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