tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7109946692062705152024-03-13T08:04:28.135-07:00Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-45941308877283575382010-05-23T15:00:00.000-07:002010-05-23T21:14:37.612-07:00Que LocuraWe'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.<br /><br />The past few days have been very exciting. We are now into our final month here in Costa Rica (unbeli<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHl3zjuMr6NnJyTJ91-8PeokDGnbvunOqwemAQm5Iz18AI2dfe-0TULYi2XgZ3cs5t4e6dJE20Gk3VZTsnzPnIBX3S9ouHH4xtDMHTAJtLVYCY4IOR8SBffxAR3pcZ86AxMiBNrUNBzvxu/s1600/P1010217small.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHl3zjuMr6NnJyTJ91-8PeokDGnbvunOqwemAQm5Iz18AI2dfe-0TULYi2XgZ3cs5t4e6dJE20Gk3VZTsnzPnIBX3S9ouHH4xtDMHTAJtLVYCY4IOR8SBffxAR3pcZ86AxMiBNrUNBzvxu/s200/P1010217small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474678942495417138" border="0" /></a>evable) <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtDw1Xjv1lLAFWOZA5A2JMenc3mD90fccHt_OfnQJPf62eA_tUANHD2iCaZflXF6p_UW9LBmUhHDCVxrS-NkKX8J-0B7_SLdQFYI1pPQMfADCJgAeCsjA2eq-1ohFx1wFPI4f7EWa8wv8/s1600/P1010185small.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtDw1Xjv1lLAFWOZA5A2JMenc3mD90fccHt_OfnQJPf62eA_tUANHD2iCaZflXF6p_UW9LBmUhHDCVxrS-NkKX8J-0B7_SLdQFYI1pPQMfADCJgAeCsjA2eq-1ohFx1wFPI4f7EWa8wv8/s200/P1010185small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474678935717514594" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><br />Yesterday our architect and his wife invited us back to their hometown for a day of fun. We started th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnjFVVFAwcyvy42mpOsyDom5CVt_Opnjau39B88B4buF_qk48bmQ6msgE38M2GQqukYSiWwc6qv8Ua5JVRaazQ06MqOV84pRDpIlQTHiVDiR4qMAK7D-rTJVbr7ZKbfRceg9hO_4al0-Sn/s1600/P1030509small.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnjFVVFAwcyvy42mpOsyDom5CVt_Opnjau39B88B4buF_qk48bmQ6msgE38M2GQqukYSiWwc6qv8Ua5JVRaazQ06MqOV84pRDpIlQTHiVDiR4qMAK7D-rTJVbr7ZKbfRceg9hO_4al0-Sn/s200/P1030509small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474678945161865250" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkxuM07GHM_z_zQj-GiugwUibSCscDFbO1fAtiUAG-ygiBDMA50oYwJQuiEXJ3SVV5ti5e9FFLdcSzI1KJRhlbB-RvpHmnz9rpi0wQPfwkAcOs-nvOedg_rtPla0C9P-lvxnqQ76MKCUC/s1600/P1030493small.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkxuM07GHM_z_zQj-GiugwUibSCscDFbO1fAtiUAG-ygiBDMA50oYwJQuiEXJ3SVV5ti5e9FFLdcSzI1KJRhlbB-RvpHmnz9rpi0wQPfwkAcOs-nvOedg_rtPla0C9P-lvxnqQ76MKCUC/s200/P1030493small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474680751540918882" border="0" /></a>e 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.<br /><br />After lunch we went out to her parents' farm. We saw two calves that had just been born that morning. We explor<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vPokTNQ0WMBnwtD5Q8hEgdOut4LQRNZwLd3lhCxi7B4mNtCTHZbIDnFOgvkir_7lXtKcXwa6v6ii5iIbtJmR1FCuGasYeAqv8T3ba4K2KoP788TJQTiqzbn8J4qJFnWt-E_zB1VE40ND/s1600/P1030516small.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vPokTNQ0WMBnwtD5Q8hEgdOut4LQRNZwLd3lhCxi7B4mNtCTHZbIDnFOgvkir_7lXtKcXwa6v6ii5iIbtJmR1FCuGasYeAqv8T3ba4K2KoP788TJQTiqzbn8J4qJFnWt-E_zB1VE40ND/s200/P1030516small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474680757247581618" border="0" /></a>ed 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.<br /><br />Luke and John are headed down here on Wednesday, our last set of company before we leave. Hope all is well in the States.<br /><br />Love,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-7651343239144468912010-04-12T10:33:00.000-07:002010-04-12T11:28:32.121-07:00Volcán MarshmallowWe spent last week on our final visa run [wipe away a tear]. Originally, we had planned to take a quick flight down to Panama City, Panama and see what the canal was all about, but about 12 seconds before booking that ticket, we saw that flights to Guatemala City were on super special, so there we went.<br /><br />It turned out to be a great decision.<br /><br />Costa Rica has some amazing things going for it. It's beautiful, the people are friendly and open, the food is great, etc. But it has one characteristic that just doesn't seem as strong as it does in many other Latin American countries: a strong sense of cultural heritage. Guatemala, on the other hand, is teeming with it.<br /><br />We only had four days in Guatemala, so we couldn't venture too far from the capitol, but we got very lucky, because the places that we did go to were all fantastic.<br /><br />First off, we left Guatemala City as quickly as we could. Interesting little factoid: during the 10 minutes in a car that it took us to get out of Guatemala City we saw not one, not two, but three Chuck-E-Cheese restaurants. They were all engaged in the ongoing battle of brightest neon lights with their fierce competitors: Taco Bell, Pollo Campero (KFC of Guatemala), McD's, BK, and all your other favorite places to eat.<br /><br />We took a chatty shuttle from the airport to Antigua, a historic gem of a town about 40 minutes away. Antigua serves an interesting purpose in the Guatemalan tourist scene, because it is the central hub of non-spanish speaking tourists. There is an intensely high concentration of bilingual Guatemaltecans who are willing to pack you in a 15 passenger van with 20 other unsuspecting victims and cart you off to anywhere in the country, be it 15 minutes or 15 hours away. This fact made Antigua a pretty good springboard for us though, because we could leverage the availability of transportation to get to see as much of the country as possible in the limited time we had.<br /><br />Tourist Antigua itself is an adorable little cobblestoned, colonial town, that's built in a traditional grid, with houses that all have internal courtyards and high walls facing the streets. Given the reputation that Guatemala has for crime, Antigua stays very safe, and we felt no concern walking the streets at nearly any hour. It is an extremely touristy area (language schools are huge) so we made sure to dine on the variety of ethnic food that isn't normally available here in CR. In two days I think we had Greek, Indian, and a 12 oz bowl of molten garlic cheese that somehow made a viable excuse for dinner.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHHq65pEV0CWlG6E-i81mBmmlddXm8sA66wevHYcVY64jPo5c0LK0WWU2d3zYdUWnqI-xiLkAgrvl2RfpohT49ig7_nIxNpENnDWen3KlTlrmZX5vZOqNshiLnR5QQW9_n3L6NkNvtKXZ/s1600/small+volcano.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHHq65pEV0CWlG6E-i81mBmmlddXm8sA66wevHYcVY64jPo5c0LK0WWU2d3zYdUWnqI-xiLkAgrvl2RfpohT49ig7_nIxNpENnDWen3KlTlrmZX5vZOqNshiLnR5QQW9_n3L6NkNvtKXZ/s200/small+volcano.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459318505014905394" border="0" /></a>After bouncing around in Antigua for a while, we decided it was time for adventure #1: Volcán Pacaya. This is one of 3 active volcanoes around Antigua and true to form for every country outside of the US, for a fee, the Guatemalan parks service will let you hike, virtually unchaperoned, right up to the flowing lava. Unfortunately for us, it was a day without much flow, so instead of roasting our marshmallows over a river of molten rock, we had to settle for a gas vent that was so hot that the rocks around it were glowing red hot and Leslie's marshmallow was immediately incinerated.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqtxGCUOOKZZnc2vXs5A4Q_UeG2lIj556jKmcNq4UQ8b2R3vTUgSIdrLky-00mOsB_8L2_JkUddHFC6YMIU5gFiKXlG20PL36ynB6KcGAHtdC8tZAhD_nCdei5FHBKYXR_xAsGgcEYZ6d/s1600/small+panajachal.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqtxGCUOOKZZnc2vXs5A4Q_UeG2lIj556jKmcNq4UQ8b2R3vTUgSIdrLky-00mOsB_8L2_JkUddHFC6YMIU5gFiKXlG20PL36ynB6KcGAHtdC8tZAhD_nCdei5FHBKYXR_xAsGgcEYZ6d/s200/small+panajachal.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459318514461824498" border="0" /></a>From there we headed up to Lake Atitlan to spend an evening in this little lake<br />town, which served mostly as a staging point for the next day's adventure. We did take the opportunity to eat at a vegetarian mediterranian eatery that was used to inaugurate the culinary adventure we're going to be starting this week (more on that to come).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU76GQ_URivj2KRWdHHvdOMdIUYleP2AFYYhrm28lnO6XeAELr7T-0WoDR_sfQr8Vzh7VQ__5IVkcEYN4IzBt1HUi_nKMD8bctobp-jF0Q265_H5pxQev_-fSSxbTEuR0j1nV7SkYh244f/s1600/small+market.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU76GQ_URivj2KRWdHHvdOMdIUYleP2AFYYhrm28lnO6XeAELr7T-0WoDR_sfQr8Vzh7VQ__5IVkcEYN4IzBt1HUi_nKMD8bctobp-jF0Q265_H5pxQev_-fSSxbTEuR0j1nV7SkYh244f/s200/small+market.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459318534824111138" border="0" /></a>Lastly, we spent a day prowling around in the largest market in Guatemala. This market is held in a large but culturally bustling town called Chichicastenango and stretches for as far as the eye can see, and then a little bit more. We romped around for a day, tasting everything edible that was being sold and looking at all of the amazing colors and skill that go in to the Mayan fabric work. The most notable thing we saw while we were there though, which was simultaneously super sad and super adorable, was the five year old kid that was walking around in the front of the church spit-shining shoes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgttPwrwkpUpGcZ-0z3NmW7iXDJJQPBCdjDNetk7QSut5Y44yZszOfVKw__kDO_-SzIh_5H3vQBIIzkdr-t3DVjiEtSaIgDot6SyiRyi_JFqCcoSMld7XwvGq27m6IYT1ruDv-HNxJy7_ng/s1600/small+shoe+shine.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgttPwrwkpUpGcZ-0z3NmW7iXDJJQPBCdjDNetk7QSut5Y44yZszOfVKw__kDO_-SzIh_5H3vQBIIzkdr-t3DVjiEtSaIgDot6SyiRyi_JFqCcoSMld7XwvGq27m6IYT1ruDv-HNxJy7_ng/s200/small+shoe+shine.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459318521452984594" border="0" /></a>All in all, the whirlwind trip was amazing and we would have loved to have more time. We highly recommend Guatemala for any adventurous spirits out there.<br /><br />Hugs,<br />TeamWander<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpeigoeK-xfdpIkbljKws-zTEMPYp-vvJFoKPRXsT_RekChRZFn7577AckGxsDJ7c2v5LAXuDWHXzMaD1ktrOLkNUnyhiOkG0P1-0kzIEq5ZGbAnm28iU92ipc9rCyYs4upuHB614N_zWI/s1600/small+veggies.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpeigoeK-xfdpIkbljKws-zTEMPYp-vvJFoKPRXsT_RekChRZFn7577AckGxsDJ7c2v5LAXuDWHXzMaD1ktrOLkNUnyhiOkG0P1-0kzIEq5ZGbAnm28iU92ipc9rCyYs4upuHB614N_zWI/s200/small+veggies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459318539524203762" border="0" /></a>PS. A side note about the vegetarian adventure. Starting this week, Leslie and I are going to be doing our best to eat as vegan/vegetarian as possible for three weeks. We know it won't always be possible, but we won't ever find ourselves in another place where produce is so fresh and so cheap, so we wanted to give it a shot while we could. We're going to do our best to post photos of all the cooking adventures as well as a few good recipes, so stay tuned. To whet your appetite, here's the cornucopia that came out of the trip to the veggie market today.Team Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-62926011855272860122010-03-24T18:47:00.001-07:002010-03-24T21:48:31.381-07:00Desastres NaturalesThe last weekend of February (yes, we know we're now coming up on the last weekend of March, sorry about that) we headed down to Santa Teresa because our wedding photographer was here visiting. He had come down to avoid any more snow in Boone and get some time to surf. Our wake-up call in the morning was an alarm of a possible tsunami headed our way due to the earthquake in Chile. We searched the water for Ivan, thinking we could head to higher ground for awhile, but to no avail. We instead just decided to wait it out with the others and thankfully it was just a false alarm.