Studying Spanish

Scientists claim that the best way to learn new things is through a multisensory approach, and it appears that Spanish-speaking nations are taking this approach quite seriously. Recognizing the fact that music and dance are tied rather firmly to their cultural heritage, Costa Rica takes a novel approach to learning the Spanish language. Going to Costa Rica to learn Spanish not only allows you to speak Spanish but to sing it as well.

The music of Costa Rica is diverse, a clear reflection of the amalgamation of cultures that characterize the region. The sounds of Costa Rica is characterized by the musical tradition of Spain merged with rhythmic complexities often found in the music of Africa. This does not, however, exclude other influences as it is not exempt from the influence of modernization, being that there are times when instruments such as guitars and accordions being more important that more traditional instruments such as ocarinas. Nevertheless, music remains to be an important part of the culture of Costa Rica that it is tied down to the language that it speaks.

A trip to Costa Rica opens the door to experiencing an abundance of musical expression. Music lovers will be delighted to hear things such as a symphony being conducted by Chosei Komatsu, San Jose’s jazz scene, Costa Rican folk music and Calypso, and a mish-mash of traditional and modern sounds from a band known as Malpais. Listening always comes first before speaking, and in Costa Rica music offers a great way to kick off learning how to speak Spanish.

The abundance and variety of the musical experience in learning the Spanish language turns what usually is a rote exercise into a livelier learning experience. The sun, the beach, the waves: Jaco Beach is a surfer’s paradise. Getting to know the ins and outs of Jaco Beach means having a good time with the locals and getting immersed in music. With a wide variety of music, from simple songs and dance tunes to the most sophisticated pieces,learning Spanish in Jaco Beach becomes a leisurely adventure rather than a tired pedagogical exercise. Whether it’s hitting the waves or relaxing along the beach with music, visitors will be quick to discover that Jaco beach appeals to both the adventurous spirit as well as the inquisitive mind.

There are Costa Ricans that hold the opinion that dancing is essential to understanding their culture along with the Spanish language. That suggestion doesn’t come at a surprise as a major part of the music of Costa Rican is dance oriented. Salsa, Calypso, and other kinds of Costa Rican music employ fancy rhythms and catchy melodies that compel listeners to move. {As dancing and music form a significant part of life in Costa Rica, such art forms engage the use of the Spanish language in a practical and conversational context.}

The music and dance of Costa Rica affirm its status as a musical melting pot with its local and foreign influences. Singing and dancing all the way to learning Spanish makes a trip to Costa Rica a fulfilling experience for the traveling learner.

Costa Rica Snapshot
Sometimes referred to the Switzerland of Latin America, because Costa Rica has the highest quality of lifestyle compared to its neighbors. This has been achieved after disbanding its army and adopting democracy. Chocked-full of national parks, cloud forests, white sand beaches, and unusual creatures, it is a (must see for naturalists. The country provides more water per square mile than every other country on the planet . In addition , it features several of the most well protected forests in Latin America. Its name indicates “Rich Coast”, and rich it is indeed, with tradition, wildlife, diversity of landscape and places to explore.

To study Spanish in Costa Rica and to feel the rhythm, go to: Spanish Immersion programs.

In rare cases they have been seen foraging along the branches of a Banyan tree for ripe figs. They have an 88-96 cm wingspan and 46-56 centimeters in length. The Cattle Egret feeds on a wide range of prey, particularly insects like grasshoppers, crickets, flies, and moths, as well as spiders, frogs, and earthworms. Life span in the wild is unknown. Cattle egrets at Woodland Park Zoo have lived more than 10 years.

The male displays in a tree in the colony, using a range of ritualized behaviors such as shaking a twig and raising bill vertically upwards and three or four days later he gets a couple. The cattle egrets’ daily routine is to leave their roost at dawn to seek food, flying in long, crooked lines, which allows easy identification of the species. As night approaches, they return to their roost. They choose a new mate every season.

The female lays one to five eggs, although three is most common. The eggs are pale bluish-white. Incubation lasts around 23 days, with both sexes sharing incubation duties. The chicks are fully feathered in 13-21 days. They begin to leave the nest and climb around at 2 weeks, fledge at 30 days and become independent at around the 45th day. Some populations of the Cattle Egret are migratory but others only show post-breeding dispersal. The Cattle Egret nests in colonies, which are often, but not always, found around bodies of water.

