A Taste of Costa Rica

I was really glad I got the opportunity to go visit Linda & see for myself what it was that drew her to this drastic change of life. Although I, myself would not choose to live there, I can see why she is so in love with Costa Rica. It is such a simple, relaxed way of life, & the sunsets are to die for!
I have heard stories of 3rd world countries, but until one actually spends some quality time in one, nothing can prepare you for the extreme culture shock it entails.
We spent a full week traveling dirt roads, witnessing extreme poverty on levels I thought were a thing of the past, & I'm still in shock. I would love to take my kids there and volunteer at a school for a couple weeks, I think it would be a humbling, life changing experience for them.
My favorite part of our vacation was going to the school, meeting the kids, learning about their life and interacting with them. Kids are kids no matter where you go, and they all speak a universal love language, which is "WATCH WHAT I CAN DO"
They were all so excited to show off for us, & were proud of what they could do. We were told that there was only 12 kids in the grades 1st thru 6th with 2 teachers. Many of the kids walk 6 miles each way to school and they do it every day, once in a while they catch a ride with a local who has a delivery truck, but lately it's been broke down. The main form of transportation for the natives is there feet. Some have bicycles & we would see quite a few mothers carrying a baby or small child on the bicycle with her, and a few even have motorcycles. But I'm pretty sure all the vehicles we saw in the remote area we were at were all the tourists.
We all took turns introducing ourselves, they sang their national anthem to us and we sang ours to them, we played a game of soccer, then we had a photo shoot, they loved getting their pictures taken. I'm excited to send a box of pictures and school supplies to them, maybe even a few toys.

Here we got to swim with the turtles, way cool, something everyone should do sometime in their life

This is a giant jelly fish Angie the brave is holding, YUCK!

We went deep sea fishing one afternoon. Can you believe this was the first time Jared had ever been fishing anywhere besides a creek, about time he was initiated into manhood :) Too bad it wasn't a very successful fishing trip. The big fish were no where to be found. But he handled that fishing pole like there was a giant on the other end.

The fish that Jared was saying he was "blowing his mind out" is this one

The scenery here was amazing and this was their extremely dry season. I can only imagine how breathtakingly beautiful it is when it's all green and lush.


And for our viewing enjoyment, An intoxicated dancer.........

Lucky for us, Linda was in her element

For the first 3 days Linda was our tour guide, which was wonderful! If it weren't for Linda's Espanol skills and knowledge of the territory, we would have been ... (thinking of a tactful word for "screwed") a lost cause.
We covered a lot of territory those first three days
We hung out at beaches in Nosara, Marbella, Tamarindo, San Juanillo

Linda and Dogee are the hottest items on the beaches, they have adjusted well to Costa Rica :)We went to a rodeo in Lagarto which was interesting to say the least, and the food... to die from (not for)
The rodeo consisted of a vendor selling blow up toys, a make shift arena that gets put up in a few days and taken down in one so as to move on to the next little village, home town cooking - rice, beans & the whole chicken you just saw strutting past a few minutes ago- lots and lots of beer, the entire village - population 100 - dressed to party the night away.......

..........Bull riding, bull fighting and lots of drunk guys thinking they are bull fighting.

Tello was looking for property to sell, so we were introduced to a guy who is into real estate there by the name of Donny LaLonde. We soon found out this is the "Golden Boy" light heavyweight professional boxer from Winnipeg, Canada, who lost his title to Sugar Ray Leonard & was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1990.

Donny took us around to some development properties that would be great if Tello can find some investors for.....

This is an equestrian center that has been put on hold for now....

We didn't see a lot of monkeys, but luckily we did see a few. These are Howler Monkeys & they do not sound very friendly but they were pretty easy to get to ooh ooh aah aah at us.

THE RETREAT

One of the reasons we went to Costa Rica was to check out Linda's home for the past 5 months. Nothing she had told me previously had prepared me for what I saw. We went & visited Linda first thing & I have to admit I was worried. The retreat she has been living at is in a VERY remote location. Everything I saw in Costa Rica was remote, but this was like serious remote. Each little village, which consisted of about 10 sheds that was actual homes were about 5 miles apart, which doesn't seem too far away until you've driven the roads. There roads are comparable to a rocky, dirt lane through a field. Bouncy, dusty and slow moving! (40 mph was really haulin') Anyways, since Linda's place was the first place we visited, I was in shock when we finally pulled in the driveway to the "Hacienda Del Sol" and saw this.......

I didn't know how to react to this, in fact all 4 of us in unison said "what the ????" And we were all pretty much at a loss for words for the next half hour as we incredulously toured the retreat. It wasn't until we hiked way up the hill to Linda's tree house before any of us could really find words to adequately describe our thoughts. Jared was the first to break the awkward silence with, "This is freakin' awesome! I could totally live here!"I must say, she has an amazing view!
The commode is a bit open for my preference

As is the shower

But in all honesty, it's tons better than many of the other houses, it has an actual floor and I'm realizing that's a luxury in this part of the world.

The scariest thing about Linda's temporary home was that she woke up one morning to an enormous snake skin above her bed in the beams that she had never noticed before.

Wow, Linda, that's all I can really think to say, WOW!

Surfing

We all tried surfing, I wasn't any good at it but it was fun to ride a wave in on my knees :) Tello got up a couple times but he would rather be fishing.

Jared & Angie were addicted to it. They kept going back for more & more & more......

CULTURE SHOCK!!!

Yes, these are the houses the natives live in. And these aren't even the bad ones........

My Best Friend From Jr. High

This is a first for me.... A vacation with a friend, my best friend from jr. high, Angie (Christensen) Hill. We are going to Costa Rica with our husbands for a week, but right now I'm being called to the restraunt for breakfast so we can hurry up and wait!!! So I will blog later :)
Having a great time here.........

Choir Concert

Angelea had a choir concert last night at the high school. Among the songs they performed was one from the movie "Sister Act" that stars Woopie Goldberg. They did awesome! Angelea even got a solo line :)

Angelea is the 4th single girl to step forward and sing a line.

Francine really enjoyed the show! I think she will be a choreographer when she gets older.