Day 5

Woke after a much needed good night's sleep, and packed our bags for loading onto the bus. We said goodbye to our youth choir friends from Chicago (The Young Naperville Singers) as they had arrived ahead of us and went to Arenal, before the choral festival. We hope to have them visit Nashville for a collaborative event sometime next year.

The bus ride to La Fortuna was pretty rough. We had to travel through the mountain range that divides the Pacific and the Caribbean sides of CR to get there, and even those of us with strong stomachs were queasy. If you dared look out the bus window, often you saw nothing beneath you but a sliver of road and the tops of trees. Many of the bridges along this route were one way, portable bridges, but they proved to be sturdy enough to get our bus across. We arrived in La Fortuna, a quaint little tourist town at the base of the Arenal volcano. The mountain was encased in clouds when we arrived, but we could tell this would be an incredible day and a half.

After a great lunch with authentic CR cuisine, we headed up the volcano to the SkyWalk zip line establishment. For a lot of our students, this was the aspect of the trip they were most looking forward to. After sitting in a very short line in which a group of well trained and excited Costa Ricans outfitted you with a harness, attachments, a pulley, and gloves - we heaed up the volcano in a lift. Amazing views of the volcanic lake, as well as the face of the mountain (still grey from its last eruption over 20 years ago) awaited us as we waited to zip line. After an instructional session, two short practice runs (with a last chance to chicken out), we were ready for our first long zip. As they send you out on the line, you gain incredible speed until all of a sudden, you're out over the gorge. It's tough to explain the thrill of this activity in writing, you're just going to have to experience it yourself! All in all, there were 8 different zip lines, each varying in speed and length. After a while, the panic in you subsides and you're able to enjoy the views and the experience a little more. It was raining a little (It is a rain forest.after all), so by the end of the run we are all pretty wet/tired/dirty/smelly, still with a concert to perform later that evening. We headed to our next hotel, the Volcano lodge.

After a quick shower and changing into our concert clothes, we met in the Biddlecombe's room for a quick rehearsal. Whenever you do Festival choral experiences, your vocal production becomes a little bit strained - lots of chest voice and overexcited young singers. It was nice to get our students back to the healthy and clean vocal production that we've been working on throughout the year. We made quick work of all of the music that we would be singing, and turned to the door to head for the bus. Just then, the heavens opened up, and a torrential downpour ensued. After a moment of high school girl panic, we were able to get our tour leader (John Witte, absolute pro in every sense) to have a car swing by and pick up the girls so they didn't get too drenched. Dr. Biddlecombe wrapped up our loaned guiter in his jacket, and we braved the rainstorm and made it to the bus only about half soaked.

When we arrived in the Catholic Church we were greeted with some strange looks. After all, we're all wearing black dresses - not the typical uniform for Catholic church in Costa Rica. After attending their mass (which some of our students took part in, and others just observed), the very large congregation was invited by the priest to stay for our concert. I would say more than half (over 100 people) did, and we got in our semi-circle position in front of the altar. The was no piano at this venue, so Dr. Biddlecombe pre-recorded all of the accompaniments, and we purchased a small, portable speaker to use in this performance. The space was very reverberant, and it was easy for the girls to hear themselves and the piano accompaniment (phew!). After saying a few words of thanks to the pastor and the congregation (artfully translated by Gabriela) we began our concert. We opened with Tango, then sang I Will Be Earth, and Bloom (both returned from the fall semester), after which Ms. Ruyten conducted 'My true love has my heart' making her international conducting debut! The audience was very enthusiastic and appreciative. Then we went into our Latin music set, and that's when the crowd really responded. A Pescar Camaron earned prolonged applause, and 'La Paloma' was greeted with a loud cheer! Many hugs were given from our local attendants, and photos were taken with some of the children and families who stayed for the concert. Overall, an incredible experience.

We walked to a lovely restaurant in La Fortuna and had a great dinner, but we all just wanted to hit the sack after a long, exhausting day. Tomorrow, we embark on a hanging in bridge hike around the volcano, then return to San José for our last night in Costa Rica.