They can be found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones from Central America. Its global population estimated to be 3.8-6.7 million individuals. For these reasons, the species is in the Least Concern group. On the other hand the expansion and establishment of the species over large ranges has led it to be classed as an invasive species.

Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, lives in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She’s traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. Having first hand experience of all the places with her family, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!

They are also sometimes called Man of War birds or Pirate birds. They have long wings, tails and bills and the males have a red gular pouch that is inflated during the breeding season to attract a mate. Females are black, but have a white breast and lower neck sides, a brown band on the wings and a blue eye ring.

The Magnificent Frigate Bird is 100 cm long with a 215 cm wingspan. They live an estimated of 30 years. Frigate birds are seasonally monogamous. This means that males will only mate with one female each season. They are also known for nesting in colonies. Due to the fact that these guys lack the ability to take off from water, they snatch prey from the ocean surface or beach using their long, hooked bills. They have been seen catching fish, baby turtles and similar items in this way. When it comes to feeding they will also rob other seabirds, using their speed and maneuverability to outrun and harass their victims.

Male Magnificent Frigate birds inflate their throat sacs during breeding season, clattering their bills, waving their heads back and forth, quivering their wings, and calling to females. After mating has passed females lay one or two white eggs. Both parents take turns feeding for the first three months but then only the mother feeds the young for another eight months. It takes so long to rear a chick that frigate birds cannot breed every year. It is typical to see juveniles as big as their parents waiting to be fed.

Some potential problems they have are: introduced predators and over-fishing. Populations appear to be declining, due mainly to human destruction of habitat for housing and resorts, and disturbance in colonies. But they are not endangered.

Marina K. Villatoro, has lived in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for over 10 years. She’s traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. With her first hand experience, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!

Studies have shown that they are able to remember the solution to tasks up to three years later. Raccoon’s diet consists of about 40% invertebrates, 33% plant foods and 27% vertebrates. In other words they are omnivorous. These guys are 41 to 72 cm long and can weigh between 7.9-19.8 pounds. Although captive raccoons have been known to live over 20 years, their average life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years.

Raccoons are omnivorous and usually nocturnal. Related females often share a common area, while unrelated males live together in groups of up to four animals to maintain their positions against foreign males during the mating season and other potential invaders. Raccoons usually mate in a period between late January and mid-March.

During the mating season, males roam their home ranges in search of females in an attempt to court them during the three-to four-day-long period when conception is possible. These encounters will often occur at central meeting places. Copulation, including foreplay, can last over an hour and is repeated over several nights. After a gestation period of about 65 days, two to five young are born in spring. The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersion in late fall. Hunting and traffic accidents are the two most common causes of death in many areas.

Hunting and traffic accidents are the two most common causes of death in many areas. They are not endangered. Raccoons are common throughout North America from Canada to Panama. Tree hollows in old oaks or other trees and big rocks are preferred by raccoons. If they are unavailable or accessing them is inconvenient, raccoons utilize burrows dug by other mammals.

Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, has been living in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. Traveling with her family to all parts of Costa Rica and Guatemala, she now loves organizing vacations for people and offers first hand experience. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!

Studies have shown that 90% of their diet consists primarily of ripe fruit. They may play an important role in seed dispersal. Leaves and flowers make up much of the other 10% of their diet. Also they sometimes eat insects, particularly ants. An average adult kinkajou weighs 4-7 Pounds and an average adult body length is 40-60 cm. In addition to body length, average tail length is 40-55 cm. They normally live 23 – 24 years, but in a Hawaiian zoo they had a kinkajou that lived for 40 years.

An average adult kinkajou weighs 4-7 Pounds and an average adult body length is 40-60 cm. In addition to body length, average tail length is 40-55 cm. They normally live 23 – 24 years, but in a Hawaiian zoo they had a kinkajou that lived for 40 years. These nocturnal animals also have a short-haired, fully prehensile tail like some New World monkeys, which it uses as a “fifth hand” in climbing. Scent glands near the mouth, on the throat, and on the belly allow kinkajous to mark their territory and their travel routes.

