Nicaragua Part 1--Whoosh off we go--second time around

As mentioned at my first attempt, we were headed to Nicaragua, specifically Corn Island.  That is a small island about 40 miles off the east coast of Nicaragua.  One of the pastors ministers there, and wants to build a church in a poor area mostly attended by Miskito Indians.

We were in the car ready to go at 5:30 am on Tuesday, the 2^nd.  We were squeezed into the Galloper, Shari and I being the ones who fit best into the jumpseats  in the back.  We had a luggage rack on the back of the car so we actually had plenty of room (if not leg room).  The Galloper being 4WD was the best choice, as we didn’t know what the Nicaraguan roads would be like.  We planned to drive to Bluefields, a town on the east coast and from there catch a boat to the island.

As the sun came up we had a beautiful view of a smoking volcano visible from San Jose.  The ride to the north was great; it was sunny and we were excited about the trip.  We had just made the same round trip to go to Llano Verde over the weekend (and leave Katie there).  When we got to the north, the road we were going to take was blocked by border police.  At first we thought it was due to the rather heated border dispute between  Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the area of the San Juan River, but they said that that road did not have a border crossing.  We went a few miles back to Los Chiles where there was a border crossing.  There Clint emailed the pastors, Henry and Larry,  to let them know we were coming and to meet us in Bluefields.

Imagine our surprise when we found out that the only way to proceed was by river boat.  We had just enough time to park the car in a fenced car lot (complete with mean dog), go through customs, and get a bite to eat.  We hastily abandoned all the extra stuff we could and all luxuries like snacks and wished we had packed a little smaller.  But oh well, whoosh here we go. From there on we would be going by bus, boat, taxi, and however else into territory that none of us had been in.

We went through immigration without problem, bought our boat tickets and made our way to the dock.  We were stopped by an official of Los Chilies and made to pay $1.00 each for the privilege of walking through the town.  The boat we took was a river taxi.  It obviously was used frequently for some of the other passengers.  We rode up a river that was very like the San Juan which Jerry and I had been on before.  There were giant trees lush vegetation and palms complete with howler monkeys and many birds.  The only habitations visible were small shacks that were raised on pilings.  It was a good thing as the river was very high and most were surrounded by water.  We saw faces peering out at us as we passed.  The usual chickens and pigs were missing as there were no yards.

The pleasant ride was over in about an hour when we broke out into Lake Nicaragua.  It is HUGE.  We  could barely see the other shores.  It is the largest lake in Central America.  We crossed the end of the lake to San Carlos.  As we got off we were in the midst of chaos which is a part of a border or port town.   As soon as gringos are spotted we are viewed as a source of money or entertainment or curiosity for many.  We guarded our stuff and made our way the couple of block to the bus depot.  We were destined to travel by bus to Rama, there to catch another boat. The dock area is a very unappealing touristy area with lots of cheap stuff for sale.  None of us were interested in buying anything but it was very colorful and interesting.  We found our bus and a bathroom (both equally important).  It was about 2:30 when we docked and about 4:00 when we left.  The bus was old and looked like it was used hard.  It reminded us of a berry bus.  The seats were spaced very close together  with very little legroom for the smallest of us.  Jerry, with his long legs, really had to sit sideways more than forward.   Most of us had seats that were partially broken or had weird springs underneath, but we had seats.

As soon as we took off we were on a dirt road.  Our driver was very bold and drove at max speed.  There was soft dirt and gravel in places as the road was under construction the whole way.  These places made the bus tilt alarmingly at times.  We did have to slow down to cross many temporary bridges that were barely wider than the bus.

We traveled through a very rural, rustic  area with no cities.  As dark fell we saw some electric lights but not that many.  There were many small cabins or sheds surrounded by pigs, chickens, and playing children.  None had windows, just open shutters.  Many men rode horses, and often we saw several horses tied up to very tiny cantinas or bars.  We stopped frequently to exchange passengers and at one stop we loaded about 8 large tubs of cheese.  The bus driver’s helper carried them each to the top of the bus up a ladder with the tubs on his head.

We were grateful for widows which opened during the trip as the temperature was quite hot.  We did choose to close them however when milk draining from the cheese began dripping down the sides of the bus and raining in on us.



