Bienvenidos a Costa Rica!

Hola mis amigos!  It's good to be back!  I hope everyone out there has been having a great week!  I know I sure have, but it has certainly been busy.  I did my best to keep a detailed journal of the events of my week long mission trip to Costa Rica, and now that I'm back, I can share all those pictures and stories with you.  I will include a lot of pictures here, but be sure to check out facebook for the full repertoire of photos...I came home with nearly 300 pictures!!!  Granted, a lot of them were taken by children of the neighborhood we were working in in Jicaral, Costa Rica.  The kids LOVE cameras and taking pictures...as soon as we arrived each day they were begging, "Camera! Camera! Photo! Photo!"  I'd give them my camera and off they'd run throughout the playground and neighborhood taking pictures of anything and everything...so I have a TON of pictures lol.

Anyway, here starts the first record of my week in Costa Rica.

Day 1: Jan. 9, 2010
We set out for San Jose leaving an icey DC and freezing temperatures headed toward volcanic explosions and warmth in Costa Rica.

We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica (fortunately no where near volcanic activity) and were greeted outside the airport by the Grumbles (missionaries there we were working with for the week.)  There was a large crowd assembled at the arrivals terminal and one of the first signs I saw there said "Welcome, Sandra Bullock and Lindsay Lohan!" haha...not sure if they were actually arriving at the airport or not, but there was quite a crowd there and they were all shouting...I did not spot the famous faces though. (unfortunately...)  Anyway, we jumped in a vehicle that took us to the car rental place where we would be renting a van for the week.  I snapped a shot from the rental facility of the view...

view from the plane coming into San Jose

View from the Car Rental shop

Once we finally got the van, we hit the road on our approximately 6 hour trek to Jicaral, on the other side of la Golfo del Nicoya.  The roads in Costa Rica are the worst I have ever been on in my life and driving/riding there is the scariest thing EVER!!!  People basically don't really heed to traffic rules, no traffic signals are used, there's constant passing and cutting in and out of vehicles, motorcycles riding up in between tight spaces...and the most ginormous potholes everywhere!  My life flashed before me many a-time while riding in the van...our driver drove like the other Ticos (costa ricans), and I was scared for my life every time I stepped in the van.  I'm surprised we didn't blow a tire at all the number of potholes we hit at the speed we took them on, my head literally hit the ceiling a few times from those pothole jumps.  I do NOT miss Costa Rican roads or driving one bit! I was very happy to come home to VA highways and paved streets.

I took a lot of shots of the scenery.  Costa Rica is a highly agricultural society, lots of coffee (duh!), sugar cane, Tik wood, pineapple and melon, bananas are grown on the other side of the country so we didn't see many of those...also TONS of livestock. 

Sugar Cane!!!

Sunset in Costa Rica

First Costa Rican meal arros con pollo y yuka and plantains. I also got this natural fruit drink called Tamarindo (obviously named after the fruit, it was YUM!)

Stopped in Monteverde for ice cream there are green parrots up in the tree!  Can you find them?

 Costa Rican milkshake! Coconut, pineapple, and orange, YUM!!!

I don't remember what time we arrived at our hotel but it was dark and I was exhausted.  The hotel was more like a little rural motel...chickens, dogs, hens, roosters, and other forms of critters running around everywhere.  The restaurant was like most Costa Rican restaurants, outdoor open air patio type setting, which was actually great in the mornings!  Anyway, we got settled in to our little rooms, these were obviously not luxury accommodations but they were actually better than I expected.  The shower was cold though and you literally were standing under a hose...our bathroom had a bit of an ant infestation but fortunately just ants...I was really scared about what creepy crawlies might lurk around me, but fortunately I didn't see too many.  Just a couple spiders that my roommate was willing to take on.  Anyway, so that was my first day...traveling, death defying driving, beautiful scenery, and excitement.

To follow, working with the kids and more!!!!  Stay tuned!

Ciao!