Rafting Rio Pacuare

What an adventure!



We went with Stacie, our school friend, and headed out for a day trip to the Pacuare river. It was a 2 hour bus ride to the river and breakfast was included. We were famished and could not wait for the gallo pinto and fruit, which is our staple food group here.

We rode with 3 people from Denmark and 2 local Tica women. We were paired with the 2 Ticas in the rafting. One of the girls from Denmark had dreds and Stacie took the opportunity to ask how long she had had them, how to make them, and necessary requirements of maintaining them. Quite interesting really. We exchanged information with the 2 Tica gals to meet up for dancing and speaking Spanish!

Now to the river. We thought we had accurately applied sunscreen to our bodies, but efficiently missed our legs as both of our legs are red from knee cap to mid thigh.. quite funny actually! We our also quite sore as the river rafting was a four hour ride. We stopped for lunch on the shore half way through and gorged ourselves on peanuts, turkey and ham, bread, tortillas, vegetables, fruit, and iced tea.



We passed an old train track where Ticos were jumping off into the river. It was quite impressive and daring as the train track must have been around 30 to 40 feet in the air! Our guide was 18 years old, the baby of our raft considering the average age of the passengers was actually 22 or 23. He told us he had been doing it for a year.



Another one of the guides enjoyed flirting with Stacie and was a enjoyable fellow to be around. We got his contact information as well and may connect with him around San Jose sometime as he lives near us in Sabanilla.

Partido de Futbol

On Wednesday 3/24 Jordan and I played soccer with some people from school and some of the teachers (Ticos). It was a lot of fun and a great work-out.

Jordan was super amazing goalie (portero) and pretty much nobody could score on him. He also did awesome on the field! We were on different teams for most of the games. There were probably 5 girls playing and the rest guys. I scored 4 goals, and one was with my left foot, into the opposite upper corner of the goal, on a Tico!!! I was pretty happy about that. We both played great and it was a great work-out.

However, its been at least 6 months since I have played soccer (I play my alumni game ever year) so my body is really feeling it. I am so incredibly sore!!! haha Its pretty funny though.

Hopefully we can get another game in before we leave the school because it was a lot of fun. Jordan and I have also been trying to run a lot in the mornings before school. There is a park near our house that is part of the big university (University of Costa Rica) and there is a nice long track there that we like to run at. Anyway, just thought I would let everyone know that we got to play soccer.

We are also planning on going to watch one of the soccer games at the big stadium here in San Jose. We watched one game on tv and it was a lot of fun. So I have been looking at the schedule, and we are giong to try and go to one. It would be so crazy to actually be there in person when the craziness of the soccer games happens!

Ok that is the end of my first post. :) Hope you all enjoy it, know that we miss you all so much!!!

Spanish classes

Spanish is getting alot easier, or at least we are learning more. learning more and more everyday. This is the first week, fifth week overall, we are doing 3 hours a day for 4 days a week. This allows us to study in the afternoons and practice speaking and listening to each other. Great for the marriage and learning the language.

This whole experience really has been a dream come true. The environment of learning abroad and acquiring a new language has illustrated the limited perspective we have taken in life at times. Opening my mind and eyes to other options has been refreshing for the soul.

Have a blessed day everyone

Irazu Continued

Here is the beautiful Basilica de Los Angeles.




The Basilica de Los Angeles, as common in catholic history, is glorified by the people because of the sacredness of the Virgin Mary and a sign from God. Legend has it a rock that appeared to be the virgin holding a baby was found in 1700s and has been believed to do miracles. The river and rock that it was found by is protected underneath the church, and every year on August 2 the whole country tries to visit this church to give glory to God and receive a healing or blessing. There were a room filled with silver items (and displays of silver objects near the rock) because the church required the people to give a piece of silver if God answered the prayer or gave a miracle. Interesting to say the least. Even the Catholic Church hasn't figured out a healthcare plan.




We met some friends on our trip! Paul from South Hampton in England and Juan from Puerto Rico! Both offered to let us stay with them anytime we visit! Obviously we will have to take them on their offers!