Here is the volcano we saw from San Jose when we were leaving




The Galloper which was not to be our transport after all




In Los Chiles, Costa Rica this guy flagged us down for a "walking through the town tax"  when we came back we walked a different road to avoid him and never had to pay.




Immigration at Los Chiles on our way out of the country




Our river taxi down the Rio Frio to San Carlos




As you can see the river was really high and the people living here needed boats to get home for sure.




One of the magnificant trees on the river.  It is giant to look at and home to many creatures.




Our bus from San Carlos to San Pedro




The flavor of San Carlos




Off we go on the bus




Breakfast before we board the river boat in Rama taking us to Bluefields




Jerry on our boat and the boat off to the side that was mistakenly thought would be ours.




Our boat which turned out to be a great, fun ride.  We had to hold our hats.




Pastors Henry on left and Larry on right




A passenger on the Captain D




Loading the lumber.




The hammocks looked pretty comfortable but many were way up in the air and over peoples heads.  It would take an experienced person to get in with confidence.




One of many food sales people who circulated while the boat was docked.  I believe we bought empanadas from him.




A neighboring boat.  You can see the typical sleeping quarters in the back.



Market day for some.

The next leg of the journey was supposed to be on another bus.  This bus was to drop us off in San Pedro where the bus to Rama would pick us up in a few minutes.  We got off at almost 9:00 after 4 1/2 hours of travel grateful for a few minutes break.  We walked the block to the bus stop.  There was a little food stand there when the people who were there informed us that the bus had just left 10 minutes ago.  We would have 2 hours to wait to catch one at 11 pm. Yikes!  We sat there at this well-lit, but rural crossroad somewhat resigned to sit for the duration.  We hoped it was safe to be here after dark.  We started talking about the fact that God could make a divine appointment for us when a taxi drove up.  He already had a passenger, but asked if we needed a ride to Rama. We told him we were 6 people, but he shrugged and said to get in anyways.  The poor guy who had the taxi first, was put on the top of the trunk that contained our 50 or more pounds of luggage.  Not knowing if it was possible, the rest of us folded into the taxi.  It was a Hyundai Elantra (sp), a very small car with room for 5. We all made 8 plus luggage.  Dale sat in front and the other 5 of us sat on top of each other in cemented positions  of extreme discomfort, but it still was preferable to waiting there in the dark. 

Trunk guy got off in about 20 minutes.  He had a very poor ride as the driver didn’t slow down for him at all.  It seemed pretty scary.  Every mile or so we ran into topes (huge speed bumps common all through Central America). We had to zig zag over them at turtle speed and still we scraped bottom on each one.  At one point we had to stop and let the taxi drivers brakes cool off.  They were smoking.  The taxi driver was the first one on the trip that was continually trying to bless us with music.  Right behind us was the back speaker and he like to turn the music up way past comfort or pleasure to where we had to shout.

Every time we stopped and he got out or whenever we could we turned the music down or off, but he restored it when he came back.  At last, at last we pulled in to Rama after 2 hours. It gave us a new comparison for the journey. “ well its better than the taxi” was our new measure.

The hotel we were taken to was called Dulce Sueno or sweet sleep or dreams.  We were so ready.  We heartily thanked our driver who had aged his taxi considerably for us.  The rooms had little to recommend except they were there and cheap and sort of clean.

Some of us woke up with bad headaches as we think that the beds had been sprayed with insecticide, but then none of us got bitten while in bed either.

We were in Rama.  Yeah.

We made our way to the next leg of the journey which was another river boat to Bluefields.  We actually met the pastors Larry and Henry there at the dock.  We ate there and saw a beautiful boat which we assumed was ours.  Wow luxury.  When we went to get on, we found it was not.  Awww.  Ours was small and seated  about 15.  It actually was a good thing as it got up and scooted.  It was a fun ride on a fast boat in the open air and washed the headaches away.  This river the Condito River was much larger and had barge and freighter traffic.  There were many boats docked along the river used as housing as well.  We were flagged down by one freighter to take on a sick young woman to get her to town faster than they would.

