Day 3!

So Sunday morning we woke up early to caught the bus to go to La Rita to go to church. This was one of the areas that Dave loved on his mission, and he wanted to go back there and see the people in the Branch! So we woke up and ate breakfast, once gain provided by the hotel. It filled you up! This is where I learned that I DO NOT LIKE Papaya!!!
So we did the hurry up and wait thing, and waited for about 45 minutes for the bus, There were a few people waiting for the bus, and we asked them how much longer for the bus to take us in and they said just a few minutes (and it came about 25 minutes later). This is Tico time for ya!

Oh well we enjoyed the scenery! I read and Dave enjoyed talking to the people! He just LOVES it down here!

Finally the bus came 10 minutes to 9 and church started at 9! It took about 10-15 minutes to get there. So we walked fast, and this is who met us!

This cute little Tico boys came and walked us to the church, it really touched my heart to see these boys come get us! You could tell they were excited to see us and waiting for us (or Dave!) We were about 5 minutes late, but as we walked in the small congregation was singing, and the spirit testified that the church was true here in this small branch in Costa Rica as it is in Utah! It was wonderful to be there! It was fast and testimony meeting, and I was so impressed by the strength of the youth in the branch and there testimonies! There was a wonderful spirit there!

Dave taught the young men cause there teacher was gone, we he very much enjoyed!

The small church! I love the coconut tree there!

We walked home with a Sister and her kids, and there was this beautiful river on the walk home. There was lots of youth that walked with us! You can tell they just love gringo's! One of the people that Dave helped baptize invited us to lunch!

I helped with lunch, I helped make the platinos. Lunch was actually really good! It was beans, rice, beef and platinos. Oh and they don't dinner water, they always drink some kind of juice! After lunch we talked and showed pictures of our family. It was wonderful to see how strong she is and how her and her husband have been sealed in the temple!

Her cute family (her husband was gone in Limon for work)!
I want you to notice the house. I am standing in the doorway and the fridge is on the back wall of the house. There are two small rooms to the left, and a wash room to the left of the fridge! It was awesome to see how they lived in such humble circumstances and how Happy they where with what they have!

Then we went with another family and they took us out to the countryside to visit another member. We went through pineapple fields, if you look closely you can see how the pina grow! Very interesting!

Ilder, Jessinya, Daniel, and Kevin looking at the fields.

These where either Dole or Del Monte Banana fields, and I guess there is a very poison banana spider so they put these blue bags on them to give nutrients and protect them!

Papaya

We had to end of walking cause the car kept hitting down in the middle cause there was too much weight and a poor road!

This was where Alvaro lives, but he was at work. So his neighbor showed us around the farm area!

This was there shower!

We took a path with yucca plant on the left and jungle on the right (we didn't see any monkeys this time).

The path

A beautiful flower!

I loved this tree!

Us by the jungle!

This is what they call an apple down there!

Let me tell you it didn't taste like an apple, it was softer like pear but a bitter!

Eating the pipa meat, it was little better then the water, but still not that great!

So we finally found cilantro, and it did look like a weed!

But it smelt like cilantro!

This is what cows look like down there, definitely different. I guess they are a lot slender and built different to be able to handle the climate!

Alvoro peeling and an orange and the skin is green!

But is was DELICIOUS! I had two while we walked around!

We then went back to there house and had dinner. They are so generous and just dished our plates up! They gave me about 2 cups of rice with some sauce and chicken leg, I just couldn't believe it! Dave said to just eat what I could. Well for the dinner was one of Dave's favorite's. It was a papaya shake! Yep, so Dave gave to me about a 1/4 of a cup. Let just say I just used to to wash down what I ate! Dave keeps telling me that I just have to acquire a taste for things! Oh and the picture above was on there wall, it was a picture of Dave on the day that their daughter was getting baptized! You could tell that these people LOVED Dave, and Dave loved them!

This was the family and two other members.

I enjoyed today because it seeing another side of Dave and his heart and how much he loved these people!

Day 2!

We woke up in Costa Rica, and I was ready to get up and go around 6:30 (despite going to bed late) cause the sun come up around 4:30! So we got up and got ready. This picture below is out of order but I had to include it cause it was quite the experience! So we were coming back to our hotel and the bus driver was driving kind of crazy and the brakes where smelling funny. Then all of the sudden he dropped the transmission. We all had to get out and wait for another bus! It was crazy!

So after we got ready we went down to there little kitchen and choose what we wanted for breakfast. I decided to go with the norm down there, and had gallo pinto and eggs. That is rice/beans and eggs.

This was the view from our room! This is what all the houses look like out there!

They all have bars on the windows and gates around the house for a deterrent of some sort. This was my first time really being out of the country and I was very nervous. I kept asking Dave if he had his wallet or passport. It took me about a day to clam down!

We went into San Jose and walked around and this was one of the outside produce markets, we had stands for everything from candy to beans to hardware shops. I thought is was rather cleaned and didn't smell to bad.

This is how they sell pina cause it is more compact. Which was interesting

This is how they keep the insects away from the food, which I thought was rather cleaver!

These were the police officers, don't they look official?

We tried to go to a Museum that talks about Costa Rica but it was closed because of New Years!

This was one of the wonderful greenery they have there!

So I thought I would try the pipa, which is the type of coconut that they have down there! It is rather different then what I think of coconut.

I can't say that I am a fan of the coconut water, but I did try it!
Then we headed to Guapiles after San Jose. We took the bus in to town so that I could get the full experience. It took a good 1 to get there.

This is a typical picture of a Tico at one of the bus stops, and yes they like bright colors down there!

We defiantly got into the jungle, it was beautiful there! I really liked Guapiles, it was a nice temperature and it was very green!

On the way there it was very green and foggy!

Once we got there we waited for a family that was going to pick us up there in Guapiles, this was the row of taxi's waiting to take people where they needed to go!

We met up with the Chavez', they were so nice and generous. They wanted to make sure that next time we come we bring our kids and stay there!

They are very well off down there, and this was there beautiful home!

That night we went and visited a family, where Dave used to live. They were very excited to see Dave and talk with him. The members all wanted to know why Dave hadn't taught me spanish? I thought it was interesting that the way they get someone to come to the door is not knock or ring the doorbell they say "Opa" until they come.

At our hotel they had a indoor soccer field and this is what it looks like!

Then after going for a walk we where hot so we went for a swim! Today was a nice day to come a custom to the way of life down here in Costa Rica!