We are officially back in the states and this is our last blog posting for now... We may resume with Europe 2008!

Our trip was a great adventure and we are so glad that we went. I am very glad to be back in the states. When we arrived at customs, the officer who checked our passports said "Welcome home" and I wanted to hug him. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

Here is a list of the cultural things that we missed, and are now enjoying in bulk.

1. fresh air (I can't seem to get enough. The diesel fumes in San Jose were often overwhelming.)
2. cake doughnuts
3. driving our car
4. relaxing in public without being concerned about theft
5. knowing how to access our money

We have also taken a break from rice and beans, but now that it's been over a week I'm starting to think that I should go but a pressure cooker and a rice maker and go to town. Mike can't stop talking about the monkeys and I miss my Costa Rican fam. Mike is also trying to find a way to purchase a home next to a panaderia. (Okay, not really)

Thanks for coming along on our journey with us. God bless!

Finding the Rainforest Treasure at Manuel Antonio

Join Mike and Becca on a journey for treasure in the rainforests of Costa Rica...

Remember...

Sometimes treasure isn't buried in the ground...

Time to climb the path...

Watch out for citters along the way. This Black Iguana enjoys watching the hikers pass.

Whew, are we there yet? Wow - wait... Did you hear that??

Hmm... I don't see anything... (Well, except amazing rainforest)

WOW -AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH... Oh, wait a minute. Oops, it's just a vine. I thought it was the snake that even the forest guides are afraid of...

It looks like even the crabs are having a tough time finding it...

Hmmm... Where's that treasure... Overlooking the waters of Manuel Antonio in West-Central Costa Rica, Becca doesn't think she sees it yet...


I guess we'd better keep looking for that treasure...


What in the world? Bird... Plane... That guy from Smallville?

AHA!! We've found it!!! A capuchin monkey...

And his friends...

How cool!!



Here is a video clip of capuchin monkeys swinging in the rainforest at Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio National Park. They really were as close as it seems! Enjoy!

San Jose - stay #3

Although we´re now sitting in Playa Manuel Antonio, we have lots to fill everyone in from the past week and a half...

…Transportation
The road trip back to San Jose from Montezuma…yikes! How a 4-5 hour journey can turn into more than 9 hours...

• Step 1: Wait for ½ hour then miss the bus because of getting too many different answers from people on the street. Spend an hour and a half at the internet café waiting for the next bus.
  



• Step 2: Take the bus from Montezuma to Paquera.
  



• Step 3: Take the ferry from Paquera on the Nicoya Penninsula to Puntarenas. A journey that took 1 hour on the way out took over 2 hours on the way back.
  



• Step 4: Take a taxi from the ferry to the bus station at Puntarenas, get there just in time to miss the 6:00 bus. Wait an hour for the 7:00 bus.
  



• Step 5: Take the 7:00 bus back to San Jose.
  



• Step 6: Take a taxi home and drop into bed at 11:00 pm.
  Public transportation…it’s always an adventure!

…Rafting the Pacuare River in Costa Rica

• Rafting with the Make-a-Wish girls from Chicago, and Rios Tropicales river-guide Alejandro on the Pacuare River. Pura vida! The river is class III and IV and is the 5th most rafted river in the world. It was an incredible ride, my best rafting experience ever, hands down. Mike, who has rafted several US rivers, including the Gauley in flood season, noted that the whitewater class ratings in CR seem different than US – here, a IV was very much like a V in the US… whew. We don´t have our photo package yet, but you can visit http://www.riostropicales.com/english.htm to check out their gallery. We rafted beside the waterfall shown in pic #3 and saw as much whitewater as you seen in many of the picture at the end of their real. Unfortunately, we didn´t see as much wildlife, but we did see people from the native mountain tribe playing along the river. It reminded Mike of missionary Marilyn Lazlo´s descriptions of the people of Papua New Guinea.

…Weekend experiences

A day at the Feria (fruit and vegetable market), which seriously took up at least 6 acres, possibly more around 10 by the time you walk around the perimeter. We wandered through seemingly endless stalls of brightly colored produce with Mayela as our guide. Along the way we tasted at least five completely new fruits. Mike went crazy on the pineapple, and the trunk was packed with an amazing assortment of freshness on the way home.

• Church with our Costa Rican family at Oasis, the largest church in Central America.
  Spending Father’s Day in Costa Rica with our Tico family. We had a very tasty family meal complete with a professionally decorated cake, courtesy of Mayela. Sorry we weren’t there to celebrate with you, Dads!

…The Abraham Project

• Serving with the Abraham Project for a week. What an amazing experience to help with a small piece of their vision. (more on this experience in another blog article) routine: ...up at 5:30AM, help with the building projects, home around 6 or 7, eat and sleep... no time for internet, thus the long wait for updates... sorry.
  


• Our dinner of RostiPollo with Pops for desert. When day-dreaming now, Mike thinks about what he will get on his next trip to Pops. He recommends the Passión Queque (passion cake) flavor dipped in chocolate and peanuts...



• We spent our 4th anniversary at the Abraham Project shoveling sand, rocks, and cement to make concrete; pulling nails out of boards; and transporting heavy wheelbarrows full of concrete. Don’t worry, we’re celebrating for real at the beach this weekend. Also as an added perk, Mayela made us a Tres Leches cake. Yummmm.

…More familiar faces

• Dinner with Crhis, Pey, and Teresa. We tried Olla de Carne (a sort of Costa Rican beef stew) for the first time while talking half in English and half in Spanish. Happy birthday, Teresa!!

…Getting $$$

• The day of serious drama at the bank. Serious ARGGGHHH, that day. It’s just not this tricky to access our money in the states.

