🏁 Final Evaluation

Last Tuesday, Marco and his cousin Daniela were hiking near the Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna. It was early in the morning, around six o'clock. The sun was slowly rising over the mountains, and the birds were singing loudly in the trees. Everything seemed peaceful and beautiful.

Marco was taking photos of the volcano while Daniela was writing in her journal. Suddenly, they heard a loud noise coming from the forest. They stopped immediately. A large group of howler monkeys was moving quickly through the treetops. The monkeys were howling and jumping from branch to branch. The sound was surprisingly loud for such a calm morning.

While the monkeys were making all that noise, something else happened. A small snake appeared on the path right in front of them. Marco stepped back carefully and said, "Do not move. Stand still." Daniela stood absolutely still. The snake looked at them for a moment, then slowly moved into the bushes and disappeared.

After the snake was gone, they both laughed nervously. "Were you scared?" Marco asked. "Of course I was!" Daniela answered quickly. "My heart was beating really fast." Marco smiled and said, "Mine too. We were both terrified." They decided to continue their hike, but this time they walked more carefully and looked at the path constantly.

By the time they returned to their hotel, it was nine o'clock. They told the guide what had happened. He nodded calmly. "Howler monkeys and snakes are common here," he said. "You handled it perfectly."

Sofia moved to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca six months ago. She came from Cartago, a city in the mountains, and she quickly fell in love with the warm Caribbean coast. "If you visit this place once, you will never want to leave," she often tells her friends.

Sofia rents a small house near the beach. The house belongs to an older woman named Doña Carmen. "Is this house yours?" a visitor asked once. "No, it is hers," Sofia explained, pointing to Doña Carmen's photo on the wall. But Sofia loves the house as if it were her own.

Every morning, Sofia follows the same routine. She could wake up late, but she chooses to get up at five thirty. She can hear the ocean from her bedroom. She may sometimes work from the beach, but usually she works from her kitchen table. "You should try working near the sea someday," she tells people. "It changes everything."

Sofia works as a translator. If she works hard, she earns enough money to live comfortably. She has learned that if you respect the local culture, the community accepts you. She always greets her neighbors politely and speaks a little Spanish and even some Mekétyel, the language of the Bribri people who live nearby.

Her friends from Cartago ask if she misses city life. "If I miss the city, I can always visit," she says. "But honestly, could I live anywhere else now? I do not think so. This is mine — my life, my choice, my home." Whose life is better? Sofia is not sure — but she knows hers makes her happy.