<br /><br />The next weekend we headed down to San Jose to meet two of our friends at the airport. We had just gotten settled into our hostel when the whole building began to shake. By the time we realized an earthquake was happening, it had basically passed. Nothing too serious, but our first encounter with an earthquake. It only measured a 4.8 but the epicenter was only five miles from where we were staying and extremely close to the surface. <br /><br />We headed out of San Jose first thing the next morning and headed south to see the Carribean coast. It was our first chance to really explore Costa Rica outside our region and it was really interesting. We took winding mountain roads out of the city and stopped for lunch at a town in the middle of nowhere. Five hours later we ended up in Puerto Viejo for the night. It was a super hippy town that was trying to deal with the large influx of tourists. The highlights of the town were 1) The pirate we found down by the beach who carried a handmade slingshot in his pocket and was hacking away at a block of wood with a machete trying to make what appeared to be a boat and 2) Ali Baba, a middle-aged, shirtless (always), heavyset owner of a Middle Eastern restaurant who belly danced as customers walked in the door with his pants ready to fall to his ankles at any second. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPSz4xaRtHYAoMI6MDgP_u-TzeLXly2OsL0dNBD0WlEeuA6zcbUL6ZQGSctcTbjBOhCKOoxymZ7wAgNkYoCtbZuazv6DMnR4RDzA3-ScwXviLcd3CcvI2sN4PY5KtU0-TybphWcADxRHp/s1600/P1010950.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPSz4xaRtHYAoMI6MDgP_u-TzeLXly2OsL0dNBD0WlEeuA6zcbUL6ZQGSctcTbjBOhCKOoxymZ7wAgNkYoCtbZuazv6DMnR4RDzA3-ScwXviLcd3CcvI2sN4PY5KtU0-TybphWcADxRHp/s200/P1010950.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452427343887788050" /></a><br /><br />The next day we decided we should head to the Panama border since we were only an hour away. We got to the river separating the two countries but were only able to walk 3/4 of the way across the bridge because we had no proof we were leaving Costa Rica again in three months and they wouldn't have let us back in the country (and because there was an angry looking Panamanian soldier carrying a fully-automatic machine gun at the other end). Oh well, it was worth a shot (forgive the pun). From there we drove north along the coast to Cahuita National Park. We hiked a trail along the coast that was full of wildlife. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMfcc9G4kAwhZ0SYdTiNx0FPrYpPjN-Oe1-ubI7lIuh8RcvUmW3suvlStuaIePo-dXxYaog-W3YMCfHRg3K0pDtrISBdgsGyGgkq3zbBbgehNRgl2B-NlEHUj5CEsWiN4ghf8zFwKVCoG9/s1600/P1010968.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMfcc9G4kAwhZ0SYdTiNx0FPrYpPjN-Oe1-ubI7lIuh8RcvUmW3suvlStuaIePo-dXxYaog-W3YMCfHRg3K0pDtrISBdgsGyGgkq3zbBbgehNRgl2B-NlEHUj5CEsWiN4ghf8zFwKVCoG9/s200/P1010968.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452427327130753186" /></a>We saw two types of monkeys, a few sloths, a coati (pronounced koh-ah-tee; or maybe you know them by their other names: Brazilian aardvarks, hog-nosed coons, or snookum bears), and countless leaf-cutter ants. Our hike was cut short by a huge rainstorm coming in, the first rain we had seen in months. The weather and surroundings of that area made it seem like a completely different country than where we're living.<br /><br />At the end of the day, we drove to Poas Volcano, a mere 45 kilometers from San Jose, but once again a whole other world. As we climbed the mountain, the fog was so thick we could barely see past the front of our car. To make matters worse, this is where the large earthquake of last year had taken place so the road was still covered in mud and you had no real way of knowing where it ended and there was a steep cliff along the side. The car was deathly silent as we crept up the mountain and finally arrived at our lodging well past the Costa Ricans' bedtime and had to find a nightguard to let us in. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgheg3gL7Upf4MHZg8O7xXkDAwzBRYN38VdRcuwGwIQ4SCtwq4_jDHkcQlNihOYfW5TjzTJBTHwb-4hz1GIHj6Z1KtI26wP6fgB3mI79E0ltBYMIlBUxOI15VJbNUH71mX5Aecpwqpl6c/s1600/IMG_0219.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgheg3gL7Upf4MHZg8O7xXkDAwzBRYN38VdRcuwGwIQ4SCtwq4_jDHkcQlNihOYfW5TjzTJBTHwb-4hz1GIHj6Z1KtI26wP6fgB3mI79E0ltBYMIlBUxOI15VJbNUH71mX5Aecpwqpl6c/s200/IMG_0219.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452427332055377330" /></a><br /><br />The view we woke up to was well worth the peril - you could see the mountains surrounding San Jose and the city in the middle. We continued up to the crater of the volcano which was spectacular as well. There was a sea of clouds surrounding everything but the crater and when you looked inside there was a teal green lake. Definitely one of our favorite places we've seen here in Costa Rica.<br /><br />Miah heads to Seattle tomorrow morning and we should be able to make our decision as to where we'll be moving to by the end of next week. We'll keep you posted...<br /><br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-29250872616751150002010-02-10T16:42:00.000-08:002010-02-10T17:21:55.514-08:00Animales del MarWe had our first visitors of 2010 arrive last Thursday, just in time for us to be too busy to even pick them up. February has started out crazy as Miah is trying to put the finishing touches on the houses in time for our boss to arrive this week and Leslie is working double time at the school substituting for another teacher this month. <br /><br />We had a fantastic time with Sarah and Rachel visiting though - packed with adventures in only a few days. The first night they were here, we went north to a beach that is part of the Las Baulas National Park. It is nesting season for the leatherback turtles, but only about 40 come on shore each year now, so it is a treat to see them. We waited about 3 hours as the guides combed the shore for any turtle activity. We were lucky enough that one came ashore so we got to watch it build a nest and lay its eggs. These turtles are huge - the one we saw was about 6 feet long and weighed 600-700 lbs. It was an amazing experience to be less than an arm's length away watching her lay eggs.<br /><br />The next day Sarah and Rachel had a tour planned at Rincon de la Vieja (Jane/Daniel, remember bubbling mud pits?), but through some miscommunication they missed the tour. Instead a plan was made to go out on a deep sea fishing trip and see if we could catch dinner. The ride to the harbor was spent with six, boisterous Italian guys who couldn't make it to the boat without stopping for beer.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTp-xS_jENIdgE45GRSupvVh5h_FYaVlA6T6WjwRByJxLZJWaM5BH4QSd5jwSt13G9DO-E8xjCnyBk25qI98WjtJV2WNSlLR8itGBrbn9MRKFY_gsAmJruJ736lm_GMa-cVP7M1RaFluKE/s1600-h/fish.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTp-xS_jENIdgE45GRSupvVh5h_FYaVlA6T6WjwRByJxLZJWaM5BH4QSd5jwSt13G9DO-E8xjCnyBk25qI98WjtJV2WNSlLR8itGBrbn9MRKFY_gsAmJruJ736lm_GMa-cVP7M1RaFluKE/s200/fish.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436785851441299570" /></a> None of our language abilities coincided, so we talked to them in Spanish and they spoke to us in Italian and it worked better than expected. Lots of laughter to fill in the gaps. Once on the boat, we quickly realized we were not cut out to be fishermen. Almost every time we would try to reel in a fish, we would get it 3/4 of the way in before losing it. We were able to catch two good size tuna and three mackeral, as well as a bunch of smaller fish that we just threw back. As always it was a beautiful day though and fantastic just to be out on the water.<br /><br />The next day, we all took the well-loved catamaran tour. We have become experts at the snorkeling area and were finding wildlife for the guide to catch and show everyone.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFi6KiQXkxEJ2GHJ6VFXRTViEamAIcsU4FXp1yScEANpeg-xe4nHJT7e16tKKkiFwFNWEkDw0IH6qDetRQNbHYgmnfXWMqscpcuOswJGVdxCBJGpLDd8tusF8c-8vH5y6IgELsOPjAM89r/s1600-h/boat.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFi6KiQXkxEJ2GHJ6VFXRTViEamAIcsU4FXp1yScEANpeg-xe4nHJT7e16tKKkiFwFNWEkDw0IH6qDetRQNbHYgmnfXWMqscpcuOswJGVdxCBJGpLDd8tusF8c-8vH5y6IgELsOPjAM89r/s200/boat.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436785842608647954" /></a> We caught another puffer fish and also saw our first turtle in the water. The best part was the hilarious guides and the 15 other people on the boat with us. Everyone was quick to make friends and it made for an even better day. By the end of the day, we were all making shadow puppets of all sorts on the sails as the sun was setting and no one wanted to leave the boat as it was getting dark.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMArTqVNb8JPwHsDiW8RpvtgeOFPkSmUIFovFIYJurU6hoIgxPT7ALpYxw-Zqi4IMuGpg3rpBfur4QCZTUdXGOJ-qvaRjexKVd17jBf0hCnhUIR-HMrlNTUm8fVRUASumq4fJNnb-fHWxK/s1600-h/shadow.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMArTqVNb8JPwHsDiW8RpvtgeOFPkSmUIFovFIYJurU6hoIgxPT7ALpYxw-Zqi4IMuGpg3rpBfur4QCZTUdXGOJ-qvaRjexKVd17jBf0hCnhUIR-HMrlNTUm8fVRUASumq4fJNnb-fHWxK/s200/shadow.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436785851329939186" /></a><br /><br />Sunday we grilled out some of the tuna we caught at the Superbowl/Election party at Zach's house. The Costa Rican presidential election was held that day and the votes were being tallied as we watched the game. The number of Costa Ricans who actually vote puts the US to shame. The first female president was elected, so many of the people we were with were very excited.<br /><br />Miah leaves for his first university visit next Tuesday. Getting a full tour of the University of Utah, potential advisors and other grad students, and seeing if Salt Lake City would be a good fit for us. It is exciting to begin planning the next stage in our lives. <br /><br />Go Duke! for anyone watching the UNC/Duke game tonight,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-66007169642590245432010-02-02T16:42:00.001-08:002010-02-03T13:40:25.917-08:00Amiga de Mr. GobbleOur friends here were so generous to us in raising a turkey for Thanksgiving, and their generosity continued with fulfilling the promise of a portion of Mrs. Oink. Who's Mrs. Oink, you ask? Well, while we were up at the farm of Mr. Gobble (our special Thanksgiving guest), there was cute little adolescent pig romping around at the farm. The farm owner told as that Mrs. Oink was due to become her dinner in a couple of months and offered a piece of her to share. So, lo and behold, 3 months later, sitting in our friends' freezer was one of Mrs. Oink's rear legs.<br /><br />So, a little bit of internet searching, quite a bit of laughter, 20,000 handwashings, and 5 hours in the oven later... out came this!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYY6kuVUXbkumGafsp6M5CIXUIXN9Iu-n1soEBRC6Rx9VlybtrX0j0cuStWme53EhqhbZ8LsZiK4sgey12MT1xZf99_FMZr13Uu2h9R641yUZNU_y4n6484YCZbbKbnKkdnb_aYDW5VqtH/s1600-h/PB280087.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYY6kuVUXbkumGafsp6M5CIXUIXN9Iu-n1soEBRC6Rx9VlybtrX0j0cuStWme53EhqhbZ8LsZiK4sgey12MT1xZf99_FMZr13Uu2h9R641yUZNU_y4n6484YCZbbKbnKkdnb_aYDW5VqtH/s200/PB280087.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434131851383096946" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1aX1iyR88MSP8M4JYZSYzoDIks9dVFaUmG0RESzRy5NGKDfWpVPbYZVTqF3kL9gkEh4VcTbcrwtHNwZ5-FQEK1e6CqtFjaZ5gm5UYiyyUnB779VU30aNnriaZBqiBCxtuWLfp2Sr-aZx/s1600-h/P1010769_small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1aX1iyR88MSP8M4JYZSYzoDIks9dVFaUmG0RESzRy5NGKDfWpVPbYZVTqF3kL9gkEh4VcTbcrwtHNwZ5-FQEK1e6CqtFjaZ5gm5UYiyyUnB779VU30aNnriaZBqiBCxtuWLfp2Sr-aZx/s200/P1010769_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434131836875949618" /></a> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The skin and top layer of meat being cut off are used for a Costa Rican delicacy called chicharrones. The rest made fantastic BBQ and I think it's safe to say we have finally optimized our Costa Rican BBQ sauce recipe.