We visited the Lankaster Jardin. It was a garden of beautiful plants and specifically research and protection of orchids. In the raining season it has alot of blooming flowers, but during this time of year it was barren of color.




Unrelated: the genuine orange juice has returned!

Irazu Volcano

Krystle and Stacie




The volcano was beatiful! There were 3 large crators we could see and another crator/opening that was letting off sulfuric smoke! It was quite beautiful! As we walked across one of the crators I just imagined what would happen if the volcano erupted! Despite the low odds of survival I thought it might be pretty cool! Pura Vida!!



We saw a very cute animal, which I am still unsure of what it is called. I didn't look it up, so anyone feel free to offer suggestions to what it is. A ground squirrel or a gopher? It might remain a mystery for all time!



On the way down the Irazu mountain, there is an abandoned hospital that had originally been used for tuberculosis patients. It was on the mountain itself, and they decided to move it after an eruption and the potential risk!



We saw the oldest church in Costa Rica. In a small city near Cartago at the base of a mountain.




This is a picture of the valley the church is in.

Orange Juice

Since day 1 at our homestay, we have gotten freshly squeezed orange juice with our breakfast. And since we get fruit and 2 slices of bread every morning, it is the highlight of our breakfast.

I've been thinking that I would never want to go back. I want fresh orange juice for ever! Then yesterday and today, we got some manufactured orange juice and honestly, it does not taste good; not in the slightest. My brother would compare this to his addiction to mayo. If you try to give him Miracle Whip, he'll let everybody know it's not the real stuff.

Missing: Freshly squeezed Orange juice; if found, return to Jordan!

Request

I have a request.

Praise the name of Jesus for me! He's legit!

Please ask Jesus for our house in Mesa to be rented.

As well as that Krystle and I would have a greater understanding of our roles in this world as servants and living with an eternal-mindset.

Muchas Gracias! Alabado sea Jesus

Options for Living in Costa Rica

These are options for the near future once we travel to Spain, see the US east coast, and return to AZ.

1. Have a baby. Or invest $50K in a business. We spoke with an american woman living here who had gained her citizenship by having a child here. Once you have a child here, the child become a citizen and gives the parents citizenship as well. Another option that the woman was telling us about was to invest $50K into a business (cannot be real estate). Her husband, an argentinan, were living here and had a restaurant in Tamarindo. They operated a taco shop and seemed very content, busy and relaxed. Quite exciting.

So either we make our first child a Tico or we invest in a business! And seriously, how fun would it be to operate a small restaurant or bed&breakfast!

2. Teach English-native speakers desired greatly. A guy from louisiana had plans to stay down here for a year, he did the language school for a month, and just obtained a job to teach English at a school in San Jose to teach business professionals better English. He has a Teach English as a Foreign Language degree and a undegraduated degree in Anthropology. Krystle received a reference for a school nearby the language school we are attending that perfers native speakers. So this is definitely an option.

3. Enroll at Univ of Costa Rica! $4000-5000 US dollars for a graduate degree in 2 years! So a chapter in the book of our Spanish school provides information in comparing social aspects of the Costa Rica to the rest of the world. Economy, population, education, etc. One of these factor was compare the cost of education to your home country. Which for Costa Rica is amazing cheap, perhaps a bit less prestigious as well. But something Krystle are thinking about is to return someday and practice our spanish in a college by obtaining a degree here. It's cheap; gets us a student visa; allows us to study a new subject(linguistics, anthropology, computer science-these are my ideas; Krystle would probably just do nursing grad) and the spanish language!

Manuel Antonio

This was a beautiful town near Quepos. It had beautiful beaches, a national park full of animals, and we at dinner at a restaurant with an enormous plane into it!

Hotel we stayed at.



The national park had slothes, snakes, weird birds, and MONKEYS! We hiked for about 2 hours before succumbing to the reality that we were not going to get to see any monkeys! So we swam in a beautiful beach in the national park.