After a pleasant ride, we arrived in Bluefields.  Again the border-town, port-town theme took over. Many people mobbed us with requests to carry luggage, shine our shoes and just to befriend us and tell us what to do. It was sad to see the little shoe shine boys look us over mournfully with all of us in flip flops.

We got our tickets for a 12:00 sailing of a cargo ship named the Captain D that was to take us out to Corn Island.  It supposedly was a 4 hour journey, but the leaving time might depend a little on how the cargo loading went.

We got to a bar the pastors took us to for food and ordered by 11:15 or so.  Again with the music. We were seated under a giant speaker which was cranked up playing mostly American country music.  We shouted our orders to the waitress, only 2 small orders and we waited.  We slowly got our cokes one by one and drank those and waited.  As noon approached we got a little anxious that the boat was getting ready to sail. One of the pastors went to see, and said the boat wouldn’t sail until at least 12:30 as 12 came and went and we continued to shout to each other and observe only very sad looking old men ( who were probably young when they came in) sitting there.  We finally got concerned enough to get up to find the missing waitress and tell her we had to leave.  She ran out of the bar to go down the street to get some to go boxes.  We paid and a little after 12:30 we left with our food.  We ran to the dock and were relieved to see some piles of concrete and lumber left to load up. Oh well, better to wait a little than miss it.  The boat only sails twice a week. 

It was a great experience, like out of a book to get on that boat.  They said it was an old coast guard boat, well over 100 feet long.  We climbed up on the upper deck past the 4 large pigs sleeping on deck to the passenger area.  There was a large canopy where most people were out of the sun but we were happy to get seats even though in the sun and figured we would cool down once we sailed.  We ate our to go food and sat.  The horn tooted at 1:30, but we didn’t actually sail until 2:00.  It was a fascinating place to observe people.  There was a very old skinny Nicaraguan man in a Japanese animaeshirt, a number of Rasta-looking guys with dredlocks, several Europeans, a troop of girls who looked American, but were very stand-offish and were only Spanish speaking and many locals going home.  Overhead were many hammocks swinging with people resting in them already.

Down below was two heads (bathrooms) and a galley serving food and pop.  We were glad to sail as it was much cooler underway.  When an hour had passed we got to a border station where we stopped at  a dock for inspection.

We had been sitting for a long while when word circulated that there was a problem with the large amount of lumber that was on board.  It seems that there was no permit for it.  The captain said there were many officials arguing about it and he would let them argue it out.  He had taken lumber many times before with no problems.  The lumber was ordered by a woman for her house.  Well 1 hour, then 2, then 3 went by and they were still arguing.  Finally the decision was made.  The lumber had to come off. The crew began to work at that at piled it on the dock.  After the lumber was unloaded, it seems that they discovered that all was well with the permits after all.  We were unsure if that meant reloading, but we were on the boat and it was better than the taxi.  At 6:30 or so we pulled out under the stars to sail for Corn Island.

End of Part 1.

Nicaragua Part 1, Whoosh off we go.

I hate to spoil the surprize ending, but we are home in Greeley.  This is the first chance of telling the tail so . . . we made it.

Clint Wisdom had been contacted by two traveling pastors while in one of the Nicaraguan ghettos in San Jose.  The were seeking help in their communities with a number of needs both financial, and for labor and teaching.  He had told them he would try to go to their communities to see first hand what the needs were before making any committments.  He had mentioned that to us and we really wanted to go along.
So, we left last Tuesday at 5:30 am for Nicaragua.  Our troop included Clint and Renee, Dale and Shari, and Jerry and I, Carol.  The rest of this post was suddenly deleted by Blogger and it is too late to redo it.
It will be worth it so check back again for upcoming additions.

Hasta Luego Olga

Carol, Olga, Jerry last day of spanish lessons

Dale, Shari, Kati, Jerry, Olga, Carol the whole spanish class

We always started our class with prayer

 Jerry and I will be leaving on the 9th of November and so we ended our spanish classes with our wonderful, sweet patient teacher Olga.  She has been a great encourager to us and has taught us much more than the spanish we have been studying.  She is a teacher during the day, and works 8 to 10 or 12 hours and then comes and spends 3 to 5 hours with us.  She is amazing. On top of that she is a student herself and currently working on a thesis she will be presenting soon.
We will greatly miss her visits and classes.  She has given us homework (as always) and we will continue to stay in touch by email ( in spanish, they might be short emails)
She has been our sister in the Lord as well and we appreciate that we always read the Word in spanish each class.
We hope to see you again soon, Olga.

