Bananas & More!

We continue to hear good things from our group in Costa Rica. Here is a note from Ms. Clark, one of our UA faculty chaperones:

Today we went to the EU Waste Management facility and the banana farm.  It was fascinating to see how well they handle their waste! All plastics are either recycled or reused- we made brooms out of plastic coke bottles- and their organic waste is composted.  They do have a landfill here on campus (they gave us an overview of how it is made), but they only use it for disposing of materials that cannot be recycled or composted. Their system is such a great example of what we should be striving for in the US.

The banana farm was great, too.  We got to go into the banana fields to see the plants (did you know they are technically herbs?)  The entire farm is organic, so they cover the bananas with plastic bags treated with garlic and pepper- it acts as a natural insect repellent. Once the bananas are ready to harvest, the workers cut them down and place them on the "banana train" which takes them to the processing plant.  The train is actually an overhead cable that acts like a conveyor belt with the banana bunches hanging from hooks.

Interesting tidbit- Whole Foods in the US buys 95% of the bananas grown at Earth University.  Look for the sticker!

Walking through the banana plantation

banana flower

banana train

time out for a little dancing lesson :)

In the medicinal garden

Making our broom

The winning team with the first completed broom

 

Costa Rica Field trips

Our Costa Rica group has written to tell us all about the many wonderful field trips that they have taken this week. In one day, they visited a cow and swine farm, a rain forest and a peri urban garden ("Peri urban" means "around a city" - we are learning so much!). Here are some of the favorite moments so far:

Ready for anything that comes our way!!!

Cows at feeding time

Swine who a part of a self-sustaining closed system
(this part was a little too aromatic for certain group members)

The Library at EARTH University

Hiking through the rain forest & grateful for knowledgeable guides

the garden

Shredding Corn Stalks for swine food

An impressive view of the garden

A friend met along the way

Hello from Costa Rica!

This week, four adventurous UA students and two faculty chaperons are in Costa Rica at a Global Youth Leadership Institute (GYLI) Conference. They have only been in Costa Rica for 4 days but they have already experienced and learned so much. The group started off at the campus of United World College where they met many new friends and began the process of identifying their own personal leadership styles. Now they are residing on the campus of Earth University where they are learning about sustainability. Most recently, they have had lessons about how Cacao beans eventually become chocolate and about gardening alternatives when there is no proper soil to use for planting crops. The group reports that they are having a wonderful time in the tropical environment and that they are learning a lot and are laughing a lot!  We look forward to hearing more from them in the coming days.

Hello from Costa Rica!

It's just beautiful here!

Early morning work out ...

Sharing with our new friends

UWC Campus

A Cacao pod - the fruit is delicious!

Planting tomatoes

Fresh fruit from the tress !

Back home in Big D!

This morning our Peru delegation arrived back home in Big D. From all accounts, the farewells last night in Lima were heart-wrenching with absolutely everyone in tears. As we always say, that's how we know that the exchange was a success and that the friendships will endure. We can't thank everyone at Colegio Santa Ursula enough for their kindness and hospitality - It was a fantastic visit and we can't wait to see our Peruvian sisters again in 2014!

Saying goodbye to our host families - We love you!

Muchas Gracias !!!!

Lima's Museum of Archeology

Yesterday's blog reflection from Peru comes from Kim:

Today we went on our final delegation field trip together to El Museo Arqueológico (The Archeology Museum). There we learned about various Pre-Incan cultures thanks to Mr. Hoyle and to our tour guide. We were at the museum for about 2 hours. My favorite part was looking at the artwork created by the Chimu and Moche peoples, having studied their cultures in the past school year. I learned that the Chimu pottery resembled much of the Moche pottery. Precious metal and beautiful designs were incorporated into the pottery, which were then used as offerings to their gods. It was a very interesting museum!

English Presentations at Colegio Santa Ursula

Before coming to Peru, our UA Dallas students were asked to prepare several short presentations for the advanced English language classes at Colegio Santa Ursula. Our students researched and presented several topics which had been discussed earlier in the year by the students in Peru. So, today, our delegation made their presentations and shared the American teenage perspective on the topics of pop culture, technology in education, food technology, the US education system and sociology. It was a great exchange of culture and language!

