Que Locura

We've had many questions regarding our vegan adventure and if you guessed that we wouldn't be able to do it, then you're right. However, even in the short amount of time we changed our lifestyle, it altered our point of view and we have cooked less meat ever since. The first week we were able to cook entirely vegan (we did eat pulled pork at a dinner that week, but you can't turn down such a rare delicacy here). The hardest part, not drinking milk or using butter. The following two weeks, we continued vegetarian, but butter, eggs, etc. started slipping back in. It is great to get some new recipes in the mix though and we'll continue with lower meat consumption overall in the future.

The past few days have been very exciting. We are now into our final month here in Costa Rica (unbelievable) and so everything has to be crammed into the last few weeks. Thursday we went to play paintball with 10 friends in Liberia. It was a blast! True to Costa Rican fashion, a guy shows up with some paintball stuff in the back of his car and takes us to an abandon lot on the edge of the city. Miah was the hero of the day, stealing our opponents flag and bringing it back to safe territory.

Yesterday our architect and his wife invited us back to their hometown for a day of fun. We started the morning with a boat tour down the most crocodile infested river we've ever seen. There were plenty of birds, monkeys, and iguanas, but the highlight of the trip came when the captain of the boat held a stick covered in chicken skin out over the water. It didn't take long for a crocodile to show up, probably about 4 meters long and looking for lunch. He lunged out of the water multiple times to get the meat. His teeth and jaws were remarkable. For lunch we went to their aunt's restaurant and had one of the best meals we've had in Costa Rica. Even better, it was family style so the table was just covered in food.

After lunch we went out to her parents' farm. We saw two calves that had just been born that morning. We explored the property and walked through an old forest that reminded us of the Redwoods. It had huge Guanacaste trees that were hundreds of years old. We rode a horse and made friends with their new puppies. It was a fantastic day, but exhausting speaking Spanish for 10 hours with their family.

Luke and John are headed down here on Wednesday, our last set of company before we leave. Hope all is well in the States.

Love,
Team Wander