things to do on a weekend out at the farm...

Victor and Aurora's house in Llano Verde...
Victor and Aurora, and us... this couple kept Katie for a week so she could improve her Spanish and help their son, Arsol, with his English...

Things to do:
watch the bean pot cook over the fire...
check on Victor's homemade cheese drying in this can...
pick sweet oranges off the heavily-laden tree... (no, they are not orange like ours!)...
air up the flat tire (later, stop and fix it on the way home)...
stop and smell and marvel at the flowers...
laugh at calf antics, and go to sleep to the mooing of cows and the crowing of chickens...
rest during the heat of the day...
help with English homework...
ride horseback...
help chase down the chicken for lunch...
nap...
note with amusement how the power gets to the church (see the cord coming from 2 houses down the road?)...
go to church (Sat. night and Sun. morning)...
sleep in a row on air mattresses on the floor...
pet the "fern grass" (that's what I dubbed this grass that cringes and folds up when you stroke it)...
watch Arsol take the cows to the pasture...
listen to the kids recite Bible verses and sing songs (in Spanish, of course)...
reluctantly say our farewells and head back to San Jose...
(from left to right: Victor, Ronnie, Aurora, Faith Wisdom (front), Erin Wisdom(back), me, CJ Wisdom, Dale, and Arsol)
We are feeling sad that this is our last "outing" in Costa Rica before we head home to the States...
We are feeling sad to say our farewells to the Wisdom family who has hosted us in Costa Rica for two months. But looking forward to seeing loved ones back home...
May God richly bless you all. And may we all realize how long is our list of blessings for which to be thankful at this time of the year! All our love to you all...

the hunt for the Maranatha church...

We were told that it was just a couple blocks away, this little church we were hunting for... so we set off on a walk... We passed this little lumber yard, so Dale had to take a look. They chatted with the owner for a few minutes...
We walked past a lobster-pot-making place... Lobster season was approaching. After walking a few more blocks and not finding the church, a lady on the street told us that the church we were looking for was too far to walk and that we should catch the bus...
So we caught the bus. Clint rode up by the bus driver and peppered him with questions...
Isn't it a cute little pink bus?
Finally we found the church. In the "church kitchen" beside the church, the women were making coconut bread, so we went in to watch... The pastor's wife (in red) was squeezing milk out of the shredded coconut.
They were mixing up dough and adding the coconut milk to it.
Then they all got to kneading the dough. It looked like a dance troupe!! They were all really laying into that dough!
Then they cooked it over on the "stove"... they put the rolls in the big pot and covered it with a piece of tin. The fire was under it and they laid some of the fire on top of the tin, also. A great oven!!
And oh! Were those buns ever scrumptious!!! They sell these at church to raise money to "finish" their kitchen. After we were fed and had met with the pastors, we found a better place to spend our nights... And then we went back to church later that night. What a wonderful group of people. It really blessed us. And apparently we were the first visitors from outside the country that they had ever had. So they felt blessed by us also.

Angela's House

This was the place we spent our remaining nights on the island... This is Angela's House.
The lower level of the house has rooms she rents out. We had fans and comfortable beds. Much better than the first night's stay!!
A short walk across the road was a little eating place that specialized in fried chicken...
which they fried out on the sidewalk.
This is the kitchen, out here on the sidewalk... It was the best fried chicken I have eaten in a long time!
I LOVED the crab crossing signs...
Angela's brother George became our taxi driver/tour guide. He introduced us to Dorsey, the snorkeling guide. This is Dorsey's snorkeling shop. He also has little cabins for rent...
Oh yes, I was loving it!! The shore of the ocean, any ocean, is my favorite place on the planet to be!!! But make it a warm place and I'm in a fog of bliss...
This little cobble street runs all the way around the island...which is just a few miles around.
Yes...we are enjoying our time out here on this little island!

the cargo ship cruise to the island...

milling around on the docks, waiting to set sail...
cargo being stacked on the dock to be loaded onto the ship... bags of cement, mountains of toilet paper, bottled water, pop, furniture, lumber...
We finally board...across the cargo deck, past the pigs bedded down beside the ladder, up the ladder to the chair area... Under the roof, in the shade, all the chairs are full so we sit beside the railing in the sun...
patiently waiting to sail...
and waiting...
and waiting...
here are three pirates who don't do anything (piratey)....
Finally we set sail... We chug slowly up the river and after 2 hours, we pull up to a dock. Here a small drama ensues... The lumber belongs to a lady from the island, to build her house. The captain has always hauled lumber out to the island but today there is a new military officer stationed there. He has new rules...it'll cost someone extra dollars. No one wants to pay. After a few hours of discussion, the lumber is off-loaded. Oh wait, there is an understanding...the lumber starts being loaded on again... Oh wait, no. Off it goes again. After 2 hours of drama, we pull away without the lumber and head for the island. We arrive at the island 3 hours later than scheduled. We are exhausted and ready for bed...any bed.

After our cruises and bus rides, I was working on dreadlocks!!!
Our first night on the island is miserable...we go straight to a little inn right beside the docks. Dale and I end up in this little room with no fan and a nonworking air conditioner, which we paid extra for. The bed was amazingly uncomfortable. We are up early and go out and wander around the street near the docks.
wandering the streets...
The inn was called "Sweet Dreams"...huh. not so much.
This is the Captain D...the cargo ship we sailed on. The passenger area is at the back under the brown roof. There were benches, plastic chairs, and hammocks, all of which were full of travelers going out to the islands.
We were so glad to finally arrive on the island, even though the two days of travel to get there were quite an adventure. More island adventures to come...