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadJrwk6fno8qJqxjppSheGM71a_tx1ttpYmslhzQLsw6DxFRNFrtn3QwUawbmrNpLsmjtHErNNUWHeMO_3HWMRUZjjSr_S-igipzk1vwSaEk81S9atfu51kWgRvjm529RE3bjx7-FbmoL/s1600-h/P1010773_small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadJrwk6fno8qJqxjppSheGM71a_tx1ttpYmslhzQLsw6DxFRNFrtn3QwUawbmrNpLsmjtHErNNUWHeMO_3HWMRUZjjSr_S-igipzk1vwSaEk81S9atfu51kWgRvjm529RE3bjx7-FbmoL/s200/P1010773_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434131840276206178" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIc7e8i-HFmCmjbYsuSNkiTYq2ss24JdgER_vmAsXhAP4A5lM1sZhXpRU8zWa6730ukZdO1Uaockqi3Dp5nsZW4LlDRappaQ339ixJz3v7cOVZHnyyqnRIerq7EJs2n_G733g2LP4G2SN/s1600-h/P1010779_small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIc7e8i-HFmCmjbYsuSNkiTYq2ss24JdgER_vmAsXhAP4A5lM1sZhXpRU8zWa6730ukZdO1Uaockqi3Dp5nsZW4LlDRappaQ339ixJz3v7cOVZHnyyqnRIerq7EJs2n_G733g2LP4G2SN/s200/P1010779_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434131844398661986" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another fun adventure last week (after repeating bacon night as told in an earlier post) was the homemade hot tub. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MMbJq-jqpbL8R558ow7m-ZhzxU7LUPPeubFihoWNupYzjxE0-AXG8cSPpqyux-uOZO0cZ3n88f-pEiBeRs347QCAFSu9MP7JWrYA__LbhmsK1HHYzlfRtMaZuWUZtupRUWlBJR46P-hN/s1600-h/21062_285098976231_506326231_3952650_7457466_n.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MMbJq-jqpbL8R558ow7m-ZhzxU7LUPPeubFihoWNupYzjxE0-AXG8cSPpqyux-uOZO0cZ3n88f-pEiBeRs347QCAFSu9MP7JWrYA__LbhmsK1HHYzlfRtMaZuWUZtupRUWlBJR46P-hN/s200/21062_285098976231_506326231_3952650_7457466_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434131854091552962" /></a> We managed to find a hose long enough to siphon water from the kitchen sink down to the back yard and fill a kids' pool with hot water, actually too hot to sit in for awhile. If only we had pictures of the boys trying to get the siphon started...<br /><br /><br />As for the project, we have been working to find an alternative route to get families into the homes sooner. Our main goal this month is to start finalizing some names. We just met one potential family who have two children and live in a house that floods every year. The university the husband works for is letting them stay in the house, but it could be taken away at any time. When the engineer started talking to the son about the houses we were building, he immediately ran home and took his parents to the worksite. His words to describe the houses were that they were "palaces". He started yelling that they were moving, they were moving into the palaces, so hopefully we can make that dream into a reality. <br /><br />Hope all is well in the US and that you are still enjoying the snow!<br />Love,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-70095520870765670192010-01-12T08:44:00.000-08:002010-01-12T16:02:16.998-08:00La lista de diezSaturday night we joined some friends at our favorite bar to watch the NFL play-offs. We were also celebrating a friend's birthday and realized that it was at his birthday party last year that we had met all of these people for the first time. It is amazing to think of how different our lives were in January 2009 than they are in 2010. It got us thinking and here are the top 10 things (in no particular order) we have learned after living in Costa Rica for one year...<br /><br />1) Spanish! (though this is surely still a work in progress)<br />2) The ability to do nothing and enjoy it<br />3) A renewed appreciation for the beauty of nature<br />4) Importance of a simple life, less cluttered by "stuff"<br />5) How to bake bread<br />6) What extreme generosity really looks like<br />7) How to be successful as a married couple (also a work in progress ;-) )<br />8) How concrete construction works, at least Costa Rican style<br />9) A whole bunch of new hobbies<br />10) That sometimes clouds are nice<br /><br />What's your list look like?<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-23765812055262192452010-01-07T12:18:00.001-08:002010-01-07T15:48:53.858-08:00CambiosHappy New Year!! We hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday and a blast ringing in the New Year. It was certainly great to be back in the States for a couple of weeks to see family and friends, but our preparation for the cold was like running a mile to train for a marathon. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcStkmWl-EfccOoPnata24LmLSExP-uGjtey-466auiofmlbsmkxkuuzadhtiHAQ4dRMkY61sGZBKTcx3dYXVZia43Osc_f-XXXwwZCAZWBptKjq8Ui4LBnQ1dHnM7PwAzWEfNMktGziq/s1600-h/Small+PC260078.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcStkmWl-EfccOoPnata24LmLSExP-uGjtey-466auiofmlbsmkxkuuzadhtiHAQ4dRMkY61sGZBKTcx3dYXVZia43Osc_f-XXXwwZCAZWBptKjq8Ui4LBnQ1dHnM7PwAzWEfNMktGziq/s200/Small+PC260078.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424147966547050594" /></a> The majority of our winter clothes are snugly packed away in storage, and not one week into our stay, we were greeted by 20 inches of snow. We successfully battled that storm out of DC, only to make it NC and be slammed by 2 or 3 inches of ice on top of that. As a result, we lost power and water on Christmas morning and did not get it back until Sunday. Thankfully we had a wood fireplace, so we spent two days huddled around a fire, making grilled cheese sandwiches over the flames, and playing games to pass the time. A memorable Christmas to say the least.<br /><br />For New Year´s Eve, we made it back to Raleigh for a fantastic party. We have finally spent enough time out of Raleigh that it oddly no longer feels like home, but thankfully our friends are as amazing as ever. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBR2_tZdT1L4h953xz3NoLuwpQy3H0h9ikh8n9IjEL5u_fLmIA5NEzZzm0ZFrzOHxZelxabapwMkn-F-68uv9DXmj3pekQCPlbefRWtzDwPL-WgyGUuJyEXq9V6PX0ShG8SlEGWxP_SmHn/s1600-h/IMG_8928_small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBR2_tZdT1L4h953xz3NoLuwpQy3H0h9ikh8n9IjEL5u_fLmIA5NEzZzm0ZFrzOHxZelxabapwMkn-F-68uv9DXmj3pekQCPlbefRWtzDwPL-WgyGUuJyEXq9V6PX0ShG8SlEGWxP_SmHn/s200/IMG_8928_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424147971217393538" /></a> To end a wonderful trip, Michelle took us to the Panthers vs. Saints game in Charlotte. We had never been to a Pro Football game before, and it was a blast. The fact that we couldn´t feel our fingers or toes did little to curb our enthusiasm for seeing football in person for the first time this year. Go Panthers! (They won by the way.)<br /><br />Ninety degree heat welcomed us back to Costa Rica, and it took us a good day or two to readjust to our lives here. One of those days was spent celebrating Miah´s 28th birhtday(!) and another visitng the worksite to see how things had progressed while we were gone. Sadly, not as much happened on the houses as was promised (why this still surprises us, we´ll never know...). Our guarantee to have all finishing details complete in January is quickly becoming a dream of the past. Hopefully we can get everything wrapped up sooner rather than later though. <br /><br />For all of you who donated clothes (or tried to, sorry we didn´t have time to cross paths with all of you!), the workers were extremely appreciative. The guys were crowded around the back of a pick-up truck with 100+ pounds of donated clothing from which to chose. Thanks again for your generosity.<br /><br />Have fun watching the National Championship Game tonight!<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-66109485630282857742009-12-10T14:12:00.000-08:002009-12-10T14:35:53.892-08:00Dia de Acción de Gracias (or better known as Miah's Favorite Holiday)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLepsI3wYPKHZ-QhPCrhEThZePxtZJte_VC2b03QRWMZWR7AwRYldYcdQ9gRuSdY4r9U4_D5VjszmNdUu5HSOxuFnYec3tpMPYub1nmKpJAHkbxTJa365FOsT-lPqx7BJbQC8MnqqF29KH/s1600-h/PB280061sm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLepsI3wYPKHZ-QhPCrhEThZePxtZJte_VC2b03QRWMZWR7AwRYldYcdQ9gRuSdY4r9U4_D5VjszmNdUu5HSOxuFnYec3tpMPYub1nmKpJAHkbxTJa365FOsT-lPqx7BJbQC8MnqqF29KH/s200/PB280061sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413739171431242194" /></a><br /><br />Sorry we are so delayed getting this posted. We know your curiosity is killing you as to how Thanksgiving in Costa Rica played out. It was quite an ordeal that began 6 months ago when we realized that turkeys were very difficult, and expensive, to come by here. No matter what part of the world we've been in, we have always made sure to make a Thanksgiving feast, so this hurdle wasn't about to stop us now.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5DpDEo7dxKWfEtA7mRCRy8sS_Jo7bqld4xNbu6AGa-8kyR5Mo-TrrxvMouTCxJKV0EuKmjHT-0MwY9xcarYs4pe55w792KWd_Gic4S1_qDReNpuEP9W2cdMojYiLFk3NVhYtwKblUSrc/s1600-h/PB280066sm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5DpDEo7dxKWfEtA7mRCRy8sS_Jo7bqld4xNbu6AGa-8kyR5Mo-TrrxvMouTCxJKV0EuKmjHT-0MwY9xcarYs4pe55w792KWd_Gic4S1_qDReNpuEP9W2cdMojYiLFk3NVhYtwKblUSrc/s200/PB280066sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413737634666393266" /></a><br /><br />Thankfully, our coworker's mom has a farm about an hour away and was willing to raise a turkey for us. We named our turkey Mr. Gobble and he had a very happy life until November when it was our job to get him oven-ready. The drive to the farm was absolutely beautiful. Once there, one of the farmers helped us catch Mr. Gobble and have it drink cheap liquor until it was good and drunk. We let him stumble around for awhile before hanging him up to kill. We weren't sure we would be up to the challenge, so someone helped us out. Then, it had to be plucked before we could take it home.<br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUi4yZo8YIMnv6HIEHbhCHRq6cQyjG8YjtLgAphOCnOBeDBdxbm4JCCLIcuHLOMk4aek3L0pca5_LUzWupzsawJz2eNq3oo3T2VqHJmrKkUrbu12NDgI-CfImG2aPn8mQohc1qgJQovWH/s1600-h/PB290111sm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUi4yZo8YIMnv6HIEHbhCHRq6cQyjG8YjtLgAphOCnOBeDBdxbm4JCCLIcuHLOMk4aek3L0pca5_LUzWupzsawJz2eNq3oo3T2VqHJmrKkUrbu12NDgI-CfImG2aPn8mQohc1qgJQovWH/s200/PB290111sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413737074040468482" /></a><br />Mr. Gobble was quite a substantial turkey by Costa Rican standards, but only 10 pounds which was not quite enough for the 20+ people we had for Thanksgiving the next day. We had a very cross-cultural feast combining friends from the US and Costa Rica, with traditional Thanksgiving dishes as well as typical fare from here. Keeping with the tradition though, there was more than enough for all and we were happily stuffed and sleepy after eating. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDfZBGnx0UkIjwH5KTu_avdun6xfSQRQzxhyphenhyphenVIpNVZltIkvCGUZXttXBY4VS1oDWWtc4gTjX7X6F2RcHXkYOIQCjUrgggTZY3KhQj5b3Sqwym5YHwwPRApUIZ6gai9f6euPVu3a_CRO6h/s1600-h/PB290121sm.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDfZBGnx0UkIjwH5KTu_avdun6xfSQRQzxhyphenhyphenVIpNVZltIkvCGUZXttXBY4VS1oDWWtc4gTjX7X6F2RcHXkYOIQCjUrgggTZY3KhQj5b3Sqwym5YHwwPRApUIZ6gai9f6euPVu3a_CRO6h/s200/PB290121sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413737080480510674" /></a><br />All in all, Thanksgiving was quite a success and certainly a learning experience for us as well. Next we'll have to teach the art of southern BBQ when Mrs. Oink is ready...