Its not over 'til its over

This weekend we went back up to minister at Llano Verde it was a wonderful event as always.  It is a small community in the jungle with the church that Clint is pastoring.  The name of the church is La Casa de Immanuel. "God's House". It takes at least 5 or 6 hours to get there, and Clint usually makes the trip 2 to 3 times a month.  The travel is through the mountains on 2 lane highway with lots of semi's and then through farmland with lots of farm trucks etc.  Going there on Saturday, we didn't hit rain until we were there.  The last 45 minutes are on very rough gravel roads which change to slippery red dirt at the last.  Because there were 6 of us, we took the 15-passenger van which is not an off road vehicle.  We had to slide into Victor and Aurora's driveway which is a narrow one through the gate.  We got there by 4:00, just in time to run the power cord from their house down 2 lots to the church.  We held a family meeting in which Clint is teaching on family dynamics and relationships according to the Bible.  The area was holding a 4-wheeler rally as a fund-raiser to try to fix the road.  RV'ers from all over the country attended.  Aurora made homemade tamales to sell to raise more money.  They only got about 30 people and had hoped for 100. During church, there were scads of noisy, very, very muddy ORV's that went by.  The church is open on the road side, and very close to the road, so we could both see and hear them very well.
After church we gathered all of the equipment and took it over to the house, and set up our beds and unloaded the van.  We always stop to buy food, and Victor and Aurora help us out by cooking for us.
Because there were fewer than usual there (none of Clint and Renee's kids went this time) We were able to blow up air mattresses to sleep on.  All six of us slept in the "living room" in a row.
After leftover (from the sale) delicious homemade tamales, spaghetti, and rice we helped to take care of Victor's leg wound. Apparently a cable pulling one of the 4-wheelers had snapped and hit his shin.
He had a nasty cut, which could have used a few stitches.  We put ointment and a some butterfly-type strips on it and gave him some pain meds and an ice pack.  He said it helped.
He was a subject of prayer last weekend as he had been taken to the hospital after being thrown from his horse.  He hit his head, and the MD said he was lucky to be alive as far as he was thrown.
After a good night's sleep, we all awoke pretty early, the howler monkeys, the roosters, the cow's being milked and the daylight with no curtains make for a dawn arising usually.
Victor made some of his cheese with the 10 or so gallons of milk he got.  That is their living.  He makes about $100 a week with it.
He washed a cheese cloth and a large plastic tub and poured the warm milk through the cloth.  Then he added about 10 cc's of the coagulant.  (I forget the term for it).  In about 20 minutes, the milk formed curds.  He dumped off a lot of the whey and used it for the hogs,  next he brought the pail of curd into the house and added salt, mixing it in by hand.  This was put into a cheese-cloth lined mold which had holes in in for drainage. A weight was put on top to help squeeze out more water. This was left for a few hours until a fairly firm cheese was formed. This is queso fresca.  It is delicious fried or crumbled on any dish.
We noticed Victor had quite a bit of blood on his back and questioned him.  His biggest rooster had attacked him getting him pretty deeply on his back and his arm.  He said that the rooster was bound for the stew pot.
Clint had a pistol, and brought it out and handed it to Victor.  The bird was right beside him and it looked like a guaranteed shot.  However when the boom was done the bird was screeching away, and there was a hole in the ground.  He must of hit his tailfeathers.  Clint then went hunting.  He got off several shots, but only came back with a small tree which he had neatly dispatched.  He had trophy in hand, but not bird. 
We joked with Clint about the fact that most pastors don't go shooting chickens before church on Sunday.
We cleaned up and had a great church service.  The amazing rain poured down at one point making it cooler and making us shout to hear.
As it was my birthday, Clint had them sing a spanish version of "Happy Birthday" which was really lovely.  It was a great surprize and sweet of them.
We had a leasuirely packing up after the service, and Kati, decided to stay there in Llano Verde for the next week. She will be living a very basic farm life and will have an intensive spanish course.  Victor and Aurora's son Arsel is taking an English test next week and can use the help in learning from her as well.  It will be a wonderfu experience, but she will have to scramble a bit as she didn't really pack expecting to stay that long.  She is resourceful though.
When we left, we thought all of the adventure for the day was done, not so, however.  We were almost through with the bumpy part of the road, when Clint decided to take another route than usual.  He had been on it before quite some time ago, and wanted us to see something different.  It was evident that it had rained recently there, and the road also went from gravel back to the slippery red, clay dirt.  It also got much more deserted and was pretty hilly and almost washed out in places.  Clint did a great job of getting through some pretty tricky places without us getting stuck.  We had to go up a couple of places sideways. It was remote enough, that we might have walked quite a ways to get help if stuck.
After the road got back to gravel, we were relieved because if we went slow we could get through pretty well where there were big rocks and washouts.
On one steep hill we met a truck and had to back up a ways to find room for both of us to pass.  Clint was informed by the driver that there was a nasty bridge ahead.  The good bridge had mostly been washed out and there were some logs filling the gaps.  Not good news because turning around and going back through the almost impassible road with a poor off-road van seemed like no fun at all.
There was also a good chance of more rain, making it worse.
When we got there he was right.  The passengers got out to "guide" Clint.  To be truthful, we were also chicken to ride the van accross.  The truck driver had come back on a motorcycle to see if we would need help.  He also helped direct the van.  He pointed one way and Dale another. We thought Dale was making the better calls.  So did Clint, and he made it.
After we finally got back to the main road, we hit the pavement pretty quickly.  Then the road was safe once more.  As the sunset approached we could see Arenal, probably the prettiest, most active and famous of Costa Rica's volcanos.  It is rare to see it well as the clouds and rain in the area obsure it frequently.  We got many spectacular pictures.  This was a pretty nice birthday present as well. 
We stopped for icecream, one of our groups' favorite pastimes and stopped at an iguana park.  There are many large iguanas sitting in the tops of trees right by the roadway.  You can get very close to get photos.  The trees are quite tall, like fifty feet, and there are no iguana bodies down below.  They manage to get around in the tree tops just fine.  Then a long winding rainy trip home. 
But not done yet. . .We stoped for a meal at a place where a man, who raises his own pigs, cooked the pork over a BBQ fire for many hours.  We ate pieces of smoked pork with a fresh tortilla.  It was delicious.
To top off a wonderful birthday, Renee and the Wisdom kids were out front when we arrived to sing "Happy Birthday".  They are a large enough group to really make an impact.  It was a party when we went inside with home made cards,  fudge covered cake, and HOME MADE icecream.  I don't think I really have ever had a fuller more wonderful birthday.  Thanks to all. You make my life rich.


