Chicken Trucks

So.....2 months in Costa Rica later...and I am just getting started.  So many adventures we've had already!   I find myself realizing what an amazing oppurtunity it is to be here....and then I start thinking about how fast it is already going.  I think I am starting to miss living here already.  And I'm still here!  That's just crazy.

Wanna see some pictures?  Here are are few snapshots from what's been going  on lately:

This is a view from our apartment window- this guy was apparently causing some kind of riff-raff when the police pulled up and started frisking him.  Mandy and I thought this to be quite entertaining and preceded to spy though the curtains.  All was fine until I snapped this picture (I couldn't resist, you know?).  The cops ended up driving off.....but the guy had seen us snap the picture (!!!) and came up to our gate yelling, "Chicas!! Venga! Mis amores!!" and other various things.  Needless to say we hit the floor and hid there for a good 10 minutes afterward.  
Here's Brendan being a good sport on our way to Monteverde.  Halfway through our 5.5 hour bus ride....the bus driver pulls the bus over, and says (in Spanish) something along the lines of, "Everyone off the bus!  We need to change buses."  So, we gather our things and get off the bus, and see a rather large hillside covered in mud.  And no other bus.  We walked a little and waited a lot.  I was seriously beginning to wonder if we'd been hijacked!  (THAT would've been a crazy story).  But alas, a long walk up the muddy hill and we found our bus.   Only in Central America.
So when our 2nd bus broke down...we rode the rest of the way in this chicken truck.  JUST KIDDING, MOM!!  But seriously, this is a chicken truck.  :)
Walking through the rainforest had my mind spinning of poetry and thoughts of roads less traveled by...
Still love playin' in the mud!  Especially when you're wearing somebody else's shoes!

Overall, I'm having a grand time!  And I'm beginning to recognize God in new ways....amidst cultural differences and being stretched mentally.  So, gloria a Dios!  Estoy aprendiendo mas cada dia!!  Anyway, more to come later.

In the Valley

So....living here has proven to be more difficult than I thought it would be.  Much more, in fact. Sure, I knew it would be different.  But geez!  I am having to learn quickly how to adapt here.  A Costa Rican resident wisely told us on the first day we were here, "He who hesitates is lost in Costa Rica."  The color of my skin is not helping much, though.  

I am a Gringo, through and through.  From the flip-flops on my feet to the lost look on my face.

So far, I've learned to hide my money in such creative places that potential attackers would have to be just as creative to find it.   I've learned that some of the various suspicious smells that abound in this city may never be identified.  And I've learned that pedestrians most certainly do NOT have the right of way.  

But, I am also learning that God is true to his word.  I can see in almost every situation how He has gone before me.  I can feel myself getting stretched and molded.  I can feel the anticipation building up....a deep-seated knowledge that He knows exactly what I'm doing here.  Even if I don't.   

Isn't that exciting?  We are being taken care of in ways we don't even realize.  What a comfort to know that we have a God who guides us and protects us.....even when we are too absorbed in ourselves to notice.  

And so my prayer is that I can camouflage my "foreign-ness" and highlight the similarities.  That I would realize that God is ready to use me NOW... Regardless of the fact that I am nervous beyond all reason and my Spanish skills are well, non-exsistent.   And finally...that I would remember that He has prepared the way for me.  

Even when the way includes receiving too-bold catcalls from the men and city buses who WILL run you down.  :)  

Amanda the Latina

Hola from San Jose, Costa Rica!  

We are here!  I can't believe it!  Mandy and I have already had so many adventures and we haven't even been here 24 hours yet.   We got to our apartment at about 9:30 pm last night and our landlords (who live below us) were outside waiting for us.  They invited us into their home and  served us probably the best coffee I've ever had (a bold statement, I know) and crackers.  How quaint.  :)  AND...they don't speak English.  So we're in for an adventure, fo' shiz. 

LOVE our apartment.  It's so cute and bright.  The walls are painted a lovely shade of melony orange...as all Latin American homes should be.  (That's how I always imagine them, anyway.)  Mandy and I stayed up super late last night unpacking because we were just so excited to be here!  And plus, we didn't have much planned for today so we could sleep in, right?  WRONG.  The sun rises at like 4:30am here!  It's 100% ridiculous.  The sun just came blazin' in  all the windows demanding that we wake up and seize the day.   And so we did!  very reluctantly, though.

Overall, everything is looking good.  I'm not gonna lie, I've been feeling a little freaked out by not knowing what in the world in going on around here.  It all gets better in time, Amanda.  Hang in there, amiga!  

Following my heart has proved to be an interesting ride...