Los Toros

Apparently all of this talk about rainy season is just hype (we'll regret these words later). The month of July has been beautiful here, we have hardly seen any rain at all. Even better, it is slightly cooler with the clouds, so it is even better for outdoor activities. Nick came to visit for a week and may be more accustomed to the heat than we are since he´s been in Texas for the past few years. The first night we took him to a friend´s house where we decided to get a poker game going. Three sets of pocket kings later (one of which matched extra nicely with the pair of kings that appeared during the flop), Nick had put everyone to shame and raked in about $60. Great way to start a vacation!

During the week it was really busy here because we also had one of the foundation's administrators from Georgia visiting. She was so excited to see the progress on the houses (we now have all the walls done for four houses and a partial roof on one). As always, she was a great sounding board for us to really figure out what is the best way to maximize the benefits for the future homeowners.

One of the highlights of Nick´s week was to get in a dose of culture at a local fiesta. We ate lots of meat on a stick and drank beer as we watched the bullriding festivities. Not only does someone ride the bull, but there are also about 50 people in the ring trying to run from the bull once he throws the rider off. Thankfully no one was gored in the process, but at least three people were rushed to the first aid center on one edge of the bull-ring when they were unsuccessful in running from the bull. Also in the ring were the town drunks who were getting as many cheers from the crowd for their performance as the bullriders were. Afterward, we went dancing where Nick proceeded to put the rest of us Gringos to shame with his dancing abilities.

After Nick left, the fun times continued as we celebrated Leslie´s birthday. It was a fantastic weekend (and following week!) Miah was full of excellent surprises and gave an awesome sweatshirt he had designed. The slogan matches an old recipe box from Leslie´s grandmother.

Starting next week, we're having the equivalent of a Costa Rican blitz build. A group of nearly two dozen folks is coming down from the states to help us put together two more houses at the Chircó site. We can't wait to get these houses finished and to get some families in to them. We'll have lots of pictures and I'm sure some exciting stories to share when the week's over. Check back soon!

Love you all,
TeamWander

Family Time

We apologize that we are getting worse and worse about keeping everyone up-to-date with what is happening in our lives. At the end of June, we had to make another trip out of the country to renew our visas and the timing perfectly coincided with Mama Wander moving from Greensboro to DC, so we headed back to the States to help her move. She got a new job working at American University, so we packed a trailer and a truck and fit what we could to move her into temporary housing until she finds a permanent place. Our first request upon returning to the US was Indian food (followed by Japanese food, BBQ, Lebanese food, Thai food, etc). Since we had no kitchen while we were moving, we spent our first week frantically scrambling from restaurant to restaurant trying to catch up on all the cuisines we've missed here in Costa Rica. There are really two types of food here, the typical rice & beans cuisine or pizza (with the occasional Chinese restaurant thrown in for good measure). Especially after our trek through Asia, we miss the other cuisines.

From DC, we made a quick stop to see Leslie's uncle outside of DC and then down to Boone to visit Mama O and Luna. It was fantastic to be back in the mountains - we went hiking and tried to get in as much time with the dogs as we could. Thankfully Luna still remembers us, hopefully she still will by the end of our stay here. After a short weekend in Boone, we flew down to Mobile, AL to see Leslie's grandparents and on to Panama City, FL to visit Miah's dad. We were able to catch our breath down there, plenty of time for playing cards, doing puzzles, running errands, etc. It was fantastic to have so much time to spend with our families.

There was certainly a bit of culture shock as adjusted to our time in the States and then once again returning to Costa Rica. One of the biggest differences you see is the number of choices (which also translates to opportunities) available in the US is so much more than in Costa Rica. This is true for simple things like brands of food and radio stations, all the way up to larger choices such as education and career. We walked through the aisles of Target just trying to imagine what our friends in Costa Rica would think if they saw such a mammoth store where you could buy almost anything you *need*. Those type of places just do not exist here.

We made it back to Costa Rica just in time for our friends' wedding. Although the rain tried to ruin the event, and the wedding had to be moved under the tent instead of out on the beach, it turned out to be a fantastic night. A rainbow cut across the entire sky just after the ceremony and a beautiful sunset followed.




As for the houses, they are coming along great so far. The walls are finished for two houses and the foundations are finished for two others. The construction crew is amazing - we're not sure how well we would fare working in 95 degree heat, 100% humidity, digging foundations by hand, hauling double-size cinderblocks for the walls, mixing the cement by hand, etc. We will get a taste of it the first week of August as we lead a crew of volunteers to began building our next four houses.



Mixing Cement


















Happy Birthday to Papa Wander!!!

Love,
Team Wander