The iguanas seemed content to allow us close to take pictures. We were about 5 to 10 feet away.




Victor pouring his milk through a cloth.




I don't think Victor knew that the rooster drew this much blood on his back.
you can almost see the arm puncture which was not as deep 


T


The cheese in the mold weighted with a plate and a rock. The rest of the liquid is being pressed out.




This was the tree that clint hit dead center. Bulls eye.  No escape for this marauder.




Just a hansome fellow watching us on our slippery drive.




We bailed on Clint on this crossing.  The guy trying to help wanted Clint to hug the side with the giant hole.  He didn't though and made it.  The crossing looked pretty wild.




Arenal in glory



God's birthday present

                                                                          XXXOOOXXX.

Los Guido

Los Guido

This morning we went to visit Los Guido.  This is a community that Clint and Renee have worked in several times before.  Last year, the graduating class at Dayspring Christian School in Greeley went on a senior class mission trip to work in the same area.  Jerry had helped with that team and spoke highly of the work they did there.  Today I was extremely impressed with what they had accomplished when I saw the obstacles they faced.

We found our way into the area although it was difficult as many of the roads in were blocked because of on-going road repair.  The houses we went by were increasingly humble the farther in we got.  They also were clinging to the hillsides.  Down at the bottom of the gully ran a river.  All of the pipes running directly out of the backs of the houses ran with liquid falling into that river.  The electric lines ran helter skelter from house to house at times.  We parked on a steep narrow road, and found a narrow path running up the hill between houses.  The path ran by houses of people Clint greeted at times.  At one point the path had all but dropped into the gully with only a small part still passable. When we got to the church, there was a concrete walkway.  We met the pastor who showed us the church and the construction project that the school had helped with.

