Back in Action…

19 - january

Finally… Now long-overdue, I have once again returned to the blogging world and will attempt to maintain the regular appearances I had previously established. It is now January 19th (Happy Birthday, Blake) and I find myself in familiar stomping grounds - in front of the laptop in Limón. I returned to this wonderful Caribbean port yesterday after a long stretch away and found myself discovering all sorts of little changes that have taken place since my months away. For example: street signs in the center of town that label the roads in an NYC-esque fashion (3rd Street and 2nd Avenue, more or less). This alone is big news in a country where such identifying markers are about as hard to find as clear skies in LA (few and far between, that is). Along with that I stumbled upon the large concrete squares of th boardwalk-like main street to be painted in the festive Jamaican colors of yellow, green, and red. There is a brand new wooden pier/deck construction over the water at the center park as well as some new and much-needed trash cans scattered about. All small and simple changes, but things one notices when returning “home.” I liken it to my rare but informative visits to the old stomping grounds of Ferndale, WA (my alma matter) where one takes note of the addition of a new stop light, or the fact that the local drugstore got a facelift. Anyway, so it is all good news upon returning to Limón – a few nice upgrades but everything else – like my favorite Internet spot – still in tact and operating as usual.

For the time being I am residing with the family of my friend, Katherin, who is from the Getsemani Baptish Church and whom I befriended at the Youth Camp last July and had spent a lot of time with in the months in Limón afterward. A cute, little humble home where Katherin and I share bunk beds and her family is very welcoming and hospitable. I am very grateful to them for opening up their home to me. During the next couple of weeks my main focus will be to proceed in the process of planning the Youth Camp for July 2007 and working with the Pastor and youth leaders from First Baptist Church to nail down the location and theme, and begin to put together a schedule of activities and plans for the week. In addition, I have been able to connect with Pastor Denis of Getsemani Baptist Church to discuss plans for outreach opportunities and leadership training during the week before the Youth Camp when the mission team from CO will be in town. I am also looking forward to being able to join Getsemani Baptist for the Sunday evening worship service that I had been attending previously as well.

So I guess that is my current situation in a nutshell. Now I get to tackle the updates about my recent travels and adventures…

Christmas on a Cruise - Dec 20-27

From December 20th through December 27th I had the wonderful opportunity to meet up with my entire family (mom, dad, brother, sister, and 95 year old grandpa) for a cruise on the Mexican Riviera. It was a great experience. Probably the thing you hear about most in relation to cruises is the food, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. My only critique is that there was not a frozen yogurt or soft serve machine available (my number 1 request prior to boarding) but that was probably a good thing as I definitely got my fill of food and desserts. We have very fun waiters for our evening dining experience and I think they got a bit of a kick out of us as well. Every course of every dinner was a sea of arms and forks and spoons crossing the table as everyone wanted to sample what the others had, and for those of us who had a hard time deciding…the waiters just brought some of both, or all. One night I was faced with a difficult dessert decision (surprise, surprise) and upon seeing my distressed look, the waiter pulled the menu out of my hand. Now I thought he was just going to pick the best one for me, but turns out he just decided to bring me one of everything! So there I was, sitting at the table with a buffet of desserts in front of me (what a shame!). Some of the trip highlights were playing games in the Card Room, watching my parents each go parasailing in Puerto Vallarta, and spending a grandpa-granddaughter day on the boat while the rest of the family explored Mazatlan. It’s fun to watch people’s reactions to seeing my grandpa strolling around the boat, or him and I playing cards at lunch, and even better when they found out he was 95. I hope the Icelandic genes are as good to me as they have been to him!

It was quite the adjustment to come back to the States after 9 months away… When I was at the airport going through customs in LA the man at the immigration counter wished me a Merry Christmas and it totally threw me off seeing how it was the first time I had heard those words (rather than Feliz Navidad). When I was in public it was weirding me out to hear everyone talking in English, and when I would need to approach someone at a store or ask a question about something I had to fight the urge to make my inquiry in Spanish. There were definitely some welcome sights as I was back stateside… Target, for example, and Starbucks (although for my first coffee beverage I selected a push-button cappuccino from the gas station…yum yum).