It was about 300 meters and surrounded by rocks! Gorgeous! So we packed up and showered, dredding the long trek back to town... and found ourselves surrounded on the path by 20 MONKEYS! they were jumping between trees and running across the path! Our friends Stacie had one run at her and another person in another group had one run at her; a satifactory ending to a long day!



Though it was more humid than our previous beaches/excursions the monkeys made up for it! We also got to eat in a restaurant with a grand view of the ocean and tropical forest! I was also thrilled because the plane had an interesting history! Anyone remember the Iran-Contra Catatrophe! A C-123 cargo plane, the twin to the plane in this restaurant, crashed in Nicaragua and set off a serious of shameful lies and coverup! Check out the restaurant: El Avion!

Krystle's Birthday!

Krystle's birthday was on Tuesday!!! Here are some pictures!!



This is us running across the street to get to the only Mexican Restaurant in town.



Krystle wearing a sombrero and for her birthday, a Pink Hippo from our German friends! Should appear in more pictures of our crazy adventures!!!



Birthday Cake!!!!



randomness!

Extended Stay

We extended our stay at the language school today for another month and reduced the time. We were doing 5 days a week and 5 hours a day; we have 1 week remaining of it. Then the next 4 weeks we have 4 days a week and 3 hours a day! We'll stay at the same house but have more time to relax, practice and study vocabulary and travel on the weekends!

The Book parents and sister are coming out in early may and sadly the Turner parents are not able to any more! But have no fear everyone, Krystle and I are looking into ways to returning to Costa Rica once we go to Spain in June-August! So everyone can take a turn visiting this beatiful country!


Here are some of the possible avenues, which I will explain in more detail another day!


*Teach English-native speakers desired greatly
*Enroll at Univ of Costa Rica! $4000-5000 US dollars for a graduate degree
*Start a business or invest in a business in an amount of over $50K!

PhotoShoot

What a beautiful couple! We miss you all!

Tamarindo

What an amazing trip!

Granted, this is in despite of the fact our lives were in danger multiple times!

Dangerous parts first!

1. On the way to Tamarindo a few guys decided to drink excessively over the 6 hour bus ride. They were also standing up because there were not enough seats on the bus. So as a few passengers got off, they took seats. A particularly angry one decided to sit in front of Krystle and I and put the seat down so that hit our knees (these bus chairs went back way too far). We asked him not too, and he got angry. Decided to play with his knife in his lap! We were not too thrilled about any of this, and recognized one cannot use logic with a drunk/fool. So we shut up quickly and prayed for safety and a quick end to the busride! We got off the bus and did not look back! The LORD protected us for sure!

2. We went to a beautiful beach on Saturday. It is called Playa Conchal. Concha is shell in spanish! The majority of the beach was tiny seashells and broken seashells and barely any sand. It was amazing! However, it definitely came at a catch. The waves were so powerful and high! There was a drop off about 20 meters out, but when the waves were large this is where they crashed! So literally the waves were between 6-10 feet, bigger by the time we left! A few of us in the group, including myself, took an unfortunate ride within a few of these! Very scary! Seriously, yet again, God is good and deserves all praise for us making it through thus alive!




3. On the way home a very interesting situation occured. A girl from another language school in Heredia was on our return bus home. She did not have a valid passport or a photocopy of it. She had an expired drivers license(maryland) and an old passport. Well lets just say things did not go well once we went through the Police Checkpoint. She was taken off. And sadly her friends did nothing. I learned two things: not knowing what to do is no excuse for inaction and always travel with your passport or a photocopy if the authorities say it is ok!


Fun part:

We had a great time relaxing on the beach. It was so good for our health, despite the sunburn! It was just so beautiful and reminded me of the LORD's creativity! It was such a joy to experience it together and experience new places! We are enjoying meeting new people and practicing our Spanish. Getting out of the U.S. for this extended period of time as been so rewarding! Reminds of the things I take for granted as well as the arrogance developed because of our prosperity- No bien!



We stayed at a hostel called, La botella de leche! It was nice, shared it with a guy from Canada and a girl from Switzerland! Quite interesting learning about why people came here, what they did in their home country, and what they are up to while here! I am so intrigued by these people that work to make money so they can travel! These two were simply surfing everyday! What an adventure!