These "kids" had hauled many many loads of gravel and sand up the hill on their backs as well as sacks of concrete and re-bar.  They also carried a cement mixer up, a septic tank, and a water tank.  It seems almost impossible when you see the steep, long, narrow path.  They said the septic tank barely fit through in places.

After they hauled all of the supplies, they dug out a long dirt bank and poured a footing for a new church wall.  They also dug the septic tank hole and drain field.  They also put the water tank way up on the hill above the church.  The wall has been mostly been built upon the foundation they poured.  The church is hoping to get further this year.

The church they now meet in is pretty humble, but they have done a lot with scrap materials.  They have a few electric lights and can run a simple sound system.  Right outside the church, the hill falls away to the gully.  The church is at the end of the path, so the pastor says they are usually not bothered by anyone there.

This is the mission field, the houses of Los Guido.

The church from the front.  It apparently is not really sound and will come down when the new church arises.



This cement mixer was carried up the hill by the Dayspring Team




Jerry pointing to the new wall that was erected behind the church on the Dayspring foundation.  This was will be part of the new church.




Here is the wall




Inside the present church.  They just had a women's crusade for the local women.  That's what the balloons are for.




Jerry and Pastor Rocha (sp?)



The pastor's "study" was just a table by one of the windows.



The bathrooms at the church.  Note the sink.  Pretty nice.




Sometimes it is hard to see where one house starts and the other stops.



The water tank way up the hill.  That was a very steep hill too.

The disappearing path would be a challenge with a cement mixer. That is quite a drop.

We spent some time praying with the pastor and encouraging him. What a passionate heart he has.

We plan on going back to Llano Verde next weekend to hold a church service,  and then to Nicaragua for the next week.  We may visit the Mosquito Indians and see what ministry opportunities are there with them. It is a recon trip mostly.
 We also are interested in seeing more of Nicaragua.  It seems like things politically are heating up there, and this will be a good time to go before it gets too unstable. 

Quinta Esencia and Guanacaste

It is inevitable for those who aspire to do mission work in Costa Rica or Hawaii or some incredibly beautiful place that they are “forced” to have a beach encounter.  It has been our lot these last few days to be at the beach.

 All of the Wisdoms were able to go as well as us 5 making 15 in the van.  It truly is a 15 passenger van. Even with 3 kid's car seats we fit fine.   We pulled the smaller trailer for our stuff, the beach gear and ice chests with food in.

On Tuesday we headed off for a 6 hour drive to Guanacaste.  This is in the northwest, on the Pacific coast.  It is the off season for tourists.  For those of us from Washington and Colorado, it is great.  There are partially cloud-covered days. Maybe a few hour-long rain storms but otherwise it is very warm and comfortable.

The beaches were empty, the stores and restaurants were empty and people were just hanging around hoping we would give them business.

The first night we drove right to a restaurant that had plastic tables and chairs, covered with colorful table and chair cloths, under an awning right on the beach.  While our food cooked we kicked off our shoes and waded into the surf.  With sandy toes, we ate fresh seafood and listened to four guys who came up and played music for us.  A mariachi (sp?) band.  The one guy had a guitaron which is a huge bass guitar.  The strings look more than an 1/8 inch thick and are plucked. 

The next 3 days all that we did was to be in the water as much as possible.  Despite the fact that Dale and Shari, and Jerry and I, Carol got out every hour or so to slather ourselves with SPF 50, we still got well burned.  We just stayed in the bath-warm green water and bobbed and soaked in the beauty of the ocean beaches.  We found a particular beach that was made of broken shells, and was white that was our favorite.

There were strong enough surf waves for the littlest kids to play in and have fun.  I actually enjoyed that quite a bit, being tossed around and pulled in and out like a piece of driftwood.

There also was one end of the beach with rocks that we were able to snorkel around and see some great fish.  Puffer fish were the most exotic.