The kinkajou’s peak activity is usually between about 7:00 PM and midnight, and again an hour before dawn. During daylight hours, kinkajous sleep in tree hollows or in shaded tangles of leaves, avoiding direct sunlight. Also, kinkajous do not have a specific season for breeding. They breed throughout the year. Female kinkajous give birth to one or occasionally two small babies after a gestation period of 112 to 118 days.

This arboreal mammal is not an endangered species, though it is seldom seen by people because of its strict nocturnal habits. However, they are hunted for the illegal pet trade, for their fur and for their meat. They are forest mammals, native to Central and South America.

Marina K. Villatoro, has lived in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for over 10 years. She’s traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. With her first hand experience, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!

The males are significantly larger than the females and may be more than 1.27 m long and may weigh up to 25 pounds. They can live an average of 14 years in the wild.

Coatis are generally active during the day. Males are typically solitary except during breeding season and are active during the night, but females and their young usually form small groups called bands of 4 to 20 individuals. The breeding season is in February and March. During this time the male is subservient to the female. The closest dominant males to a given band join temporarily. The dominant male breeds with all the females in season from in the band.

The breeding season is in February and March. During this time the male is subservient to the female. The closest dominant males to a given band join temporarily. The dominant male breeds with all the females in season from in the band. Soon after mating, the male is expelled from the band. Then females construct nests of sticks and leaves in a secluded area, usually in a tree. After the gestation period of 75 days 3 to 5 young are born. They are often very small, weighing 3 ounces. Their eyes dont open until the 12th day. At six weeks old they begin exploring the area and foraging with their mother. At four months they are completely weaned.

They range from the southwestern United States in Arizona to Argentina and Uruguay. These guys live in a wide variety of terrain, such as the lowland rainforests, river woodlands, bushy and rocky terrain, though they are usually found in heavily forested areas. Coatis are not endangered, but their numbers are reducing fast. They are hunted by humans for food and for damaging crops.

Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, has been living in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. Traveling with her family to all parts of Costa Rica and Guatemala, she now loves organizing vacations for people and offers first hand experience. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!

Apart from the casino guests have access to an outdoor swimming pool and a tennis court that lights up as dusk falls, sauna and massage facilities to help you unwind, as well as a gift shop onsite to purchase those last minute presents to take home.

If you decide to travel around and see a bit more of the lovely countryside you can arrange car rental from your San Jose Costa Rica hotel, perhaps visiting some of the nearby museums. Not too far away is the particularly interesting Children’s Museum, just 5 kilometres away. Other museums within easy reach of your San Jose Costa Rica hotel include the Jade Museum, the Gold Museum and the Art Museum.

You may decide to visit the National Theater while staying at the San Jose Costa Rica hotel: it is certainly worth visiting, and would round off your museum visits perfectly. When it comes to finding places to eat in the evenings you really are spoiled for choice.

Aside from Denny’s Restaurant, available on-site at your San Jose Costa Rica hotel, and open 24 hours, there is La Gallera restaurant that is just across the road from the hotel, not to mention the various eateries located close by your San Jose Costa Rica hotel.

The ubiquitous Subway chain can keep you going with sandwiches during the day; there is also an excellent Italian restaurant called La Piazzeta as well as El Chicote Steakhouse and Rosti Pollos not too far away. In fact, all these eateries are within a three kilometre radius of your San Jose Costa Rica hotel.

Learn more about San Jose Costa Rica Hotel. Stop by Doris Rojas’s site where you can find out all about Web Go Travel and what it can do for you.

It is a long, slender very good climber with strong claws, resembling a thin-haired, very large mink with a long tail. This chocolate brown to black mustelid is related to the mink and the otter.

Most tayras have either dark brown or black fur with a lighter patch on its chest. A great way to distinguish the young from the old tayras is by the color of their fur which changes to a lighter brown or gray as it ages. They are pretty small in height growing only 60 cm. However, their tails are almost 45 cm long.

These guys make the tropical forests of Central America its home. They make hollow trees, burrows in the ground, or nests of tall grass their home. They travel both alone and in groups during the day and the night. They eat mainly fruits but they also like carrion, small mammals, reptiles and birds.

Although they can be seen all the time, they are basically nocturnal. They forage on the ground or in trees, but do not forage close to water like otters. They are curious foragers, and eat a wide variety of plants. They are sometimes seen living lonely and sometimes with families. Their interactions can be annoying to you sometimes as they are really loud when they talk.