<br /><br /><br /><br />Back to the US tomorrow,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-33861726852307064062009-12-01T08:05:00.000-08:002009-12-10T14:12:13.800-08:00Club de yates de los campesinos (redneck yacht club)We thought we were finally getting a handle on all the surprises that Costa Rica had in store for us, but boy were we mistaken. See, we had some grandiose plans for a Thanksgiving dinner (a family friend has been raising us a turkey for the past 6 months - that we will soon have to go butcher), but then we got wind of something new and exciting that was going to fall on the same day as said Thanksgiving. A little social maneuvering and a couple of emails later, we had everything reorganized and were on our way to Raft-Up.<br /><br />Turns out that Raft-Up is really like the Costa Rican redneck yacht club. Erm... correction: it's like<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV3epn_DjU1V6A-ui_4AYRm7PacErfYU_RxgkJJOypq94Ovvz83Nc3SKytk0qLcfDoLu1HNC4tntW2dp0Kx7xDt7H2t4OV-0JhZ25-0pyOwHjd5JOarIbld5-PfxkV_5m6GEv52eN_IV2h/s1600-h/small+group.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV3epn_DjU1V6A-ui_4AYRm7PacErfYU_RxgkJJOypq94Ovvz83Nc3SKytk0qLcfDoLu1HNC4tntW2dp0Kx7xDt7H2t4OV-0JhZ25-0pyOwHjd5JOarIbld5-PfxkV_5m6GEv52eN_IV2h/s200/small+group.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413730604336967970" border="0" /></a> the Costa Rican Expat Community's redneck yacht club. At 9 am Sunday morning, we caught a surfboat (complete with deckhand Golden Retriever) out to a hidden bay along with some 300 other expats and the occasional fortunate tourist. The boat showed up in the bay and dropped anchor along-side fifteen other boats and we caught a dinghy to shore (well, Miah jumped ship and swam, but he was pretty excited to get off the boat).<br /><br />From there we had a day of beach volleyball, grilling out, snorkeling, body surfing and live music. It was great! But it has inspired us to hold our own redneck yacht club sometime after we get back in North Carolina. You should come.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOsgXfok_IS40_2byoRmTX080oWVfdHACIJ9vcurJLpJNKKh7_6zQi2Ra8trWetZGQy1rklpfM4Dnb4L3i9Y9Xs1HZfqnTmejPZavBtpKGJ9Z4Q0Exam9AFz48PYZOUKr4pPUsVs1vCSlO/s1600-h/small+girls.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOsgXfok_IS40_2byoRmTX080oWVfdHACIJ9vcurJLpJNKKh7_6zQi2Ra8trWetZGQy1rklpfM4Dnb4L3i9Y9Xs1HZfqnTmejPZavBtpKGJ9Z4Q0Exam9AFz48PYZOUKr4pPUsVs1vCSlO/s200/small+girls.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413730598083449362" border="0" /></a><br />The one heartbreak about raft-up is that it was going to be the kickoff event for our week with the most recent group of visitors, Graham and Julie. Julie is in school at C.I.A (Culinary Institute of America) so her timing for a visit was pretty much perfect! Unfortunately, there was a little bit of a passport finding fiasco that caused them to spend the day they were supposed to be flying down here driving over 20 hours hunting down passports, so they ended up missing raft-up (insert emoticon super sad face here).<br /><br />They did manage to make it down the next day, however, and we had a fantastic, food a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiwzhN50oa5OHrmzFFv7-EhpBzZ3gZlek8VHB6R-BG1Hi2cP803AOVSwIyBdctF4rak-6iLiy9alABEtmmHD-iaob5STSdCE_swdQxj6lHiQ0ZUpS8CQemIxj3jkRhpg-tX9VINjwkO37/s1600-h/small+dinner.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiwzhN50oa5OHrmzFFv7-EhpBzZ3gZlek8VHB6R-BG1Hi2cP803AOVSwIyBdctF4rak-6iLiy9alABEtmmHD-iaob5STSdCE_swdQxj6lHiQ0ZUpS8CQemIxj3jkRhpg-tX9VINjwkO37/s200/small+dinner.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413730612887726050" border="0" /></a>nd adventure filled week with them. We went and worked on the houses together, cooked up a storm, golfed, played some Killer Bunnies and generally had a great time. We miss you guys already!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anybody watch the Wolfpack beat Carolina last weekend?<br />TeamWanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-22070526978148536902009-11-30T15:28:00.000-08:002009-11-30T15:42:29.430-08:00House Photos<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIcnymjQybnYVn9ceeEUTg9bBmGZS3BzUIlDcm55C1l3JZHpMD4foYagTTlRRVCG3s80B2xu5gRWVy_f7bsCvj5qhxexDrf6OboktffKSKCLvaF-JhgoCZX9lfmNrMZ0xgkG0Bb5lyzak-/s1600/PB230020.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIcnymjQybnYVn9ceeEUTg9bBmGZS3BzUIlDcm55C1l3JZHpMD4foYagTTlRRVCG3s80B2xu5gRWVy_f7bsCvj5qhxexDrf6OboktffKSKCLvaF-JhgoCZX9lfmNrMZ0xgkG0Bb5lyzak-/s200/PB230020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410044056896735026" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rRUfu3qd1lZ7bcbvG5vmfuq2Kg7UeEbavwXsxmrtL-ICSaLxlULzOhbAMEOHLzsav-l9XAw9px9qTBQzoBf7sEmGHQl6cmsTTdJlrrNJdU2xJ9N4VeZ5rvigNkZkehKA_Az5gpsK3mHN/s1600/PB230023.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rRUfu3qd1lZ7bcbvG5vmfuq2Kg7UeEbavwXsxmrtL-ICSaLxlULzOhbAMEOHLzsav-l9XAw9px9qTBQzoBf7sEmGHQl6cmsTTdJlrrNJdU2xJ9N4VeZ5rvigNkZkehKA_Az5gpsK3mHN/s200/PB230023.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410044059635580562" border="0" /></a>Team Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-80170302694781485292009-11-16T09:13:00.000-08:002009-11-30T14:50:33.993-08:00En el trabajoThings have really picked up here as we find ourselves in the last month or so of our first neighborhood of houses. It has been extremely exciting to see them come together and they have turned out nicer than we could have ever imagined. We have floors, ceilings, electrical, stucco, etc. on half of our houses (photos to come). In early November, Miah put in a lot of hours at the worksite installing everything electrical and learning the true inner workings of our construction team. It´s still a toss-up as to whether this helped or hurt his Spanish, since 10 hours a day is plenty of time to practice, but most of the Spanish he´s learned can not be repeated outside a small group of local guys (think crude surfer guy speak).<br /><br />There is never a lack of interesting stories from the worksite, but here´s one we want to share. We had stopped by for a quick update from the construction foreman and to check on the delivery of some additional materials., but when we arrived, everyone was crowded around one of the holes that had been dug for a septic tank. Slightly confused, we walked over to see what was going on, and upon peering down in the hole saw a cow´s head with horns. At some point that morning, it had managed to fall in the hole and so the guys were trying use bars and ropes to get it out. The poor cow was absolutely terrified, but just watching the entire situation play out, it was quite comical. Fifteen guys were heaving with all their might to haul this cow out and it was doing everything in its power to stay right where it was. We were worried it might have broken a leg or something in the fall, but when they finally did manage to get the cow out, he was perfectly fine as far as we could tell. Needless to say, we were late for our next meeting, but we couldn´t walk away until the rescue operation was complete.<br /><br />We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving feast,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-78844842140569031532009-10-22T14:21:00.000-07:002009-10-22T14:41:21.120-07:00Dientes LimpiosThankfully, we´ve been super lucky so far on our travels not need any sort of medical care. We were long overdue for a good teeth cleaning though, so we decided to try our luck at a local dental clinic. We had seen one situated in a small town about 15 minutes from us, next to our favorite pizza place, so that seemed as good a sign as any to choose that clinic. <br /><br />We walked in for our appointment and as usual, things are running on Tico time so we had plenty of time to strike up a conversation with the receptionist. She was a Nicaraguan who had moved to Costa Rica with the hope of making more money to send back to her children who were living with her mother. Not five minutes into the conversation, she was baring her soul to us. It was great to have a truly candid conversation with someone from such a different background, not only to learn about her life, but to get a different perspective on the project we are working on here. If she could bring her family down here to live with her, these are exactly the type of hard working families that we would like to be helping. She brought up some interesting questions and concerns though that can be used help us to improve before our next project.<br /><br />The other patient then came out of the exam room, in one piece and looking happy enough, so we figured things couldn´t go too bad. The dentist was super nice and started the cleaning innocently enough. Next thing we know, he had placed a towel over our face and chest and proceeded to start sand-blasting our mouths with baking soda. If you have ever been out on the beach when a huge gust of wind picks up and you feel the sting of the sand against your legs, you can begin to imagine this, but then transfer that feeling to your tongue and lips instead. When he finished, despite the best intentions of the towel, our faces were covered in a thin-film of baking soda. Certainly an interesting experience, but short-lived enough and well-worth the sparkling clean teeth afterward.<br /><br />Big smiles,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-56986489356355942212009-10-16T08:34:00.000-07:002009-10-22T14:21:30.891-07:00Los Estados UnidosSorry, apparently we forgot to post this when returned, but here it is now...<br /><br /><br />Whew, we made it back to the land of rice and beans after a whirlwind of a trip to the US. As some of you might have heard, Leslie´s grandmother died suddenly on September 30th so she had to make a quick trip to Florida that weekend for the funeral. Traveling started by leaving the house at 3am to catch a bus to San Jose airport. Everything went smoothly until arriving in the US where the custom´s officers played 20 questions about anything from being out of the country too much to not having enough luggage. It was all worth it though because the service went really well and it was fantastic to have all our family together.<br /><br />Leslie flew back to Costa Rica the following Wednesday only to fly back out on Thursday morning. We spent Wednesday night with some friends who live near San Jose (Jessica, they may be our toughest Boggle competition yet). We left our car at one of their friend´s houses whose German shephard had puppies about 3 months ago. Three of the were quickly growing as you would expect, but the runt of the litter had barely changed size at all. She was a tiny ball of fur and the cutest thing ever. We´re not sure if she´s ever going to grow, but it took every ounce of our strength to walk away empty-handed when he offered her to us.<br /><br />Next we made it to DC to spend some time with Miah´s mom and for him to take the GRE. Our first day there was a blast, we took a bike tour around the Mall (the best way to see the sights), visited the Smithsonian, and ended the day with a night-time boat ride up the Potomac. In between test taking and essay writing the rest of the weekend, we managed to cram in tons of good food.