From San Jose, we travelled toward the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. After visiting Blue Valley School, an upscale private pre-k through high school campus, we toured Guayabo National Monument.
The monument is an archeological site revealing a culture that inhabited the region from approximately 1000 years B.C. to 1400 years A.D.
The people constructed conical homes on circular mounds with the size and position of the home dependent on status within the tribe. The life expectancy appears to be about 40 years. The bodies of the dead were decomposed and the cleansed skeletons were buried inside the family mound under the house.
An impressive subterranean aqueduct captured and stored water that flowed to the village through an open aqueduct system.
A roadway constructed of boulders without the invention of the wheel cuts through the modern forest, a reminder of the labor and engineering ability of an ancient people.
The American Society of Civil Engineers recognized Guayabo as a World Heritage Site in 2009.
We are currently at Earth University. It has rained since Wednesday. When it rains heavily, the Internet connection becomes intermittent. Tomorrow we depart for overnight homestays. I will be be updating the blog Tuesday, November 29. The sun has appeared! I need to run outside and try to dry the mud off my sneakers. So for now, please enjoy the sounds of the rainforest from our Earth University balcony.
And now it's raining again.
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