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset!


We made an amazing dinner with some other students from our school! We made a huge bowl of guacamole and had some leftover that we offered to other travelers at our hostel! We had delicious hamburgers that was a reminder of home! How I miss pizza!

Este fin de semana

We are headed to Tamaranido. This is in the Guanacaste area, on the NorthWest side of Costa Rica. It is on the Pacific Coast and we are headed there with a new group of people. Josh, a guy from Holland, and some girls from Germany.

I have been fortunate this week to have some private spanish lessons because my level of Spanish does not fit well into any class. I have been learning the rules of how to pronunciate correctly. It has been eye opening; especially, since I have forgotten all of the rules in English! My teacher gave me a very helpful book of the rules of Spanish Spelling!

Krystle has moved on to book 2 and is learning some new verb tenses: past tense- Perterito Pefecto Simple and Perterito Imperfecto. She has 3 other students in her class and wishes she could have private lessons too. It has truly been memory overload everyday; it's fantastic just overwhelming!

We walked in the city last night and were taking some others students down there for their first time and had a pleasant time. The LORD truly protected us as well. Krystle and Stacie walked across a street at the wrong time and were nearly struck by a car! Please contintue to pray for our protection, spiritually and physically.

Our School Friends

The school mates that you have seen in the pictures are Stacie and Omega. Others which did not go with us to Puerto Viejo are Josh, Henni, and Minnie.

Here is the information i remember about them.

Stacie is from Indianapolis (she was quite sad her Colts lost) and played basketball in college at a college in Chicago and Iowa. She at the school for 2 months! She has graciously allowed us to use her MagicJack-a very useful internet phone for unlimited calls in the US while traveling abroad. I quite recommend it to those that wish to travel and wish to contact home at a cheap rate! Stacie's parents work for a restoration company in Indianapolis! We were shocked that our parents worked for the same type of company!

Omega is from North Carolina and attended college in New York. From my memory, she is a therapist and has worked in many different environments! She is a Christian and her father is a bishop back home! She is considering returning to school to get a degree in Nursing! We had a great conversation about the importance of strong role models and accountability-and how they are missing from the US culture! She is studying at the school for about 1 month.

Our roommate is Brenna and is from North Carolina. She is studying at another local school called MesoAmerica. She is working on her undergraduate degree- Music Education K-12. She is also getting a spanish minor and is quite efficient at Spanish! She has been extremely helpful in providing information about places she has visited and that we want to visit-she recommended Rocking J's!

Josh is from New Orleans and quite excited his Saints won! He has plans to stay in Costa Rica for a year or longer. Similar to me he is looking for jobs that could provide a work visa! We were talking today and it looks like he may have found a job or at least a potential opportunity-he's got to make sure its not a scam!

Pictures- Rocking J's

Pictures- Rocking J's and Puerto Viejo

Puerto Viejo- Rocking J's

So we spent the weekend in a small city on the Carribean Sea with some friends, Omega and Stacie, from our Spanish language school.. It was literally a few blocks long. We took a 4 hour long bus ride from San Jose. The trip itself was eventful as a police check point decided to have all the passengers exit, search our bags for cocaine-which they did not find-and waste 45 minutes of my time.. Dear Costa Rican government-Not acceptable!

Once to the city we headed over to Rocking J's, locked our stuff up and went and grabbed some much needed dinner! Had a delicious handmade pizza and headed back to the hostel where more police abounded! This time however, we were on the beach and they were looking for "un hombre loco en moto, quien es ladron" a crazy man who stole a motorcycle.. quite interesting..

The forecast was for rain all day Saturday, but it did not rain until 11pm that night which allowed us to enjoy the beach and beautiful skies! The beach was covered in holes made by crabs burrowing into the ground. It was a sight to see crabs scurry into their holes once we walked near them.. some were quite big (blue monsters)! Also saw some huge lobsters that were caught by a fisherman and a sloth!