<br /><br />One of the most interesting things we saw in DC was the solar decathalon taking place on the Mall (http://www.solardecathlon.org/). There were 20 universities competing for the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house. All the houses were less than 800 square feet, so not only was the environmental impact of the houses amazing, but so was there innovative use of space. We learned so many neat things, we´re ready to build our own house now. Here are a couple pictures of <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfkhUqA6Jxri9L9DJzCwz-7OkZZI62YbCSbNb0EhpuzcDvCAIA-1vcm6N5UkxI_sJvusIXa2xYRjMHaDXl3tRdhBsrLHzMsb2lL75sBlxKcBG7GGS5ZlScGXfl89pfn3LC9bxid6HOv3X8/s1600-h/photo_daily1009_7-sm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 129px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfkhUqA6Jxri9L9DJzCwz-7OkZZI62YbCSbNb0EhpuzcDvCAIA-1vcm6N5UkxI_sJvusIXa2xYRjMHaDXl3tRdhBsrLHzMsb2lL75sBlxKcBG7GGS5ZlScGXfl89pfn3LC9bxid6HOv3X8/s200/photo_daily1009_7-sm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393229342528446562" border="0" /></a>the houses:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI18JksCmqornrEGoSU2ri71mOOtFEH0O7-2T_-wOCGtdSb9fB8nPA-qIL0F3zVyGtzldi1c5CHpQCUatJ0bTK2MMJvL7ECk5UmMh7ERi6u108gNCrpB7r1exiZoLAvn_Y0MbS6ORP3sLE/s1600-h/photo_daily1009_1-sm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI18JksCmqornrEGoSU2ri71mOOtFEH0O7-2T_-wOCGtdSb9fB8nPA-qIL0F3zVyGtzldi1c5CHpQCUatJ0bTK2MMJvL7ECk5UmMh7ERi6u108gNCrpB7r1exiZoLAvn_Y0MbS6ORP3sLE/s200/photo_daily1009_1-sm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393229354546729634" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYvD1FFGzVVl19jH03BuaN1u5rOPtI_9_hP9AftMTQCS0-WwMlE140TVEE1PnNpTwGb_ogsIsZixYCGGXomb9Xhq5fZgU85JhPmAiX6OYcj6Xcw9lgu3qr_jid_qyiqbJ7XiPW6csq8gb/s1600-h/photo_daily1012_126-sm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYvD1FFGzVVl19jH03BuaN1u5rOPtI_9_hP9AftMTQCS0-WwMlE140TVEE1PnNpTwGb_ogsIsZixYCGGXomb9Xhq5fZgU85JhPmAiX6OYcj6Xcw9lgu3qr_jid_qyiqbJ7XiPW6csq8gb/s200/photo_daily1012_126-sm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393229356277358802" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Love to all,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-64007059645817334832009-09-28T08:19:00.000-07:002009-09-28T09:19:30.918-07:00Muchas Aventuras de Comida (entre otras cosas)Kiddies, we've got a lot of ground to cover, so I'd recommend before getting started on this post you make up some hot chocolate and grab the comfiest chair in the house. The past few weeks here have been wonderful: progress on the houses is coming along extremely well, we should be finishing on schedule; we've made quite a bit of progress beginning the permitting process for the next lot as well. We have also been fortunate enough to take part in a couple of awesome adventures over the past few weeks and those are the experiences we'd like to share with you all.<br /><br />First off, two weekends ago us and a few of the people who work for the foundation decided to have a road trip. The two of us don't travel too much within Costa Rica because we're living on the traveler budget, and focusing a lot on developing our relationships with the folks around here, but we're sure glad we were a part of this trip. Seven of us took the hour drive down to the very tip of the Nicoya Peninsula to a town called Mal Pais.<br /><br />We spent the weekend relaxing, hanging out at the beach and hiking to some neat waterfalls. Oh yeah, and eating. You'll quickly notice that food is very much the central theme of this post. As we spent the majority of our time less than a quarter mile from the ocean, the seafood was wonderful, so we made sure to concentrate our consumptive energy on that cuisine. One of the neatest parts about the weekend, however, was the cultural mix that we had within the group. There were three Ticos and four of us from the US and it's fair to say that the weekend was completely bi-lingual; it was perfectly acceptable to speak to someone in either of the two languages (irrespective of what their native language was and even in what language they had just spoken to you).<br /><br />That was a really neat experience, it made for some neat polylingual conversations, and of course, the everpresent meta-conversation about languages. All of us non-spanish speakers took advantage of having three friendly, walking dictionaries at our disposal and worked hard to pick up as much spanish as we could during the weekend. We even spent a few hours one night playing <span style="font-style: italic;">Catchphrase</span> in Spanish. For the silly little gringos that we are, I think we did pretty well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMCl9ScCvZJRFbRE_Mwakbn1C4swOgYz6rr89KDA9jPpnpVg39iOD2douUd_rOJ2rgXgbMg5oni1fZ52135JTCACtNIYZV66cydG1vbfGdWLjFlI9fnTG8qa2RNNiV3bLMvO7O8NOdgy1b/s1600-h/byng.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMCl9ScCvZJRFbRE_Mwakbn1C4swOgYz6rr89KDA9jPpnpVg39iOD2douUd_rOJ2rgXgbMg5oni1fZ52135JTCACtNIYZV66cydG1vbfGdWLjFlI9fnTG8qa2RNNiV3bLMvO7O8NOdgy1b/s200/byng.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386552753321160274" border="0" /></a>Here's a picture of the lovely little bungalows that we stayed in (close enough that the sound of the surf rocked you to sleep at night). What a great weekend (Thanks Yanith!)<br /><br />Next on the docket of fun things to talk about is one of the culinary adventures that we've been having here at home lately. We've been experimenting with food a lot lately and are absolutely loving it. Produce is cheaper here than it will ever be again in our life (at least that what my mom hopes for, because cheap produce would imply another transcontinental adventure) and so we're making the most of it by cooking at home lots and lots.<br /><br />We've decided a fun thing to do in the blog is to start posting more and more of the recipes that we're currently trying to let the foodies in all of you give it a try at home.<br /><br />This past week we made a loaf of bread that was absolutely spectacular. Miah has gotten in to breadmaking (he's still pushing to open up a bakery / B&B somewhere in the south of Italy - sorry mom) and decided to hunt down and try out a recipe for fresh thyme bread. Here's the result of some of the experimentation:<br /><br />Thyme Garlic Bread<br />4 cups flour<br />1 1/2 cups warm water<br />1 tsp sugar<br />4 cloves minced garlic<br />2 tsp yeast (more colloquially known as yeasty beasties)<br />2 tsp salt<br />2 Tb finely chopped fresh thyme<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRCHLlFOpAsZj9uE0r2wcPTx7_GL-Lk9COg-uNq-t9Lq7SCwNU4cn5p6tdEXyNC0-CraXfp867aPN0D-9B5-qX-DricZCvHlYrtDCn8EGmXO-0l83eDHJp0S2c_x3vSYE3rwr_MFJWuHOg/s1600-h/food.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRCHLlFOpAsZj9uE0r2wcPTx7_GL-Lk9COg-uNq-t9Lq7SCwNU4cn5p6tdEXyNC0-CraXfp867aPN0D-9B5-qX-DricZCvHlYrtDCn8EGmXO-0l83eDHJp0S2c_x3vSYE3rwr_MFJWuHOg/s200/food.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386553171335457042" border="0" /></a>Dissolve yeast in warm water, let sit for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, mix 2 cups flour, sugar and salt. Add yeast mixture and mix together well, scraping the sides of the bowl. Slowly add as much of the rest of the flour as you can stopping at a medium dough. Turn out the mixture on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes. Flatten out the dough and spread the thyme and garlic evenly throughout. Knead for 2 minutes more to distribute the spices. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a moist cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled (roughly two hours). Turn out dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead for two more minutes. Put in to a bread pan or form in to a loaf on a baking sheet and let sit, covered, for 10 more minutes. Bake on 250 for about 50 minutes. Enjoy<br /><br />A word to the intrepid about our baking temperatures and times: our oven is loco. Our cooking temperatures seem to run pretty low, so you might want to consider bumping up to 300 or something. I look cooking this bread so low because of the way the crust turns out (not too thick, not too tough), but you can experiment and see what you like best.<br /><br />We made grilled cheese, avocado and tomato sandwiches out of this bread and they were absolutely incredible. We highly recommend (5 gold stars for you little buddy), and we have included a salivation inducing photo.<br /><br />Lastly, let's talk about football (and food). For those of you who live on the moon, both college and pro football are now a few weeks in and possibly the most exciting thing currently happening on the face of the planet. This last weekend was sort-of devoted to that end. We spent the weekend with our buddies Zach (yes sir, you made it in to the blog) and Eric, bouncing around from house to house watching obscene amounts of football. The true trump-card of the weekend however was not the 10 hours of football we watched over the course of two days, but instead the meal we cooked on friday night. If anybody from 1410 is reading this, they'll be proud to know that this meal was brought to you by the letter bacon, and worth every artery-clogging calorie.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTGUaVVpuY5bSiVYR3cOjx82TRLykXQB0jsqYT05D0W4NO9SgNJD4ZXLM_avvLHZb0_N9k-j_n8kWra84eEmYuh3A3NYhLZoF_sOy4DslI1C6DzL_dNQPaxi5dxqyAFjlDf6enIHzocbm/s1600-h/bacon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTGUaVVpuY5bSiVYR3cOjx82TRLykXQB0jsqYT05D0W4NO9SgNJD4ZXLM_avvLHZb0_N9k-j_n8kWra84eEmYuh3A3NYhLZoF_sOy4DslI1C6DzL_dNQPaxi5dxqyAFjlDf6enIHzocbm/s200/bacon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386553546475177922" border="0" /></a>The menu in brief: NY strip wrapped in bacon, portabella mushrooom slices wrapped in bacon, pinapple wrapped in bacon and banana stuffed jalapeño peppers (we ran out of bacon). We cooked it all up on the grill and feasted. Hooray.<br /><br />As for now, we're back to the grind, trying to get some houses built and write some grad school admissions essays,<br /><br /><br />We hope everyone is doing well, we love and miss you,<br />Go Pack! Go Chargers!<br />TeamWanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-87486805759078113622009-09-01T13:09:00.000-07:002009-09-01T13:35:07.223-07:00Fiestas de Santa Rosa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGAfmnleV1iC_1MYJJNc6P6TRZeAsEhx2pog4Gp_ofbNSM7TlKIcU0vDhm8EjJdk6WQOnwa0WE9h0dro7NOpxXhjD97icgO1qikEfin0qmqyjqnIbFB82PZEzyQrtYyT25HrxL09g3-qP/s1600-h/IMG_5074.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGAfmnleV1iC_1MYJJNc6P6TRZeAsEhx2pog4Gp_ofbNSM7TlKIcU0vDhm8EjJdk6WQOnwa0WE9h0dro7NOpxXhjD97icgO1qikEfin0qmqyjqnIbFB82PZEzyQrtYyT25HrxL09g3-qP/s200/IMG_5074.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376600002102189250" border="0" /></a>Wow! I don't even know where to begin. From roughly our first week here in Costa Rica, we've been hearing many tales about the fiestas that can be found throughout Guanacaste. However, there's really one festival that is touted and bragged about more than any other: Santa Rosa Last week, we were sucked in to the tornado of Guanacastecan debauchery that is la fiesta de Santa Rosa.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixvbekMPpaD3l3glgQGA5x-3VY-QKCEYDd4A11k34ecWUwrFq4GJgIypUA5Relt0OTs7jQ7sEqgwquQLWbYbEKspN75_hneM6J8GVphcn4pjrtDTVOFXtqnFh08isHXKCBgMxHxbqbT8ab/s1600-h/IMG_5044.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixvbekMPpaD3l3glgQGA5x-3VY-QKCEYDd4A11k34ecWUwrFq4GJgIypUA5Relt0OTs7jQ7sEqgwquQLWbYbEKspN75_hneM6J8GVphcn4pjrtDTVOFXtqnFh08isHXKCBgMxHxbqbT8ab/s200/IMG_5044.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376600001045706674" border="0" /></a>Imagine a cross between a full-on rodeo, a NC State Homecoming tailgate, and the biggest house party the local authorities would let slide. All of these events combined make up this fiesta. We started out at 8 am, wandering up and down the dirt streets of Santa Rosa looking for someone to rent horses from (why do we need horses? to go get the bulls of course). Fortunately we had a nice Tica friend to help us negotiate the cost of horse rental down by 30 percent.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQpRl6YglfLL93jliXfDf-WNj4zDLrMQQCqiyipRZfIDwcqNufN4tgeYgIFXbjG2DP_5HB1uwmDSkR9b9IYD4n7YQ-TZlBXCXTIC64wR6LNs6mNyeGuGlnwxj9wR9C6lNRmEqgbWDGYSp/s1600-h/IMG_5025.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQpRl6YglfLL93jliXfDf-WNj4zDLrMQQCqiyipRZfIDwcqNufN4tgeYgIFXbjG2DP_5HB1uwmDSkR9b9IYD4n7YQ-TZlBXCXTIC64wR6LNs6mNyeGuGlnwxj9wR9C6lNRmEqgbWDGYSp/s200/IMG_5025.