The Abraham Project: When no one else believed it could happen

Photos: Mike tearing apart pallates; Becca surveying foundation trenches; our friends at the cement-mixing station (was that bag REALLY 125 pounds??).

Becca and I budgeted and saved money throughout the year so we could live her dream of taking me to Costa Rica. We also budgeted funds to create or connect with a mission trip while in the country. As much as we wanted to experience the country, we also really wanted to experience and support its people. Although we hadn't connected with an organization prior to arriving, we continued looking for a connection. Enter Teresa.

Teresa is actually an American who completed a mission trip in CR a year ago... and stayed after being offered a position at the International Christian School of Costa Rica (http://www.icscr.net/). We met her at a friend's church in San Jose, CR and explained to her that we were looking to serve in some capacity before leaving. She told us about The Abraham Project (http://www.abrahamproject.org/), an association providing children's daycare and adult education for a community immersed in poverty. She said the project would be tough work...

Becca and I arrived the next week to join a youth group who arrived for the week on a mission trip. We were told the next phase of the project was to build a large multi-purpose/office complex that would serve the community. The association will host doctors and other professional professionals in the new offices to offer community members FREE services. Amazing! The project has already completed a large community center/cafeteria that currently serves as the community's church, a 2-story daycare & adult education facility (teachers are volunteers from the community!), and a large, enclosed storage area for the MANY donations God has sent them. They told a fascinating story of how a local lumber company decided to donate pallate wood, windows, and concrete for the buildings.

The project started when a pastor from Costa Rica wanted to support the children in this area suffering from poverty and malnutrition. This area in particular is where the city of San Jose dumps its trash. Not many people believed anything could become of this little town. However, the pastor continued praying through his vision and found the way. Enjoy the pictures, and feel free to read more at http://www.abrahamproject.org/.

Pastor Jorge, founder ---------- The Construction Crew

Montezuma - an iguana haven

Becca and I spent Sunday through Thursday relaxing at the up and coming little beach town of Montezuma, on the southeast nub of the Nicoya Pennisula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The beach town was a bit hippy and had several loud restaurants, but the beach experience was still enjoyable.







We stayed in the very natural-feeling Amor del Mar hotel and enjoyed very nice views of the crashing waves from the community balcony. Across from our hotel into the rainforest were three waterfalls that I describe a bit more in the next article. We awoke many mornings to the sounds of howler monkeys...

We ate pizza one day on the balcony of a local pizza shop (interestingly, there are many pizzerias in CR) and saw several LARGE iguanas. They seemed oblivious to us as they climbed trees and walked on the ground below our table The photo really doesn´t do justice - the creature was at least two feet long! Jenson Driskell - this one´s for you! :)

We were a five minute walk from the hub of little Montezuma, and the distance was just enough to keep away the unwanted noise while letting the wanted sound of ambient water filter in: one side of our room had waterfalls resounding outside and the other side had the ocean. I love water, so that was pretty cool! (And to think that the location was just another simple fact of life in Costa Rica...wow...)

Becca and I were surprised that not too many people were taking to the beach, mostly because of the comparatively strong tides. Many people had surf boards and were heading to beaches south of us, which was fine w/ us since it was quieter. We´re not really surfers, but we´re thinking about trying body-boarding at Manuel Antonio... I should have had Preston teach me some things...

Familiar German Faces in CR

While in Montezuma I was able to reconnect with Robert and Kay, a couple of guys from Germany who have been backpacking around CR, Nicaragua and Panama for the summer. We met during the bus trip to La Fortuna in week #1 of vacation and have bumped into each other a few more times since then. Robert is now back in Germany, and Kay is continuing with another couple months of hiking in South America. Jealous - yes, yes I am, Kay.

We swapped tips on good vacation spots and the latest adventures. Of the three waterfalls we discovered in the rainforest just across from our hotel in Montezuma, I had found two. They found the other one, and in fact jumped from the top of it (their video of it make the falls seem like 300 meters)! Needless to say, I would have done it, too, but as daring as I am, I didn´t have time... And to think that places like that are just naturally part of the ¨backyard¨ here. In the States, we spend bucco bucks to landscape stuff like that, charging exorbitant prices for tickets to the themed attraction. Here, the only fee was the energy I spent in walking to the sites and in overcoming my fear of scaling the paths (safer than not... I may be a risk-taker, but I still analyze heavily). I love this about God´s creation!

It was great to have some ¨guy time¨even while here away from most anyone I know. Becca has had some fun girl time with our host-mom and host-sister, so it was good to meet these guys again.

San Jose - stay #2...

• The taxi driver who lives to strike fear in the hearts of all gringos. When he wasn’t making hair pin tuns and weaving in and out of tight traffic, he opted for one hand on the cell phone and the other on the gear shift.


• Watching futbol (¨soccer¨) with Carlos the dad... ¡Gooooooooool!
  
• Revisiting my favorite retreat from culture shock during my study abroad, Subway in downtown San Jose. People-watching from the second floor is always diverting.
  



• The museums of Gold and Costa Rican Art in San Jose.
  



• Our first trip to Spoon, the Costa Rica equivalent of Cheesecake Factory, for an enormous slice of choco-fresas cake. (Of course, we had our share of the cake before remembering to take a picture of it...)
  



• Lunch with the staff at LASP (Latin American Studies Program). Time does pass, there were already pictures of 11 more groups hanging on the wall.
  
  
• Church with the Juanta family. It was great to see some familiar faces and to meet more of the family.
  
• Job offers galore. I never thought it would be so easy to find jobs I wasn’t looking for in a foreign country.
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean III after exploring Mall San Pedro.
• Mike’s excursion for soccer and Hacki Sac with Carlos and Roberto.
  
• Getting caught up with my CR family on 6 years of life. I’m so glad we’ve been able to stay with them!