Image gallery

A month here, in pictures

Every photograph on this page was taken during the program, by us or by our students. Nothing is stock.

The town and the land

Guanacaste is dry forest, not rainforest: volcanoes, open pasture, rivers that run cold out of the mountain.

A rainbow over the Miravalles volcano, a man standing with a white horse in open pasture — Miravalles after the rain

A figure on a wooden lookout tower beside a Costa Rican flag, against tall clouds — The lookout above town

The FORTUNA mural at the entrance to town, with the Miravalles volcano behind it — La Fortuna de Bagaces

A tall waterfall falling into a green pool, one person standing at the edge for scale — A waterfall, twenty minutes from town

A local guide in a hat looking up at a waterfall in the forest — Our guide, on the way in

Steam rising from the volcanic ground at the Las Hornillas crater field — Las Hornillas, where the ground steams

A person photographing the valley from a green hillside in low golden light — Late afternoon over the valley

Two people sitting above a narrow canyon where a blue river runs through — The river in the canyon

Four afternoons a week, with an instructor

The vocabulary arrives attached to something you did. Horses, oxen, cacao, water, walking.

A guide pointing out the landscape to a student, a saddled horse waiting beside them — “From here you can see the whole valley”

Riders on horseback crossing dry forest at sunset, a palm tree against the sky — Riding out at sunset

A pair of oxen walking up a hillside track past a tall palm — Oxen on the hill

A pair of oxen pulling a green wooden cart along a country road — The ox cart, still working

A student standing in the green ox cart belonging to the guide Alfredo — Alfredo’s cart

A guide and a student walking over river boulders towards a waterfall — Picking a way over the rocks

A student reaching up to pick a cacao pod from a branch — Cacao, straight off the tree

A student on horseback talking with a farmer at a wire fence — Stopping at the fence

A student on a white horse beside a lagoon in open pasture — By the lagoon

A group being rowed across a farm pond in a small wooden boat — Out on the water

Two people on a track below a forested ridge in golden light — Walking up into the forest

Learning, in and out of class

Twenty hours a week with a teacher, and the rest of the day with everyone else.

A teacher and a student working through printed material at an outdoor table — Class, at the table outside

A student working alone at the outdoor table with her books and notes open — The day’s material, written last night

Two local men in hats talking with a student beside a cattle corral — Listening at the corral

A student standing with a yoked pair of oxen in a ploughed field — Meeting the oxen

A student holding a stick beside a pair of oxen harnessed to a cart — How a yoke works

A student crouched beside a cow, milking by hand — Milking, the old way

A group of students at a milking barn with cattle behind them — Morning at the dairy

A student feeding a young calf from a bottle in a green pasture — Feeding the calf

Living with a family, and the town

Three meals a day at someone’s table. This is where most of your Spanish actually happens.

A host mother and a student preparing food together in a home kitchen — In the kitchen

A host and a student having coffee and empanadas on the sofa — Coffee and empanadas

Hands arranging rings of rosquilla dough on a baking tray — Rosquillas, before the oven

A student and her host mother outside the house, holding a photo album — The goodbye

Two women dancing in traditional Guanacaste skirts at night — Dancing, in the evening

The blue and white church of La Fortuna de Bagaces seen across a green field — The church across the field

A person sitting on a bench at a lookout as the sun goes down over the hills — End of the day

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