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376599996106375442" border="0" /></a>We got our trusty steeds rented and set of for what, unbeknownst to us, was going to be the longest (and best populated) horse ride of our lives. I say best populated because joining us to go collect the bulls were about 1000 of our closest costa rican friends; on horseback, on fourwheelers, on dirtbikes, even hanging out the back of shabby pickup trucks. Us and this motley crew traveled for about 3 hours on horseback, stopping of course to buy beer from the roadside beer trucks, and hitch our horses for a drink or two at the local establishments that we happened to pass by. The road ended for us at a giant hacienda with a brass band playing, a team of ladies selling fried chicken out of plastic tubs, and reliably, requisite beer stands. After a few hours of this, the throng of people (somehow without receiving any sort of perceivable signal) all hopped back on their horse (or whatever, we did meet one guy riding a donkey) and started traveling back the way we came. However this time, this crew of people was herding the bulls that would be used for the bull-fights of the evening.<br /><br />So to rewind the first three hours of the trip, we took the same 3 hour ride back, stopping again at the local watering hole along the way. On the way back however, our horses (read: Miah's horse) must have discovered her love for a good chase because we did a lot more galloping than anything else. Nothing like racing an 8 year old costa rican on horseback down a dirt road full of people all traveling a different pace.<br /><br />Once we got back and got our horses returned apparently we had completed the prelude to the day as it was time for the real fiesta to start. There were purportedly hours more of parties and bullfights (we had friends who came home well after midnight) however we didn't have the steam to stay in the running, so we headed home to cook a yummy dinner.<br /><br />Unfortunately for them, two passers-by (Jessica and Hugo, down from California) happened to be pulled in to this adventure as well. Little did they know when they were planning their visit that this would be how they spent their saturday. It wasn't till sunday morning that we all collectively groaned and whimpered our way out of our respective beds that we realized how sore an 8 hour horseback adventure could really make you.<br /><br />What are you doing on thursday night?<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-83208573746091138822009-09-01T08:27:00.000-07:002009-09-01T08:30:58.334-07:00La langosta, como prometida<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQkYMZ2U2sE0QPG6019yhMqMIjPAavS4nx_6Axph4Jlc1v-zunkRzcdwECpgMITMB8lvm7i28CHFc8bpFE6IkwRa_qNFQdQLUld7M3Pxf-tpN02dPoICci1bj1nFbIDyJXKU1l-vO8oFY/s1600-h/Langosta.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQkYMZ2U2sE0QPG6019yhMqMIjPAavS4nx_6Axph4Jlc1v-zunkRzcdwECpgMITMB8lvm7i28CHFc8bpFE6IkwRa_qNFQdQLUld7M3Pxf-tpN02dPoICci1bj1nFbIDyJXKU1l-vO8oFY/s200/Langosta.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376521878310933298" border="0" /></a><br />Per Ryan and Shannon's request, here's a pic of the lobster that our tico friend spent over an hour digging out of the bottom of the ocean for us. It must have been a heck of a battle, because the tico came up bleeding and the lobster came up missing a claw. But it sure tasted good!Team Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-68635437367392907332009-08-20T14:09:00.000-07:002009-08-21T08:05:33.102-07:00La vida se aceleraLife has really picked up the pace here in Costa Rica this month. As soon as the volunteers left, we started our first week of teaching. Two days a week Leslie is teaching first through third graders reading, writing, grammar, and phonics. Miah is subsitute teaching for a month, filling in for the math teacher. It is hard work, but very rewarding. The students are kids from all over the world whose parents do not want them to attend Costa Rica public schools but cannot afford the big private school in this area. Therefore, most of the kids speak two if not three or more languages which makes us so jealous! It is especially difficult teaching the first graders though because a few of them are still struggling to grasp the English language, much less handle classes reading, spelling, writing, etc.<br /><br />We also had another set of visitors, the newlyweds, Ryan and Shannon who were in Costa Rica for their honeymoon (congrats, you two!). They spent the first half visiting the Arenal volcano and then came to G<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY2gNO8GC9oxFbUw1Hdivcu2gEIad39WJgXKTvhgeJExw2QRKVFSlIrToO4FqeLvrHQAO0PsxCLe6zUjfU-fYPJ28HbNzYZ1G_2Hx8HJVhWKDJKSwLyFejGPR-z3QL3yNPh7sp8vvMO_nn/s1600-h/P8180116.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY2gNO8GC9oxFbUw1Hdivcu2gEIad39WJgXKTvhgeJExw2QRKVFSlIrToO4FqeLvrHQAO0PsxCLe6zUjfU-fYPJ28HbNzYZ1G_2Hx8HJVhWKDJKSwLyFejGPR-z3QL3yNPh7sp8vvMO_nn/s200/P8180116.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372432194238963970" border="0" /></a>uanacaste for some beaches and sunshine. Luckily, the rainy season is very late in starting this year so the weather has remained beautiful. As usual, the highlight of their stay was the sailing/snorkeling trip which we caught the very last day before the boat is dry-docked for the next few months. The water was the clearest we had ever seen it (the guides said the same thing). We found a giant manta ray and plenty of fish. We spent most of our time trying to catch a puffer fish, but to no avail. Our guide was able to catch a large lobster though and afterwards we took it to our favorite restaurant in Tamarindo for them to cook for us. Delicious!<br /><br />We also went to a going away/birthday party for our Costan Rican sister before she left for the Foundation's scholarship program at LaGrange <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNvCFX6AjpTxN1UNxmDNnOlbguvysSURvAk9ZWr0n1GtNrI6k-Q_bv73N5BUiepI3PaQedy_nNk6sURT9t5wlu1EIQ5uPIG9QHx13xL3nyftoShjNFE8ZAdY_t-gr_Y1HNBZvPigxmi_m/s1600-h/IMGP1975.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNvCFX6AjpTxN1UNxmDNnOlbguvysSURvAk9ZWr0n1GtNrI6k-Q_bv73N5BUiepI3PaQedy_nNk6sURT9t5wlu1EIQ5uPIG9QHx13xL3nyftoShjNFE8ZAdY_t-gr_Y1HNBZvPigxmi_m/s200/IMGP1975.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372432186149866850" border="0" /></a>college in Georgia. It was our first proper Costa Rican party and they certainly do things right. They had a chef in from San Jose who cooked amazing appetizers and dinner. We also played Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Musical Chairs, and other such games that had been off our radar for too long. They had made a homemade piñata as well as balloons full of flour for the end of the night farewell. Our moment of glory came when we were able to win the married couples "guess your partner's answers" in Spanish. We were handsomely rewarded for our efforts with a blue duck butter dish.<br /><br />The rest of the month looks like it will stay just as hectic. Three more sets of friends are coming to visit, but only two will be staying with us. A last hoorah before Chez Wander is empty for awhile. We are counting down the days until football begins!!<br /><br />Go Pack!<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-62056627674810438452009-08-11T09:24:00.001-07:002009-08-11T09:39:22.187-07:00Que semana más loca!What a week! We just wrapped up a week-long adventure with a volunteer group of 15 some-odd folks who came down from various parts of the southeastern US. Descriptions can't really do this week justice. We were dirty, soaked in sweat, hot as Hades and happy as we could imagine with how the week went. The volunteers (thank you all so much!) worked like troopers all week, mixing concrete, laying block, painting roof members and making friends. It was a beautiful sight to see the 10 local members of the construction crew working hand in hand with the 15 volunteers and everyone seemed to be having a great time of it. We went back to the worksite yesterday it just wasn't the same without the gringos.<br /><br />Seeing the houses become a reality is an amazing experience for us. They're really coming up now (see the pictures) but two of the houses have roof members welded on, four more are in some state of block being laid and that leaves two more foundations to dig and pour.<br /><br />Having the opportunity to work out there last week really took the two of us back to the days of Habitat work trips at NC State and it was a great feeling. The sense of exhausted completeness at the end of the day is a really wonderful sensation. And getting to learn all the new skills (in spanish, yikes!) is a lot of fun too!<br /><br />At any rate, words can only say so much, so here's a few pictures to put you guys on the worksite with us!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfAmJUb8MzwfHo55Dd0-mznxhvlggQI82YmDMsBXvUdGqsViHiWmhXVFdKmw5GkbGJQJvw-CuLVpiba70AqdOiGNMICUuASZX45kS4RYdLF54NkXIiAKmGLTxYP7RUNzjZfHKPy7SMsgE/s1600-h/Small_005.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfAmJUb8MzwfHo55Dd0-mznxhvlggQI82YmDMsBXvUdGqsViHiWmhXVFdKmw5GkbGJQJvw-CuLVpiba70AqdOiGNMICUuASZX45kS4RYdLF54NkXIiAKmGLTxYP7RUNzjZfHKPy7SMsgE/s200/Small_005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368744838853621506" border="0" /></a><br />The crew and one of the houses<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4usSWmvOtQuPeeRopbGrpaZ3yO-9hE5h5jmZDvBHc8Bg9V3k-fpu8KIoPe8ngMNSfalnGP4RFf_L2zqV-LmSm-8LyZ0GaRi71lF43X-Sm6jDI8-oTyR5K0qnXr7K0ZX7EH0mV6f6dMbqO/s1600-h/Small_004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4usSWmvOtQuPeeRopbGrpaZ3yO-9hE5h5jmZDvBHc8Bg9V3k-fpu8KIoPe8ngMNSfalnGP4RFf_L2zqV-LmSm-8LyZ0GaRi71lF43X-Sm6jDI8-oTyR5K0qnXr7K0ZX7EH0mV6f6dMbqO/s200/Small_004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368744835043456978" border="0" /></a>Siesta, and well deserved at that<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGY8gw7BeO8TBOkuSrGJGugebfxCRU-H6HvN9VDC3Yks6eT2OYklDmXJynmyWfFiJ7HEmQksrg5uAoK2KuPVjSqLr31pCykr3NOfs47-KSJzGG_Si835RvAolk6JRmRbZCKWsuzxn7xDHP/s1600-h/Small_002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGY8gw7BeO8TBOkuSrGJGugebfxCRU-H6HvN9VDC3Yks6eT2OYklDmXJynmyWfFiJ7HEmQksrg5uAoK2KuPVjSqLr31pCykr3NOfs47-KSJzGG_Si835RvAolk6JRmRbZCKWsuzxn7xDHP/s200/Small_002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368744825038300546" border="0" /></a>Viktor (his spanish name), our resident masonry expert<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Aaaaand... Leslie O being a rock star.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6FvNu9a-QZX-joMHfETKxvT38JTlM1cRbZmywKsgBZh7W6Tk9XT9Mb7b11ASDz4BEgctxPVv6MoeXFX-gmuWFFZzy2cTNpxCRrc0Vvb1rGFuhRJ0jtaALBFzsTd3oxbkSZMc0bhqcHxPi/s1600-h/Small_003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6FvNu9a-QZX-joMHfETKxvT38JTlM1cRbZmywKsgBZh7W6Tk9XT9Mb7b11ASDz4BEgctxPVv6MoeXFX-gmuWFFZzy2cTNpxCRrc0Vvb1rGFuhRJ0jtaALBFzsTd3oxbkSZMc0bhqcHxPi/s200/Small_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368746456381185666" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEO-ekrm1IrfoY17DqNaeLMbLabSOvi94y2ZUva8iFsweSDlu2puJYhy3IA0_4SSlJfI7Rhs0yf3dPUGpByi-kIVw992ov0chwyyAhevWFmavGggCy_DQBNJwBZbRBHWHILzQHo5HZnt6/s1600-h/Small_007.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEO-ekrm1IrfoY17DqNaeLMbLabSOvi94y2ZUva8iFsweSDlu2puJYhy3IA0_4SSlJfI7Rhs0yf3dPUGpByi-kIVw992ov0chwyyAhevWFmavGggCy_DQBNJwBZbRBHWHILzQHo5HZnt6/s200/Small_007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368746458920050722" border="0" /></a>Team Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-34804635788799038772009-08-01T13:51:00.000-07:002009-08-02T14:07:43.285-07:00Middle School Fun<div style="text-align: left;">Last night turned out to be too amusing not to share with everyone. It<br />began quite ordinarily when we were invited to dinner with our Costa<br />Rican family (Quick side note, dinner was a cross between lasagna<br />and chicken pot pie, which, as fate would have it, is an amazing combination).