They are intelligent animals and can become pets. Indigenous people, who often refer to this animal as “cabeza del viejo”, or old man’s head, due to their wrinkled facial skin, have kept them as household pets. Wild tayra populations are slowly shrinking, especially in Mexico, due to habitat destruction for agricultural purposes. Though the species as a whole is listed as a Least Concern species, the northernmost subspecies, Eira Barbara Senex, is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Tayra’s staple food is fruit, small vertebrates and invertebrates, eggs, lizards and carrion. Like raccoons, coyotes and small cats, they also eat agouti and rabbits sometimes. They will even climb on trees to get eggs or honey. They are attracted to fruit and can be found raiding orchards.

Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, has been living in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. Traveling with her family to all parts of Costa Rica and Guatemala, she now loves organizing vacations for people and offers first hand experience. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!

This species of monkeys lives up to an elevation of 2,500 m from southern Mexico to northwestern South America. Canopies of lowland and mountain forests are home to them.

Howler monkeys have a short snout, and wide-set, round nostrils. Their average size is around 80cm, excluding their tail which can be equally, known as the prehensile tail, which means it can hold, grasp and manipulate things. They have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years. An adult male can weigh up to 7 kg and a female may only weigh up to 5 kg.

These guys are named Howler because of their incredible vocalization skill. Their howls can be heard more than 1 km away through the forest. They usually scream out at sunrise and sunset or in response to people, airplanes, rain and thunders, or other howlers. Some biologists think that it is used as a spacing mechanism between individuals or to communicate within the troop.

In the group there are several adult males and females, with their juveniles and infants. A female will become sexually active at 3 years, and have her first infant before her fourth year, with a gestation period of 6 months. Within a group, all adult males are dominant to all adult females, but the youngest adult of either sex holds the alpha rank for that sex. Average group size varies from 11 to 18 depending on the region. Howlers hardly ever descend to the ground except to travel between islands of trees. Howlers are relatively common in Costa Rican forests, where they constitute 69% of primate biomass within the country.

These primates are sedentary foragers. They eat mostly leaves, but they may also pick fruits and flowers. Since they are not dependent on only eating fruit (as spider monkeys do), howlers can survive in home ranges rather small for a primate of their size. From one tree they may choose mature leaves, young leaves, flowers or the petioles. They also seem to base their food choices on how much the plant contains protein, fiber, and levels of alkaloids and tannins. Essentially, they try to maximize protein and amino acids in their diet but minimize their intake of fiber and plant secondary compounds.

One of the best places you can find Howler monkeys is Corcovado National Park. This park hosts a number of Howler monkeys and you are going to bump into one of them for sure while you take a trip through the park.

Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, has been living in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. Traveling with her family to all parts of Costa Rica and Guatemala, she now loves organizing vacations for people and offers first hand experience. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!

I want something different and if you’re like me and my friends, you and your partners are going to love this place!

Arenal volcano is considered one of the top ten most active volcanoes in the world. Because of this amazing phenomenon the surrounding areas benefit from its rich soil and naturally heated springs.

The hot springs are a perfect combination of rain water, minerals and climate that make them a perfect way to relax.

I’m also a huge fan of the ‘hotel experience’. If I’m going to go away with my girlfriends I want to chill out and have everything at my fingertips. That is why I love this place so much. The thing that I love the most is that every room here is beautifully situated with private terraces that overlook the Volcano. You can sway in the hammock, or percolate in a marble jacuzzi tub before spending the rest of the days going on exciting adventures!

Where to begin? The bar of course! You don’t have to become a bar fly in some dark lit room. Here you can put on your bikinis and head to the springs. And right in the middle of one of the hot springs is Los Perdidos jungle bar serving up delicious drinks! The Lost Springs is a series of naturally heated hot springs and cool pools.

If it’s still too early to sip a daiquiri, there is always the possibility to visit the 14,000 sq foot full-service luxury spa. And for that something different have a volcanic clay body cleanse or the “floating water massage” in the mineral springs.

Before you know it, you and your friends are ready for a real drink and food!

Marina K. Villatoro, has lived in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for over 10 years. She’s traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. With her first hand experience, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!