COSTA RICA

March 1, 2009
For the past 4 days, February 26-March 1, I have been to San Jose, Costa Rica and back again! We left early Thursday morning at 6 to get to the bus station where we would take TransNica to San Jose. It was only 2 hours to the border but from then on out it took quite a long time. It took 1 hour at the border to get our passports checked OUT of Nicaragua and INTO Costa Rica. Then we sat for 8 more hours all the way to the capital of San Jose; but we did get to watch 2 films on the way. The Tale of Desperoux which was in Spanish so I’ll have to watch it again and…I can’t remember the name of the 2nd one but it starred Liam Neesan and his daughter is kidnapped and he tracks her down and gets her back. Pretty intense movie. I didn’t realize how excited I would be to go back to Costa Rica until I got there. As we neared San Jose I started recognizing several land marks and roads that I had driven 15 passenger vans on just this past summer! It really lifted my spirits and gave me a new energy in the wake on the month I’ve spent in Nicaragua so far that has been quite difficult and trying for me. I can’t remember if I have talked about it much and I’m not going to go look to see what I’ve said in previous posts but basically it’s been hard because of the lack of common standards and morals of those around me here in Nicaragua…or at least those I am most around including one of the students and the professor. It just seems like not many people really stand strong in Biblical principles…and maybe it’s just because they don’t talk about their faith a lot, which is still a big change for me. So it has been a bit of a discouragement and certainly a big change from my awesome friends at Cornerstone University and my family at home…all of whom I miss very much. This weekend however, was very good for me because I DID get to see the faith of those I went with and was encouraged by what I saw. “So anyways…” on the way to our destination, we went by the Alajuela Airport that I flew in to Costa Rica and I saw the road that led to Pura Vida Missions that I had driven a few times and knew I could find my way again to my “home” from memory. As we went further into San Jose I recognized the road we traversed to go to San Francisco de Dos Rios for our second outreach last summer…oh my goodness what good memories of those trips!! We arrived around 4 or so and got a little tour of the area around the university we stayed at called UNELA. We then arrived at UNELA at Dan and I were in a pretty nice sized room with 3 beds, a table and a sink and stove…that looked like it hadn’t been working for a very long time. We ate supper and for some reason, we thought just about everything was funny. Dan of course was the jokester and we all were adding to the fray. I haven’t laughed that hard for a long time. We played rummy in our room and had a great time just chillin. The next day we went to part of the legislative branch of the government: the defense of human rights. We were there to find out about the emigration policies and practices of Nicaraguans. Nicaraguans are protected by the Costa Rican government for their human rights but are still often treated badly and Costa Ricans stereotypically have a very bad view and attitude towards Nicaraguans saying that they come into Costa Rica (CR) bringing only violence and problems and that they take up all the jobs of the Costa Ricans (Ticos). However, we watched a documentary that told of the role that Nicaraguans play in Costa Rica. Without the Nicaraguans, many plantations growing Coffee, pineapples, and many other fruits and foods would simply rot in the sun because the Costa Ricans don’t want to do those jobs anymore. So much for “taking jobs from Costa Ricans”. Next we went to a Museum of Costa Rican history that had a great view over the city. The structure itself used to be a prison but has been turned into a children’s museum. After the Museum we went to lunch at a nice restaurant and then went to the open air market where I made my first souvenir purchase in the month we have been here. I got a pullover made from alpaca fur at the same place I got my first one…but this one is blue and white and quite different from the other one. After the market we went to the Gold Museum in San Jose which was also a great time and a good look into the history of Costa Rican money and gold.