<br />After dinner, our sister suggested that we go to the town center because<br />there was a roller skating rink in town for the month. What?!? Not<br />wanting to pass up a trip down memory lane (think prime middle school<br />story material) we quickly agreed.<br /><br />Turns out we were exactly right; the two of us were older than<br />everyone there by at least five years and the only two non-Ticos.<br />Apparently roller skating is not like riding a bike, you cannot just<br />pick it back up a decade later. Well, at least I couldn't, Miah still<br />had a few tricks up his sleeve from his rollerblading days. One lap<br />around and he was convinced that I was capable of skating on my own.<br />Clearly not the case and one of Stephanie's friends quickly came to my<br />rescue to keep me on my feet and not cause a disastrous pile-up<br />on the floor (quite a few of which we saw). Slowly it all started<br />coming back to me though, and all of us had a blast.<br /><br />We came home and went to bed and about 2 hours later I was awakened by<br />a huge crashing noise. I wasn't sure if it was just part of a dream or<br />something outside, but a few minutes later I heard another smaller crash followed by metal scraping metal. I attempted to rouse Miah but he wasn't waking up for anything, so I bravely peeked out the window to see who was trying to break into our house. Turns out, it was a bull on our back patio who had pushed over the grill and was ramming it with his horns. I ran into the<br />living room and turned on the patio light, trying to scare him away, and he just stared at me, not a foot away. Then, he just went back to eating the charcoal (don't ask me why). Finally, after banging on the door for awhile, he sauntered away. Needless to say, our grill has a few dents in it this morning and is missing one of the legs...</div>Team Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-22398070012215893382009-07-31T08:45:00.000-07:002009-07-31T09:21:42.546-07:00Los Toros<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAxvG5E78sZ1IYAACDxNj0vFMNNs8OqbC2Atna1a8e7PWnGJI2rrOVyEwE5OdZEDGPV2nWCgkrsRfWNj98v3GLtloPmBL3fguBUzmfKMcDOOEUOahuZMDiXHJSwiGDoNsKTLrNwsVr0GH/s1600-h/DSC00331.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAxvG5E78sZ1IYAACDxNj0vFMNNs8OqbC2Atna1a8e7PWnGJI2rrOVyEwE5OdZEDGPV2nWCgkrsRfWNj98v3GLtloPmBL3fguBUzmfKMcDOOEUOahuZMDiXHJSwiGDoNsKTLrNwsVr0GH/s200/DSC00331.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364657612339749266" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfTDGoNxwJTHuVLUxEkl0wFZqYYXKOPt9aguY8dwfrBDrxtoaZADCLzuCv87JJaR2X1KzIVKvnac_sTodQE7gJx7eZZbSfdAEiozHIS5UHe944VJm-eyJwDYHhhursXEaT1Pvyq0aDwcOf/s1600-h/DSC00337.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfTDGoNxwJTHuVLUxEkl0wFZqYYXKOPt9aguY8dwfrBDrxtoaZADCLzuCv87JJaR2X1KzIVKvnac_sTodQE7gJx7eZZbSfdAEiozHIS5UHe944VJm-eyJwDYHhhursXEaT1Pvyq0aDwcOf/s200/DSC00337.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364657608592956274" border="0" /></a><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAoJJe9MVJm2B70-v-hUgsJCIL6WYTSopTjeqm-Vdjx39WLUjwj956G_2xOjHBojHkzaHPEgD8TZVEwoPYrrnaDhyphenhyphenrupKXPCnq5IAAZHViTdszuO5fgFEYfEap-FW2ZasYVSML3RaU3Qj/s1600-h/Sweatshirt.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAoJJe9MVJm2B70-v-hUgsJCIL6WYTSopTjeqm-Vdjx39WLUjwj956G_2xOjHBojHkzaHPEgD8TZVEwoPYrrnaDhyphenhyphenrupKXPCnq5IAAZHViTdszuO5fgFEYfEap-FW2ZasYVSML3RaU3Qj/s200/Sweatshirt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364658562777328930" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />Love you all,<br />TeamWanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-23432569245488156472009-07-20T07:56:00.000-07:002009-07-20T09:29:02.184-07:00Family TimeWe 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYYW3Gjonow3MBs78sw0ZEbFT2i-QrqfYOh-g-3j4rG3VWZyB6oAkOCsOoQbq5p9nrVWezjq9gh-uTjIBxYaukeZ1xz6C2-nWYaPpl85rOS6luL_IkwKgsgDoKnHO4iqvkIlnTPrbSGJ4/s1600-h/P7100502.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYYW3Gjonow3MBs78sw0ZEbFT2i-QrqfYOh-g-3j4rG3VWZyB6oAkOCsOoQbq5p9nrVWezjq9gh-uTjIBxYaukeZ1xz6C2-nWYaPpl85rOS6luL_IkwKgsgDoKnHO4iqvkIlnTPrbSGJ4/s200/P7100502.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360577179437781858" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As for the houses, they are coming along great so far. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhFoMSQznSHn0V_uNV7YmKwxMpCMg3x3iVVnp__l7SClAW0baYRkFbHm3WzUAgjHyAK0mitJHh_T8s6N5jYPsHpZ0bSUuA5qQ0vSkY8I5h_LrHAwnYTJ7RAPwzde3jO6XXM9Q0fDw_RAQm/s1600-h/Small_003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhFoMSQznSHn0V_uNV7YmKwxMpCMg3x3iVVnp__l7SClAW0baYRkFbHm3WzUAgjHyAK0mitJHh_T8s6N5jYPsHpZ0bSUuA5qQ0vSkY8I5h_LrHAwnYTJ7RAPwzde3jO6XXM9Q0fDw_RAQm/s200/Small_003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360575069711927346" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKKqU_LfO75xHc7MmsRAadK0zGbwSPPRxJOiLtRq0xH0djHRcp1BEqJxFQXAqsLX72wpSTkpann8GRWRmFMOo1NxAqgUMsQe3IPm-6mlPRkpu0wcyvpv5vsVgI-t9eG3kX4whBpR20TOLn/s1600-h/P7100493.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKKqU_LfO75xHc7MmsRAadK0zGbwSPPRxJOiLtRq0xH0djHRcp1BEqJxFQXAqsLX72wpSTkpann8GRWRmFMOo1NxAqgUMsQe3IPm-6mlPRkpu0wcyvpv5vsVgI-t9eG3kX4whBpR20TOLn/s200/P7100493.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360575071549782450" border="0" /></a><br />Mixing Cement<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59GBqZ_sCFqiN3pH61KYAwemvskjFiqTX4SuWyKWwqc7Dy8MRLRCxUHWwJlEQHAZeBX_Cvlq0qNW7j2ypDgDig2l8xC8oj1CU0dp3qlrHNacbxTXXVIF-fVEXa8xSK92YwoR7w6Nb25LG/s1600-h/Small_006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh59GBqZ_sCFqiN3pH61KYAwemvskjFiqTX4SuWyKWwqc7Dy8MRLRCxUHWwJlEQHAZeBX_Cvlq0qNW7j2ypDgDig2l8xC8oj1CU0dp3qlrHNacbxTXXVIF-fVEXa8xSK92YwoR7w6Nb25LG/s200/Small_006.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360575078541584770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Happy Birthday to Papa Wander!!!<br /><br />Love,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-87071290809280165862009-06-23T06:12:00.000-07:002009-06-23T07:02:43.658-07:00The South comes to Costa RicaThe past two weeks have been rather exciting (aka super busy) but wonderful. First we had 180 people from Georgia come to Costa Rica for this Leadership Georgia conference. They were staying at the nearby resort listening to speakers ranging from alumni of the program to the President of Costa Rica. They also wanted to volunteer in nearby schools and see how our Habitat projects were coming along. While they were here, Jane and Daniel were also coming to visit, but their original flight got canceled and the trip was pushed back a day. Unfortunately that means their flight arrived at the same time that we were supposed to be taking the Leadership Georgia people around to our worksite and the other Habitat neighborhood.As usual, it all worked out in the end though, the Leadership Georgia people were two hours late arriving for the tour so we had plenty of time to pick up our visitors and drag them around on our tour to the Habitat houses as well. They also got a taste of our weekly English class to the first graders in 27 de Abril. The cutest students ever, but with little understanding of order in a classroom which is typical for many students here. A few games of duck, duck goose managed to get some of their energy out though and at the same time, drain all of ours.<br /><br />Jane and Daniel got the full Costa Rican experience, from monsoons to sunburns, but it was a great trip. We started with a Sabenero show, which is the typical dancing and horseback riding of the Guanacaste region. Afterward there was dinner and drinks on the beach, where we began a proper celebration. Over the weeekend we went hiking at a nearby volcano (Blair, does Rincon de laVieja ring a bell?), whose crater is no longer active, but there are tons of bubbling mud pits, hot water pools, fumaroles, and waterfalls around the mountain. It was a beautiful hike through an amazing forest with the largest leaf-cutter ant mounds that we've ever seen. Th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfxWzg9TvUftmDJpQxkoGZrfE_ohJAIlJXk3sxnZLsinOcme37vqq2JWz9NqQWAyjiAdFigyxOYs0gCFY-vM1lC4KJUFkmwSJsnc6OVH4yWOxHGrc32hGOVNb5Su1ETi_-S96DV8_fQxa/s1600-h/SANY0114.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfxWzg9TvUftmDJpQxkoGZrfE_ohJAIlJXk3sxnZLsinOcme37vqq2JWz9NqQWAyjiAdFigyxOYs0gCFY-vM1lC4KJUFkmwSJsnc6OVH4yWOxHGrc32hGOVNb5Su1ETi_-S96DV8_fQxa/s200/SANY0114.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350522281480201570" border="0" /></a>ose ants were <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOn_z8BDLAlyuesSowzoiOyom9ZbEUjbRHN7DGq4u7EX0tlaVjdIDSvDKbQBkLPJWNCrQSkDbfQOtz63-5aCzRHCwQPA0_kT2LazPENKmQ6aOOdAeun92nlVnR9mh2KBVkxkZiM7m3GYCv/s1600-h/SANY0135.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOn_z8BDLAlyuesSowzoiOyom9ZbEUjbRHN7DGq4u7EX0tlaVjdIDSvDKbQBkLPJWNCrQSkDbfQOtz63-5aCzRHCwQPA0_kT2LazPENKmQ6aOOdAeun92nlVnR9mh2KBVkxkZiM7m3GYCv/s200/SANY0135.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350522283439103170" border="0" /></a>always focused on their task and left people alone, but as we found out the hard way some others do not. We were swimming (well the boys were swimming, and the girls were wading) in this crystal clear, freezing-cold river when we noticed a black army swarming all over our stuff on the rocks. We quickly hopped out to grab our stuff and move it away, but the ants just kept coming and coming and apparently could follow our scent wherever we took our stuff. Yikes! For the more relaxing vacation type of things, we also went sailing/snorkeling, ziplining through the jungle, golfing, laying on the beach, etc. Even better we ate tons of good food, probably topped by our homemade sushi that was swimming just hours before we ate it.<br /><br />During all the fun we were also trying to get the construction crews everything they needed to start building. As always there are last minute fees and complications trying to hinder progress, but we managed to overcome all of them (that we know of). <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TakhcZ7EuRnwcoMtpaxI8CJAFrC4OD5q9UcledfJCygHuW3ocxAz7bMvz0T3BOQPAxnYtVpZmN-0NuUTWVnPDSPajeImQXpPXkxsDnYeMbjaLNaloO7XcPsnngrWLhlIH86qqc2rZWNe/s1600-h/image007.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TakhcZ7EuRnwcoMtpaxI8CJAFrC4OD5q9UcledfJCygHuW3ocxAz7bMvz0T3BOQPAxnYtVpZmN-0NuUTWVnPDSPajeImQXpPXkxsDnYeMbjaLNaloO7XcPsnngrWLhlIH86qqc2rZWNe/s200/image007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350522270445128082" border="0" /></a>The foundations have been dug and you can see the outline of each room of the house. The construction crew is amazing - after 30 minutes of being on the worksite we're tired and drenched in sweat, and they are out there 10 hours a day in the ridiculous heat, digging the foundations, mixing concrete, etc. We can't describe how fantastic it is to finally be building though. Even better, the crew is also working to clear the second lot so we can begin the permit process on that land and hopefully build there as soon as this neighborhood is done.<br /><br />Hope everyone had a great Father's Day weekend. Huge hugs to all you dads out there.<br /><br />Love,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-14720379150875150132009-06-11T14:43:00.000-07:002009-06-11T15:22:08.078-07:00Éxito!A foreigner who has been working in Costa Rica for many years gave us some advice this week. In order to get anything done here, it requires ¨slight but constant pressure.