I was assigned to teach at UCR’s campus in Tacares, called the Recinto Universitario de Grecia.  It is located in a beautiful, agricultural (pineapples, sugar cane) area.	Ably directed by Lic. Cecilia Aguilar Lara, the campus, which was originally a monastery,  offers majors and certifications in such fields as agricultural economy,  topography, and elementary school education.	The campus also boasts a dental clinic, seen above.  The clinic staff  treats  children here, as well as in the local  schools.  A program aimed at reducing  cavities  has had very impressive results.
Shown here on the right, in one of her teacher preparation classes, is María del Pilar Zeledón Ruiz, author of Lenguaje y Estudios Sociales en la Educación Infantil.	Much of my work involved  teaching English to both university students and community members.   The students were at various stages of proficiency but were all eager learners.        On the left is my morning English class, and on the right, the afternoon class.	Rossy Alvarez  Segura (on the right) kindly consented to share an office with me, and she was patience personified when it came to my many questions.
When it was time for lunch, I went to the soda (café).   Doña Zoila made sure that I was feted with, among other things, fresh mango and pineapple and, of course, gallo pinto (rice and black beans).	The staff at the Tacares campus invited me to share in their  celebration of Father’s Day .        The fathers were honored with delicious food (left)and then were "encouraged" to participate in several amusing games (right).  The game  we see here reminded me of "flag football," with one hand tied behind the back.	Two days a week I went into the local elementary schools, where I practiced my storytelling skills in Spanish.  Here is a class of children at Sarchi Elementary School.
It was an privilege and a joy to be among these enthusiastic, well-mannered, and affectionate children.  Those you see  here are students at Cataluña Elementary School.	I lived in the city of Alajuela.  Here is a picture of the bus that I took nearly every day to and from the Tacares campus.	I lived with Dr. Flor Campos, a dentist and director of the  Tacares dental clinic (above), and her  sixteen-year-old son Tomás.    I never tired of the view, seen here, from Dr. Campos' home.
Her warm and friendly home was a frequent meeting place for the family's many friends.  Shown here is a gathering on a typical Friday evening.	On weekends I was free to travel.  I journeyed  to two volcanoes, Poás (seen here) and Arenal (to the right).  The Poás crater bubbles and steams, but at present the volcano does not present a threat.	Arenal is an active volcano, and  we were told to park with the car facing out, "en caso de emergencia." Here we see visitors enjoying the warm waters of  the Tabacón springs, heated by the volcano.
Costa Rica is famous for its coffee, and I visited a coffee plantation to learn more about  how it is grown and produced.  Seen here is a coffee bean roaster.	The town of Sarchí is famous for its hand-painted ox-carts.  Once an important mode of transportation, the ox-carts have become an art form of bright, geometric designs.	At EARTH, where a college program focuses on sustainable agriculture in the tropics, we inspected rainforest as well as the banana plantation seen here.
We also visited  a small factory at EARTH  where the fibers of banana stems are used for making banana paper, which is seen here drying in sheets.	I visited Braulio Carrillo National Park (seen here) and the cloud forest of Monteverde (Another site).	I also had the honor of being invited to a pot-luck following a Quaker Sunday meeting at Monteverde.

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