El Museo de los Niños

Friday, February 22

El Museo de los Niños 

Soltera, Valentina, April, Noah, Deanna, Jaden, Kirsten, Ezra, Karin, Ocean, Sael, and Noah

After making arrangements with other CISA people, we gathered a group together to travel to San José for the day to visit the Children’s Museum.  We had heard that it was both cheap and a fun place to visit, even for adults.  Karen, one of the teachers at CISA reserved a minibus for us, and our group met in Turrialba at 8:00 this morning.  Karen and Silmer drove their car with their son Sael.  Eddie rode with them.  The rest of us were in the mini bus: Kirsten, Ryan, Noah, Ocean, Ezra, April, Valentina, Noah, Soltera, Jaden and me.  It was a 2 hour ride from Turrialba, and thankfully we didn’t run into much traffic.

Once we arrived, we paid about $2.20 per adult and most of the kids were free to enter.  We started in the space room and worked our way through the museum.  Our group scattered a bit, so we saw many different parts of the museum.  The building was originally built and used as a prison, but it has been renovated and created into a wonderful world for children to explore.  I wish we had more time there, for several reasons.  

A real airplane cockpit.

1. We didn’t get to see everything.

2. Since it was in Spanish, it took time and effort to understand and learn about the things on display. 

3. There were hardly any other people there so we basically had the place to ourselves with literally 70 employees at our service.  Every room we entered had 2 or more employees to offer help, interesting facts or to demonstrate the purpose of the displays.

A real small passenger airplane.

Jaden and Valentina flying the small plane together.

Space Control Center

Planet Discovery Room

An earthquake simulator.

A recording studio.

Internet Café

A reading room complete with a smart board.

Jungle

Human Body Learning Center

Did you know Eddie could float?

Jaden was checking out the doctor's office, but once
he noticed the "human" on that table, he backed away
in fear and would not take his eyes off of it until
he got out of there. 

A real train to explore.

Some of the other things available were: a helicopter, bubbles, a costume area, poisonous frog display, snakes, fish, chickens, roosters, pheasants, a swing set, a mini Walmart, a recycling center, a music room, and lots more.  




















My favorite part of the day was watching Jaden go “shopping” with a mini shopping cart, pick out 5 items, and “pay” the cashier after he put the items on the counter for her to ring up.  Afterwards, he had to go put everything back and put the cart away.  He loved it!  It was like a real shopping experience (miniaturized). 

After lunch, we played and explored a bit more before loading up exhausted children (and adults) back into the minibus and headed back to Turrialba.   We made a stop about 20 minutes outside of Turrialba at a cute little tourist restaurant where we ate a little dinner while overlooking a gorgeous view.  We also picked up a few souvaniers: bread and a Sloth stuffed animal.

Once the bus dropped us off at the bus station, we had about a hour to wait for the next bus.  We did a little grocery shopping, ate ice cream and then headed home.  As we walked home, we bumped into Hector.  He gave us the bad news that someone had ransacked his office at CISA (and the neighborhood kids seem to be the culprits).

As we arrived home, we were a bit sad because we knew Amanda would not be there.  She flew home to Florida today, so we will see her in a month.  Jaden already looked for her in her room, and seemed confused that she wasn’t there.  She left a sweet note for us, and it really hit us how much we will miss her for our last month here. I am just thankful for the 5 months we had together here in Costa Rica!  It is a rare opportunity, and God blessed us all through it.