¨ We think that is the best description we’ve heard yet. We’re walking this tightrope between trying to accomplish things in a reasonable amount of time and not bugging people to the point they won’t help us again. We’re slowly learning how to keep this delicate balance and it is paying off....we’re picking up our construction permits TOMORROW!!!! Yes, six months later, we have success. Tomorrow the construction crew will be out there cleaning the lots, marking the houses, and building a shed for the materials. Next week, we’ll have our materials and they can start building.<br /><br />This morning we had to tie up the last loose ends and the process was comical to say the least. We went to the main offices in Santa Cruz because they were missing one piece of paper to approve the permits. A quick description, this building is divided into little windows, almost like bank tellers, where you can apply for all types of permits, pay taxes, declare land, etc. The final papers we needed for the permits were all in this one building, mere feet from each other. Apparently, plastic dividers are enough to cease all (work-related) conversations between these offices so we had to run between each one to obtain the last requirement. The person at the permit window told us to go to the next window to get a stamp on another piece of paper so she could give us what we needed. Well, the lady at the second window asked us to go to a third window for yet another sheet of paper. The third lady needed us to go upstairs to pick up another piece of paper so she could give us the other paper to take to the second window to get another paper to take to the first window and so on. Absolutely ridiculous. It’s no wonder people get so confused here, keeping up with so many pieces of paper for the same thing. While waiting at each window, we amused ourselves by people watching. A personal favorite, the man who walked in carrying a pigeon on a leash and each time he needed to talk to someone he would step on the leash and the bird would try to pull free. Pigeons? As pets? In government buildings? Like we said, extremely amusing.<br /><br />All that matters now though is that we’ve made it through our first set of permits and learned a lot in navigating the Costa Rican legal system. Hopefully the subsequent permits will be quicker and easier now that we know where to get each of the requirements (and the five requirements needed for each of those). Two more visitors were supposed to fly in today, but their flight was cancelled, so well have more fun stories to tell next week of our adventures with them.<br /><br />Huge hugs,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-10801182424485726672009-06-02T08:51:00.001-07:002009-06-02T09:04:05.349-07:00El Hermano y la Llanta<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4PFlxbopRfw-LdNiUlcmxCKAgICQYclG7ayfIHVKFJ9A6MC5k-qnARTCQWrnrrx6kluxdL_7a-yfexknW8CmYeFgeNg3JBKVzdhHqwTcX5oKu4mXbVovODVc1UrZfsoV-3ITv5UykYSJ/s1600-h/IMGP1802.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4PFlxbopRfw-LdNiUlcmxCKAgICQYclG7ayfIHVKFJ9A6MC5k-qnARTCQWrnrrx6kluxdL_7a-yfexknW8CmYeFgeNg3JBKVzdhHqwTcX5oKu4mXbVovODVc1UrZfsoV-3ITv5UykYSJ/s200/IMGP1802.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342760963430659234" border="0" /></a>The first day of Eric and Trevor´s visit to Costa Rica, started out innocently enough. A day at the beach, cooking a great dinner, etc. Then, rumor spread of a Bingo night at a nearby bar that was a fundraiser for the beach clean-up crew. Always willing to do our part to help, we quickly rushed over to Bingo night and threw our money down for a lucky card. There were 9 prizes to be won that night, and somehow our group managed to win five of them. It was absolutely ridiculous and more than one of the more experienced Bingo players was ready to take us out at the knees. We ended the night with two sailing trips, dinner for two, a month membership at the tennis club, a 30 minute massage, and two whole pies from Nogui´s. Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us to add all this fun into an already fun-packed week, but we somehow managed.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEVvC7S9NYmHi6ABAZrAUYlCfTya0Ao2icxtRVCQiBKifJXFz_zWffGlANJbie4QIhmjwyL1sluimU3qrXWfIV-lJJenli6e5FLu6xxehQylWG6MV2orG4dwEY0WJ40hoFEhoVifUe2LC/s1600-h/IMG_8508.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEVvC7S9NYmHi6ABAZrAUYlCfTya0Ao2icxtRVCQiBKifJXFz_zWffGlANJbie4QIhmjwyL1sluimU3qrXWfIV-lJJenli6e5FLu6xxehQylWG6MV2orG4dwEY0WJ40hoFEhoVifUe2LC/s200/IMG_8508.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342760689063734946" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQTinC4XgkX0E3B8SEtBHXoFzkevSNeEPYErc52TI5ejx2lgg_-33mvkwCuZorzK_UThOi-AuHtJOHQQJhPTTWeeh4Bf_iuaq-zGUX0U2uTgp_tYBSsJxMRi7v7bHp7KqvREDSZTJskZP/s1600-h/IMG_8535.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQTinC4XgkX0E3B8SEtBHXoFzkevSNeEPYErc52TI5ejx2lgg_-33mvkwCuZorzK_UThOi-AuHtJOHQQJhPTTWeeh4Bf_iuaq-zGUX0U2uTgp_tYBSsJxMRi7v7bHp7KqvREDSZTJskZP/s200/IMG_8535.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342760961543475442" border="0" /></a>The rest of the week included golfing, a trip to a nearby village that specializes in traditional pottery making, lots of game playing, and of course great food. Our boat trip was rained out the first day, but we came back the following day to perfect blue skies and more coconut daiquiris than anyone should ever drink. While snorkeling we once again found a blowfish (this time an extremely spiky one that we couldn´t hold on to), starfish, eels, and lots of fish. The sunset was beautiful and after dinner, we stayed on the beach for hours.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTyQBF29cYo0F-7cCpBCt9Se_aW9p9VVCdjj3fn1dOMu40CUTsYfqW6TPf6_GivYf51OXneDyayO-cPvHFiwka5o6l3mLULnmtpzKBnSuikFgLZNkkT0vsKvTcwZFAthuYOtCiDVeyek2T/s1600-h/IMGP1746.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 136px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTyQBF29cYo0F-7cCpBCt9Se_aW9p9VVCdjj3fn1dOMu40CUTsYfqW6TPf6_GivYf51OXneDyayO-cPvHFiwka5o6l3mLULnmtpzKBnSuikFgLZNkkT0vsKvTcwZFAthuYOtCiDVeyek2T/s200/IMGP1746.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342760962326028402" border="0" /></a>For the weekend, we decided to head to Tenorio Volcano National Park. We had heard great things about Rio Celeste, a river in the park that is a spectacular blue color due to the volcanic minerals. The only problem is no one could tell us how to get there besides look for the dirt road near Bijagua. The drive started out easy enough, but soon the car started shaking violently. We made it to the next gas station only to find 3 large holes in our tire where you could see the metal weave of the tire breaking. They didn´t have any tires that were the right size so they sent us to the next tire place down the road. We stopped at three or four more places who all said they didn´t have any tires to fit, but by this time we were being told that if we kept driving on the tire we were going to die. Problem was, our spare tire also had a few holes (in true Costa Rica style, it was patched again and again without ever being replaced) and was almost entirely deflated. At the sixth stop, we refused to go any farther and said they had to help us figure out something. He blew up the spare tire as much as he could and said we could make it about 5 miles and hope for the best at the next shop. Thankfully, we were lucky at the next stop and he had a new tire to sell us, although the spare is still deflated in the back.<br /><br />We made it to the tiny town of Bijagua and drove around forever looking for a place to stay. Unfortunately, our little low-riding Hyundai hatchback was no match for the dirt roads full of potholes and boulders. When we finally found a place to stay, they informed us that there was no way our car could make it the 11km to the National Park entrance. As always, he knew a guy who knew a guy who could give us a ride the next day. The trip out there was exciting to say the least, and our driver stopped along the way for us to try water apples. They are a bell-shaped fruit that have the texture of a pear, but taste like a flower (have you ever tried that fruit, Jessica?). We were greeted at the park office by an entire wall of jars full of the dangerous species of snakes, lizards, scorpions, and bugs that you might encounter in the park. We signed in and began our hike into a Jurassic Park like jungle, surrounded only by the sounds of the bugs, and a heavy mist that had settled in the trees. The first view of the river was at a spectacular waterfall ending in a bright turquoise pool, unlike anything we had seen before. There were no people anywhere and we felt as if we had discovered our own private paradise. We continued our hike, finding the point where the two rivers meet and the water turns blue, and ending up at a set of hot springs. Careful placement of rocks had made a perfect pool that allowed enough cold river water in to mix with the hot springs to make a great place to sit. We stayed there for awhile and had a picnic lunch before hiking back.<br /><br />A great week overall and now back to the office to finish the quest for our construction permits. Looks like we can have them by the end of the week and if the construction crew is ready, begin the houses next week! Very exciting news for us. We hope all is well in the US and we miss you all!<br /><br />Hugs,<br />Team WanderTeam Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-710994669206270515.post-19703519234505606092009-05-13T14:00:00.001-07:002009-05-13T14:02:34.596-07:00Las mamás (don't forget the accent)We finally had our first visitors in Costa Rica. Both our moms and Hank came the last week of April and were able to stay in this beautiful house on the beach in the nearby resort. Even better, the house had a chef that we are now teaching English to, so we got to eat lots of great food while they were here. They were fantastic and each brought down an extra suitcase of stuff we had forgotten in the US or couldn't find here so now we're set here.<br /><br />The first few days we just showed them around our life here in Costa Rica, our job, our old house/town, our friends, etc. We gave them a true Tico experience by taking them to the festival in 27 de Abril with bullriding, greasy food, and plenty of crazy drunks to top things off. Needless to say, they were happy we had moved to a new town.<br /><br />We all took a horseback tour through Hacienda Pinilla – through the fields, up a mountain to have a great view of the ocean, through the mangroves, and finally emerging on the beach. The next day we split up, Miah and his mom taking a canopy tour through the jungle and the others going on a snorkeling/sailing trip. The canopy tour was quite a new adventure for mama wander, and though she didn't go racing through the trees hanging upside down from the cable (like Miah did), she seemed to have a fantastic time.<br /><br />The sailing trip was a blast. It was a huge boat that our friend is the captain of and it's all you can eat/drink. It can hold about 75 people, but there were only nine of us that day so we had the boat practically to ourselves. Halfway through the tour we all went snorkeling and the guide was able to catch a blowfish. We got to hold it as well, which felt like a giant soft water balloon. We finished the trip at sunset at a new beach to the north and were shuttled back to Tamarindo to end the evening.<br /><br />We also took everyone to our favorite restaurant here, a little thatched-roof fishing shack called Pedro's. They go fishing everyday and serve whatever they catch. The restaurant doesn't even bother serving drinks – you have to walk to the bar next door to order what you need. It is the best fish and shrimp you can find in Tamarindo eat though.Team Wanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11295397650068943765noreply@blogger.com2