I definitely went through a variety of emotions during the whole experience on the boat and then the week in LA. It felt strange to be leaving Costa Rica for a “vacation” and then transitioning drastically from living here to living on a cruise ship. After spending the time with friends in LA, however, and being reminded of my “old” life, I began to feel my first signs of wanting to come home for good. Up until that point I had been totally content and happy in Costa Rica, with no real desire to head back home anytime too soon, but I think this trip proved to be a good transitioning step for me. It allowed me to be reminded of why “home” is “home” (even though it is not exactly LA) and that I am indeed looking forward to that life again. I will admit that in the airport at midnight, while I was waiting for my flight back to Costa Rica, I felt my first twangs of sadness about leaving. Not that I was dreading the return, but I did think “I don’t want to leave.” I had really enjoyed the time with my family and friends and that fact that thanks to my cell phone I could be in contact with pretty much anyone and everyone whenever I wanted. That is definitely something I miss here – just being able to push a button and hear a friend’s voice. Now that I am back, I am glad to be here as well, and I am glad that when I left in December it wasn’t my final goodbye to Costa Rica. In the end I think my little American getaway was just what I needed to make the most of my remaining time here, and also allow me to look forward to what is waiting when I get back.

Adventures with Jenn and Alex - Jan 4-17

The day after I arrived back in San José I got to put on the Tour Guide hat once again when Jenn came in from Denver. Since we hadn’t had a chance beforehand, we took the opportunity that very day to sit down at the computer and phone and plan our activities for the next 2 weeks. Nothing like a little last minute travel agent action… I got to give here the guided tour of Heredia, downtown San José, and we even made a day trip down here to Limón for a visit to the beach and a taste of all my favorite Caribbean treats and a glance at my stomping grounds. Plus a night of salsa dancing with lots of old men (ha) and we even caught a movie and popcorn at the mall. She was practically a local by the time we welcomed Alex to the sunny tropics on Monday. The 2 of them were surely glad to be escaping the winter snowstorms and below freezing temps in Denver. From Tuesday to Thursday we relaxed poolside and visited the beach from our resort-like spot on the Pacific Coast… had to get their poor winter skin adjusted to the lovely warm rays of the tropical sun, of course. Friday and Saturday was a 2-day white water rafting experience, and experience it surely was – in the fullest sense of the word. The raft company picked us up in San Jose at 6am on Friday morning in a mini tour bus, made a few other stops around the city, then shuttled us about an hour and a half away, almost to Limón, to the company’s Operations Center. There we were fed a delicious breakfast of pinto, fruit, and made-to-order omelets and changed into our rafting gear. A short trip to the river and a short instructional and safety session later, we found ourselves in helmet and lifejackets with our stuff in dry bags and floating down the river with a couple from California and our fearless raft guide, Fabian, from Argentina. There were 2 other boats of rafters along with us, plus another boat with all the gear and food. It was an overcast day, ideal for rafting and avoiding sunburn and/or bad tan lines. After awhile we “pulled over” on the side of the river and our guides quickly became chefs as they flipped over one of the boats and began to set up our lunch smorgasboard of sandwiches (complete with sliced lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, and mayo & mustard packets) cookies, and fruit – sliced and arranged with extra points for presentation. Just as we were loading the plates and preparing to feast that rain came. And it wasn’t just a light sprinkle or even a downpour…it was a monsoon. We tried to take cover under the trees, but it really didn’t do much good. Sad as it was to see all the food getting drenched, one was left with not much more to do but laugh and try to make the most of it as our paper plates were disintegrating in our very hands. It was quite a scene as we were all so hungry that we tried to cover our plates and eat despite the rain, yet everything was just getting soaked. Of course after we packed up and were back on the boats it stopped raining and within 15 minutes or so we were enjoying some great sunshine. It would have been nice to