Suzuki Strings entertains rural Costa Rica!

The Suzuki Strings Group from Boulder Colorado just completed a whirlwind 9-day tour of rural communities all over Costa Rica. They did two concerts in the Palmichal area, in the hills south of San José. Then they went to Montealto, a forest reserve and lodge near Hojancha, in Guanacaste Province, and performed at the Salón Comunal. They enjoyed a day at beautiful Playa Carrillo as well! Then they were off to La Casona in El Tanque, east of Arenal Volcano. They spent a day in the village of Juanilama, where organic pineapples are grown, and entertained at the local school. Another concert was at the La Fortuna Church. Canopy tours, hot springs and volcano viewing were included in their trip.
Kyra Cruz, director of ACTUAR, wrote to the group after their tour, saying "Thank you for letting us bring the Suzuki Strings to Costa Rica's communities. We heard very nice things about the concerts and I am sure that this was a very rewarding experience for the village children.  I wish we could have more visitors like you in our country!!!"
I invite the 21 Suzuki Strings participants to share their photos and stories here.

Special rice tamales at El Descanso!

At El Descanso they prepared tamales de arroz, a special form of tamales that are used on special occasions. Doña Eulalia, one of the owners of the lodge, took us to the open air cooking area behind the kitchen and showed us how they put raw, seasoned rice and meat in a leaf of the bijagua or calatea plant.
They wrap it all up in a neat little bundle, then put the tamales to boil over an open fire for several hours.
In the US, and in Costa Rica too, tamales are usually made of corn. It's beautiful how the rice expands inside its leafy package during the boiling process to make a delicious treat that was ready for us to eat when we returned from Boruca.