The second day we all were crispy and had a number of sand flea bites, but were content inside.  The ocean stays in your brain for quite a while.  I still feel the bobbing after 2 days.  I hope it never goes away.  That night we sang Clint a group “Happy Birthday” song.  He and Renee went out for dinner together. They found a private romantic spot that they raved about.   After that we had cake and ice cream. Clint said that he liked his birthday, at the beach, with family.  I can say that that would be my first choice too for a birthday.



The owner of our hotel and his dog going to town.  I believe that he is Italian.  He keeps a nice and clean hotel with off season rooms for $35 a night. We ate lots of cereal and sandwiches with an occasional meal out which made this a cheap vacation.




This was our end of beach day reward, pretty spectacular!!



Russell hated every minute of this.



If you bury the children, you know right where to find them later.




our veranda




 which was also our living room, note coffee maker there




The only thing that makes you tired of bobbing at a tropical beach is getting chilled or shriveled, but it takes hours.



We stayed at an excellent place called Quinta Esencia.  Clint and Renee, the Weides and us Chilcotes each had a room in a 4-room hotel.  Right across the driveway was another hotel with large apartments. All the girls minus Chloe stayed in there in one room.  They had a swimming pool, a kitchen, several bedrooms, as best of all TV!!!  They enjoyed watching movies at night.

We had a 2-block length walk to the beach from the hotels. The area really had no big hotels or buildings.  Everything there, just about, was open to the air.

Our hotel was very charming.  All wood, with a full length porch that we really lived on, looking out at huge tropical plants.  The weather was warm and muggy.  We never needed more than shorts and t-shirts outside.  There was a Jacuzzi.  It was unheated and when we first got there we were not sure it would be used.  It actually was a favorite later with those who wanted to cool off and soak their sunburns in cooler water.

We left yesterday after struggling to get ourselves stuffed back into the van.  Our hearts just wouldn’t stay in there.  We had a remarkably quiet trip home.

As we exited, however, there was a sudden rain storm which made loading gear damp. Also Jerry's flip flops didn't do well on our steep stairs, despite trying to be careful while carrying a load he fell head long without serious injury.  At the same time Dale put his hand on the deck upright and felt a strong sting. He shook something off his hand, and it was a scorpion.  He felt afterwards like it was equivalent to a hornet sting, but hurt more going in.  I guess it was time to go.

Other than the trip to the beach,  we have continued in our spanish lessons daily, and had weekend adventures locally.  Jerry and I took Shari and Katie to the mall. We didn't need anything particularily.  We wanted to test our navigation skills again. 

We did do better the second time without the extra 2-hour trip riding the bus.  We had no problems getting through all the bus changes.  We did get off a little early in one town, but asked for directions and found our stop.  It made a huge difference that we were traveling in daylight.  It boosted our confidence a lot.  If you ask for the town square by the huge Catholic church, you may find one of several. (note to self). 

Each weekend day we can, we go to the local market.  We are less shy about asking questions and have brought back all the fruits and veggis for the house.  It is fun to see, the market people are friendly and honest, and the food is great. Some of them know us now.  We are extremely easy to spot however.

We like to eat the local food from stands when we can. It is usually some variation of a soft taco with a hand-made tortilla.  You can get fresh squeezed juices too.

This band followed us around willing to sing us a tune anytime for a few bucks.  There were few other tourists to help support them.  I thought that some of the businesses must suffer this time of year.

Some of us are going to the church in Llano Verde today.  The rest will stay here and do homework.  Which we did not do over the days at the beach.  No surprise.