On Saturday we started out the morning on a journey to Volcan Irazú, a volcano that has been dormant since 1994. To our surprise, we were accompanied by a man whose cousin worked at UNELA. At first it was rather awkward as he didn’t speak and didn’t seem like he wanted to be there with 5 gringos. Pamela, our leader for the trip started talking to him in Spanish about his sweatshirt which said “Niagara Falls”. Alicia, our other leader is from Canada right by Niagara Falls and when they were talking to Roberto we noticed that he pronounced the English words like “Niagara Falls” and “Wal-Mart” with a very American accent. So we asked him if he spoke English and of course he did. It was funny to realize that Pamela had been translating what he had been saying and we had said to each other, “Oh look, he’s got a Niagara Falls sweatshirt on” when he spoke English! He said he wanted to see what we would say and I think I would have done the same thing. So after a while Robert turned out to be quite sociable and learned that he was Peruvian and had been adopted by missionaries and that English was his first language and Spanish he second. We all shared some stories of our lives and realized how small the world is with connections here and there in our stories. Volcan Irazú was great! It was VERY clear which is not normal and actually turned out to be quite warm which is ALSO quite unnatural for the place. This was my 2nd time at Irazú but was even better sightseeing this time. After Irazú we ate lunch at a restaurant on the way down the mountain which was a BEAUTIFUL ride. I had guanábana con leche for lunch! It was SOOOO good! Guanábana is a fruit that grows almost exclusively in CR and you can make a white liquid with it. ¡Muy delicioso! With milk it is a sweet, creamy party in the mouth. Off we went to the largest Catholic Church in Costa Rica which I had also been to before and it was just as beautiful and enjoyable. I even drank from the water they believe can bring about miracles just in case I would need one…and I bought a rosary. Don’t worry I am not converting to Catholicism! Then we went to the ruins of an old Catholic Church that now has a garden in the middle of it. It is rumored that a priest was assassinated there and because of that, they were never been able to put a roof on the old church because of his ghost. We briefly stopped back at UNELA and then proceeded on to La Carpio, a community made up of mostly Nicaraguans…a little Nicaragua if you will. It was great to go there and talk to the people there and a lady who is from North America but has lived in La Carpio for many years working with Christ for the City. They are also in La Cuenca near Heredia that Pura Vida works with. We heard from Alexis and his wife about their trek to Costa Rica and about how God has blessed them so much! It was AWESOME to hear how strong his faith is and just how thankful he is to God for the unlimited air that God provides for us and that we have nothing to complain about. It really inspired and humbled me to hear what he said and made me wish I could really get to know him better. The stereotype of La Carpio is that it is full of illegals and that it is very dangerous in there and they will probably kill you! Hahahaha That is SOOO not the case. Yes there is crime and recently a couple people were killed, but that kind of crime happens outside La Carpio in Costa Rica as well! On May 31 a couple years ago, the police raided La Carpio which only has one way in and one way out. The police were ruthless and arrested over 600 people using tear gas and a lot of brutal force. It didn’t help that some of the gangs in La Carpio started throwing rocks and anything else at the police force. Out of approximately 620 people detained…only 23 were found to be illegal and were than deported! And so the question arises, “WAS THAT NECESSARY?!” It seriously makes you upset to see women and children choking on the tear gas and men being chased down, handcuffed and beaten almost entirely because they are Nicaraguan and MIGHT be illegally there. And a ratio of 1:30 being illegal is not a good reason to carry out such a task and in many senses dehumanizes the Nicaraguans when in reality…Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans are brothers! They have the same blood, the same heritage, the same geography, the same religion and yet there is this great injustice. I would like to do another documentary about that someday if I could to show Nicaraguans in Costa Rica and then come back here to Nicaragua and film on this part of the story as well. But we will see where God leads. After we a had a great time in La Carpio we went back to UNELA to chill for an hour before heading to Taco Bell for a bit of American food…it really wasn’t worth it. For some reason I just didn’t like what I got as much as I do in the States. I think it’s because I could almost feel the grease and artificial junk going into my body and have been used to beans and rice for a while now. I tried and tried to get into contact with DeLynn Hoover at Pura Vida but I think everything was working against me and sadly didn’t get to spend time with my friends at Pura Vida but I do plan to go there for Spring Break from March 20-30 and see my host brother Rizzo and his family! We went to bed a little early and then woke up at 3:45 AM to get to the bus station on time!! We slept a lot of the way to Nicaragua on the bus to make up for it but didn’t feel like we caught up with our sleep. When I got home it was great to see the expressions of those at home who were happy I was back! Please pray that I will be able to continue to learn Spanish but at an unnaturally rapid pace!! I desperately desire to be able to speak with my Nica family and those around me. ¡Gloria a Dios!
Only by His strength,
Stephen