have that at lunchtime, but at least it was warming us up and making the splashes of the rapids more enjoyable as they were now able to “cool” us off. In the early afternoon we arrived at the lodge where we would be staying. It was a gorgeous spot in the jungle, overlooking the river, and we had very nice and clean cabins with private bathrooms to call home for the night. We took a guided hike up into the jungle to a waterfall, and then made it back down to camp to find the rest of our guides and the lodge staff hard at work in the kitchen. It really was a full service experience, and with our guides providing all the services themselves. They even had a Happy Hour of Jungle Juice and chips and bean dip waiting for us. Oh so tasty. We all got to shower and change and dry out and then reunited in the open-air with a view dining room while our guides laid out quite the dinner spread of this really tasty chicken mix, rice, salad, and fruit. Delicious. That night Jenn and Alex and I were joined by Fabian and another guide, Greg, from Scotland, for an entertaining evening of cards and conversation.
Saturday morning started with another great breakfast of pinto, fruit, and some tasty banana-cinnamon pancakes. After breakfast we all got harnessed up for an adventure on the canopy tour (aka zip line) which was included as part of the whole experience. After all that fun we still got to climb on board the rafts for a few more hours of adventures down the river. There were some good rapids, amazing scenery, and fun times on the boat – and Jenn, Alex, & I all stayed in the raft even, except of course when we purposely jumped off for a swim. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the whole thing ended with another fabulous meal– lunch of chicken, salad, fresh salsa, fruit, beans, rice, veggies, and friend plantains back at the Operations Center. I think between the 3 of us we totally wiped out an entire tree’s worth of plantains. Tasty treat. We were tired but very satisfied customers by the time the shuttle bus dropped us off back in San Jose around 6 on Saturday evening.
Sunday we headed out late morning for San Jose and a 4.5 hour bus ride up to Volcan Arenal. The bus ride was definitely more of what one would likely imagine a Costa Rican bus trip would be…not the nicest or cleanest nor freshest-smelling bus, way more people than seats (I ended up standing for the first 3.5 hrs of the trip so I would be able to talk to the other girls without people standing and/or leaning over me in the aisle) and lots of stops along the way. We finally made it though, and found our way to a hotel/cabinas that had been recommended to us by one of the raft guides. We had a cute little room complete with 3 beds, mini kitchen with frig, and porch with volcano views. The only problem was the clouds never gave us the chance to see the volcano. From the time we arrived on Sunday until leaving on Tuesday afternoon we never caught even a glimpse of the volcano. So that was a bummer for the girls, but we made the most of the trip anyway, including a visit to some fabulous hot springs and dinner at a great typical restaurant that we loved so much we came back to the next night as well. On Monday morning we rented bicycles with the intention of keeping them all day and making our way around town, out to the hot springs, to the waterfall, and who knows where else. We headed for the waterfall first and were in for quite a surprise when we found ourselves riding uphill on a gravel road for 4 km with a pretty intense incline for the last half of it. After we finally arrived at the waterfall we discovered that we would have to hike down about half a mile to get to it, which of course meant that we got to climb up that mountain as well on the way back. Needless to say between spending the previous 2 days on a raft and then the entire morning on a rugged bike trail, we were ready to turn in our bikes at noon and head off to pamper ourselves at the hot springs. Which we did, and in the end it felt good to know that we truly deserved it. :) Tuesday morning we did a little shopping and enjoyed some very tasty coffee drinks at this great little café before boarding the bus and making the trek back to San José, which was a much better trip considering we all had seats and windows that actually opened. That night we had dinner at Luisa’s house, stocked the girls with supplies to bring back home at the grocery store, and finished off our evening with a very tasty Frozen Cappuccino from the local Baskin-Robbins-type chain. We had such a great time and got to do so many things and I just loved the time with my girls, so it was sad to have to say goodbye…