The Green Plain

This weekend as a team, we went to the far north to Llano Verde which means green plain.  This is a small town which is not really a plain, but rolling hills.  They are green, however, vivid, spring green.  It's greenness is all the more visible because the dirt is a dark red.  The church there is pastored by Clint Wisdom.  He went there last weekend, and in fact most weekends.  It is about a 6-hour drive from San Jose.
None of the driving is freeway driving.  On the way there, we went along a very steep, windy road that is on very unstable ground.  The views were pretty, and would have been breath-taking had not the clouds been hovering about us.  After we got to the top of the switchbacks, we entered an area where the road winds in and out through steep hills. I don't remember exactly how long ago, but within the last 2 years, there was a devastating earthquake here. The Wisdoms were among those who helped in the disaster relief.  Several hundred killed, and many lost houses, and businesses.  Also the few undamaged tourist places, including the waterfall garden/butterfly pavillion are struggling as people are afraid to come up there.  There is an area where houses were erected for the displaced to live down at the bottom of the mountains. There were places where the road got down to one lane, where temporary bridges were in place, and where the road was flaking off into the deep gorges below.  The government as of yet has not decided to put millions of dollars into fixing this unstable area.
After a pleasant 5 hours of driving, we hit the end of the paved road,  from then on it is car rattling dirt.  You can't build up too much speed as it is easy to bottom out.  This area is all beautiful farms and planted forrests.  Lots of the peaceful looking cows, teak trees, other commercially planted trees, and small farm houses.  Many of the fences have living fence posts.  There is a kind of small tree that you can cut off a branch and stick it in the ground, and it will grow.  The farmers have place these in close-together rows and strung barbed wire on them.  In my opinion it is much nicer to look at than the usual barbed-wire fence.
It was about an hour on the dirt road to Llano Verde itself.  All of us had been there before.  There is one improvement since I last was there.  They have electricity now.  No more going to bed with the sunset and getting up at dawn.  Now they go to bed whenever, and still get up at dawn.  The first evidence I had of the change was TV antennas on the small wooden homes.
Renee, Katie and I attended and shared at the Saturday ladies meeting at the church.  The women are very shy with strangers and didn't speak very much.  I asked also if I could read some Spanish from the Bible as I needed the practice.  They applauded when I finished, but not because I was that good, but because they are that kind.  That night we had a service and a movie night.  Many of the people walk several hours to church, and stay the night with someone, so a Saturday night movie gives them something to do.  We ran a cord over from Victor and Aurora's house two houses down for our electricity.  The film was shown on a white sheet.  The church is open on two sides which makes it possible to get breezes in.  It also lets the bugs in.  At night when they are the thickest, they didn't bother us much, but flocked to the white, lit-up sheet.  It was a little comical to see the heroes faces covered with insects.  Better them than us, I say.
After church, we went back to our host's house to eat, beans and rice with spaghetti noodles also in it.  Not bad.  We also had amazing local pineapple.  Like candy.
The women put up a tent in the house and slept on their living room floor. This kept any mosquitos at bay.  The men had a tent on the wood floor of the church.
Sunday morning, we all got up and showered.  Victor and Aurora have gotten indoor plumbing since last we visited.  It beats a trip to the outhouse in the middle of the night, or a "shower" out of a tub in the yard.  No hot water, of course, but still great.  Their house is very basic, but has everything needed for a good living, and some for beauty.  They still only have 3 pictures of themselves from long ago hanging on a wall. 
The church service was great.  They have a very lively and Spirit-filled worship team.  They give their all to the Lord and it was great fun.  The sermon, in Spanish passed some of us by, but their were lots of "amens" so I think it was well received.
Two babies and a family were dedicated to the Lord in the services.  After prayer, we all went and changed clothes and went to the river.  There are many flowing in the area.  It obviously rains there a lot.  As it was very hot it was great timing for the baptism which occurred.  5 people were baptized, after which everyone jumped into the river pond and played or waded in the water to cool off.
We went back to Victor and Aurora's and ate lunch.  After a leisurly afternoon and showers, we returned home. 
The roads in Costa Rica can be tricky at night.  There are many winding roads filled with slow-moving trucks.  Often people pull out in front of you without warning, and bicycles abound, without lights.
We made it back by 9 PM and ate pizza and went off to bed and emails, etc.
We found it a good challange to try to use our Spanish.  It is a lot harder to understand and speak at the speed people normally do. 
We are going up again next weekend, I think, so will get more opportunity then.


A few of Victor's cows. He makes and sells great fresh cheese.  He gets up at dawn and milks his cows.




Family dedication in church.  We can look right out at the fields and palm trees beyond.



One of the baptisms in the river by Jerry and Clint



New Amigas




Victor and Aurora with their sons and Jerry and Carol



Gorgeous water fall on the way to Llano Verde. You can see how rugged the terrain is. There is a temporary bridge next to the car.

                                

The walk to the river

                                                               Fun is the same anywhere!!