Anamaya held its first fundraiser for La Escuela Futuro Verde. This is the best school in the southern Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, and they are in the process of moving from their current Montezuma location to another place closer to Cobano, so that more students from Malpais, Santa Teresa, Tambor, and outlying towns have the opportunity to go there.

The school is a non-profit, and the parents are very active. Talk to any of them and they seem to be universally very happy with the school. In addition to great teachers at the school, they often have volunteers who have a teaching degree and are looking to get some experience in the field. Also, several of the local parents also volunteer teaching various subjects after hours.

We had the fundraiser at Anamaya for several reasons. First, we love parties. Second, we love this school and love to help raise money for anything in the community… our guests at the hotel always seem to like these gatherings. They get to not only experience a great party but they meet many of the people who live here.

This particular party ended up having over 100 people in attendance. Anamaya’s chefs, led by Johann, made sushi, including “Costa Rican Style Sushi” as Johann called it, which had a mix of veggies and fried plantain. It was very unusual and quite delicious. In addition, many of the parents are phenomenal chefs, from Italy, Argentina, Germany, etc and they brought their own food to sell.

All the proceeds from the food and drinks went to the school, and they raised over $1000.

The following photos of the party were taken by Chris Hannant, an amazing professional photographer who happened to be visiting the Malpais/Montezuma area. He was using a Canon 5D Mark II, a camera that’s particularly good at shooting in low light.