying. To start, we had to climb up these stairs, cross a very unstable bridge, hike far to much, but the pay off was worth it. There were 11 zip lines in the tour, each getting longer and faster. The last two we had to go in tandem, and Marc sang the OSU fight song at the top if his lungs as we crossed #10 together.

It was the coolest experience and the mountainous region of Costa Rica is just beautiful when viewed from the top.

Marc zipping across Costa Rica

The Campus

On our second day in Costa Rica, we got to the campus around 9:30am. While everyone else toured the campus, I was adding in the VIPs to the Provost's speech. So I missed seeing everything, but Marc took some great pictures.

Some of the flora
Some of the cows and horses on campus

Headed to Campus

Here are some pictures taken on the way down the mountain to the UGA Costa Rica campus. The first picture, while hazy, is of the Nicoya Gulf.

Costa Rica, Day One

We left for Costa Rica on Wednesday, February 27. Our flight to Liberia, Costa Rica left Atlanta at 10 am, so it was an early morning for us. We were up at 4:00am, on the road by 5:15, and at the airport by 7:00. We were the first of the UGA group there, but we were quickly joined in the ticketing line by several others on the trip.

Our plane took off from cold Atlanta, and after an uneventful 4 and a half hour flight, we were in hot and windy Costa Rica. We quickly went through customs and in no time were on the bus headed to San Luis.

Our first stop was about 45 minutes into the bus ride, and we had lunch at Rio Tropicales. It had a cute resturant and gift shop, and was a place where you could go rafting/canoeing. And I was delighted to find Coca-Colas in the larger glass bottles. Yummmm. . .so good! My resolution for one coke a day was out the window when I was outside the USA.

The view from Rio Tropicales

The roads in CR are rough, to say the least. They are bumpy and curvy and our bus couldn't go more than 40 mph. We took some Advil and pain pills to proactively prevent and back pain, and I had lots of dramamine!

We had a great tour guide that told us lots about the country, Juan Carlos. If you ever go to CR, you MUST have Juan Carlos as your guide. He was the absolute best and we all loved him.

We stopped along the way to take some pictures of an active volcano. On the other side of the road, it was beautiful and mountainous. We were there during the dry season, so it was a little brown. But it was still beautiful!

We arrived at Monteverde (the larger town outside San Luis) at 6:30p (central time) and checked into the hotel, but didn't go to our rooms. Instead, we loaded into smaller buses and headed to the UGA Costa Rica campus. We had a great dinner with the students who are currently studying there. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.

Marc crashed hard.

It was a long and exhausting day, but was worth it to see such dynamic students and faculty.

Where have I been?

Costa Rica! Marc and I got back from a 5 day trip where we dedicated the UGA Costa Rica campus. There was a lot of work leading up to the trip and I am terribly behind in everthing now, of course. But as I get the pictures downloaded and developed (we took our film camera along, too) I will get some pictures posted and tell you all about the travel. But till then, here's Marc on the beach at sunset.

City Champs! Well, almost. . .

Friday night, Trip played for the 4th grade city championship, and what a game it was - triple overtime! Trip was clearly the best player on his team, and Marc and I were so glad we could cheer him on. Sadly, his team, the Volunteers, lost at the very end to the Commodores. Who knew that the best sports action in Athens, Georgia would be at the YMCA?

St. Louis

Every year, Marc and the students he advises attend the NACA conference. NACA is aimed at advisors and students who are involved in college programming boards, so there are showcases with lots of comedians, musicians and speakers. Then there is a marketplace where vendors and agents talk to the students about bringing their products to campus.

The guys from Reno 911!

Which one is the monkey?

Marc has a great group of students who serve on the University Union Board of Governors, and I enjoyed meeting them.

Marc's Kiddies

This year's conference was in St. Louis. And since I have never been to Missouri, I decided to join him for the weekend. I expected a downtown that would be a little quieter, since it was the weekend. But one with shops and resturants that we could enjoy. What we saw was very different.

The shuttered shopping mall - so sad!

St. Louis was a ghost town. We joked that I Am Legend could have been flimed in St. Louis since there was no one out and everything was closed. There was a very sad shopping mall that was closed down, and the library was shuttered. We did see a lot of high end lofts for sale, so maybe in three years it will be a different place, but for now it was dreary and empty.

Even the Library was closed down!

St. Louis is probably most famous for the Arch, which is magnificant. I would have liked to have taken the tram to the top, but it was $25 per person! I just couldn't justify spending $50 for a view of a dying city when I am saving money for a wedding!

So if you are looking for a vacation spot, I wouldn't recommend St. Louis.

Marc in a Tux!

We capped off a very busy week (and kick-started a very busy February) by attending the 2008 Celebration of Support. Well, Marc attended. I worked. But any day that Marc is in a tux is a good day! This picture is from the end of the evening, after I ran around the Atlanta History Center many times.

 

Sandy on a Saturday

It was a lazy Saturday for all of us in the McMotte household.

Sandy is very good at lazy.