 

As part of the "food technology" presentation, the students shared "Pop Rocks" - It was a huge hit!

Amigas para siempre!

The Nazca Lines

The following blog entry is from Isa D. from July 6:

Today, we continued the excursion portion of our trip to Peru. From our hotel in Ica, we had to travel about two and a half hours by bus to get to the Nazca lines. During the bus ride, we got to see some different areas of Peru, such as beautiful mountains and small houses in the flatter "desert" areas. These areas are a lot warmer than Lima during this time of year, so we were all excited to see the sun! 

The first place we stopped was at the figure of "The Loom". We had to climb a couple of hundred stairs to a platform on a nearby hill to see the whole image. I learned that there were two techniques that the Nazcas used to make the lines and figures: one was by using a tool like a big pencil to dig into the ground and move the rocks aside, which made lines about 3 or 4 centimeters deep; the other method was by moving the stones around. Everyone took lots of pictures from the platform.

After this, we went to the museum of Maria Reiche, an archaeologist from Germany who fell in love with the Nazca lines and dedicated her life to researching them.  She was born in 1903, and died in her little house near the lines in 1989. We got to see where she lived and did her research, and also got to see Nazca pottery and art. One thing that surprised us all was the display of a real mummified Incan lady!

Photo of Maria Reiche

Visiting Maria Reiche's grave

The other (and last) lines that we saw were "The Hands" and "The Tree". An interesting fact that everyone seemed to love was that the "The Hands" had nine fingers, and Maria Reiche also had nine fingers! I was honestly a little bit surprised that we didn't have to climb very high to see the Nazca lines, until I learned that all the lines really vary in size. Opposite the hands and the tree was "The Crocodile", but it was so big that we couldn't even make out the tail! Seeing the Nazca lines was a really cool experience that all of us (especially Mr. Hoyle!) enjoyed a lot, and definitely won't forget anytime soon!

 

Mr. Hoyle fulfills his life-long dream of visiting the Nazca lines!

Peruvian treats!

We have had a wonderful past few days in Peru! As you may recall, we went on an excursion to Southern Peru for the weekend. One highlight of the weekend was learning about "Tejas", a popular and extremely delicious candy which is uniquely Peruvian. While in the city of Ica, we visited the home of the famous "Senora Rosalia", the woman who is credited with creating this popular treat. Even though Rosalia passed away a few years ago, her family continues to keep the candy making tradition alive. A few of our students learned how to make the Tejas candies while we were there! It was a delicious cultural experience for all of us!

Candy making is serious work!

Yummy!!!

There are lots of photos of famous people eating the Tejas candies on the wall of Rosalia's home.
There was even a photo of Pope John Paul II!

We also loved meeting the family pets!

Our Last Day in London

Sunday was our last day in London and we will hear about it from Jessica and Sophie!
Part 1:
We kicked off our last day in Wimbledon with a full English breakfast consisting of toast, mushrooms, tomatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and black pudding. We then took a train to London and walked to Covent Garden. We browsed through the markets and watched a street magician who kept talking about doing the most dangerous magic trip in Europe, but he did not actually execute it. Next, we walked to Piccadilly and went into a shop called Cool Britannia that was full of amazing British souvenirs.
Jessica Patrick
Part 2:
After going to the coolest souvenir store in the world (Cool Britannia), we headed over to the coolest shopping mall in the world (Harrods). I don't even know if it can be called a shopping mall.  It was an entire building of anything you can imagine! There was even an opera singer in the escalators! After some more shopping, we took the tube and walked back home so we could watch the Andy Murray match with the whole family. It was so exciting! After that we all gathered on the back porch for a final barbecue together. Then Jessica and I had to say goodbye to the brothers and Granny (and I won't lie-I shed some tears at that point). We then played cards and hung out with the rest of the family until it was time for bed! It has been a life-changing trip, and I will miss this family so much!
Sophie Hall