Costa Rica is a very beautiful place with lots of mountains and rugged terrain. The plants and trees are beautiful and don't look like anything we have back home. Here is an example of a flower. The beaches here have black sand. When the water is over the sand and the sun shines on the sand it looks like thousands of gold flecks are in the sand.
The people here are very friendly and the country is relatively safe. Costa Rica relies on tourism from America and this has caused them not to tolerate the kind of drug wars that go on in Mexico. With this said you still really see how blessed we are in America. They still have barbed wire around most houses and lots of security guards in neighborhoods. Also the streets and buildings can be run down some and dirty. Many of the things that would bother us in America like haphazard buildings and streets and mismatched paint jobs just don't bother anyone. The food and water is also safe to drink in most of the larger cities. I could see myself enjoying serving a mission here one day (although my lack of Spanish is a major problem as I will note below).
We are staying in a small little house in Jaco, Costa Rica. it is a few minutes from the beach. It is small but the yard is full of the most beautiful vegetation like the flower. We also have banana trees, coconut trees, and a mango tree.
We have a family of iguanas in the back yard. I spent some time trying to catch the father but he just was too fast and didn't seem to want to meet me nearly as much as I wanted to meet him.
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We eat at little outdoor places called Sodas. These have plates of beans and rice and fish for about 6 dollars. We had a late lunch and when dinner came around Dr. Clark and his friend they were still full and asked Luke and I if we just wanted to skip dinner. You should of seen the look on Luke's face. He said, "Well I am kind of hungry" After dinner David looked at me when Luke got up and said, "That boy can mow some food down!" Skipping dinner no matter how late lunch was is never on Luke's agenda.
After dinner we went to get groceries. That is no easy task. All the labels are in Spanish and none of the brands are the same. I almost bought dish soap to wash my clothes instead of laundry soap. I was going crazy because I could not find any instant oatmeal. I found a pouch of stuff on the cereal row but Luke confirmed it was not oatmeal. I had several other blunders. I saw Tony the Tiger on a box of cereal and grabbed it as the only recognizable food in the store. They call them Zucaritas or something.
I also got all mixed up at the airport. I was trying to find Luke and ended up somewhere I was not supposed to be apparently. Someone came running speaking Spanish very quickly and seemed a little upset. I pointed forward the way I wanted to go and she pointed backward and frowned. That was universal language for "wrong way buddy" I was amazed that I could not understand even one word.
Today is Sunday and Luke and I just kind of rest, read scriptures, and talk. there is a church only 45 miles from here but apparently you have to take quite a bus ride to get their and it takes like 2 hours. Luke said getting on a random bus in Central America and then walking around an unknown city trying to find the church is not to good an idea. Again, I am used to America where 45 miles is nothing but here it is a big deal, especially since streets signs seem to be the exception rather than the norm. I don't know how missionaries do it in places way more dangerous than this!
We basically surf in the early mornings and then Luke and I strategize about the business after lunch. Luke and I are reading a book called Good to Great and it is helping me make better business decisions I think. After this we may try to surf in the afternoon if the wind cooperates. The morning is the best. We are often up at 4 am to get to the waves at first light. The surf can be very intense here and it is a major work out leaving you exhausted by the end of the day.
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I love these lizards. I wish I could put one in my carry on. Monday was very fun. I have some scenery shots. We woke up at 3:15 in the morning and drive an hour to a surf spot called Boca Barranca. It is a special break called a point break. The wave breaks from a headland rock across a river mouth and into a bay. It is the second longest left hand wave in the world. One of the good things about the wave it is soft and not terribly powerful. The waves were huge, 6-9 feet and about double over head while ridding it. Even at this height it was manageable. There is another beach here called Hermosa beach and a waves half that size is much scarier. The surf in this location has been to large for anyone. I snapped couple picks of that wave but the picture does not do it justice. The waves looks like an explosion went off when it crashes.
At Boca Barranca you can sit further away from where the starts breaking and get a little smaller wave (still bigger waves than I have ever seen). The way the waves break if a big wave is coming you can paddle away from the waves easily. So it is a long long long long paddle but you avoid getting a lot of waves crashed on you. Waves here can break 800 meters. They were doing this Monday. It was really something to see. you have to either paddle out in the river or walk down to the pay and paddle the long way in. There is one minor downside to this wave and that is there are a good bit of crocodiles in the river. They typically get washed down and sometimes even in the surf when it rains. It has not rained in a while so luckily there were no crocodiles. The waves were to big to paddle out the river yesterday so we had to paddle the long way. it is literally a half mile paddle to the peak of the breaking waves. After you catch a wave for 500 yards you have to paddle all the way back! I think I paddled perhaps 2 miles yesterday. My arms and Luke's are super sore even with all the exercise we both did.I stayed off the main peak where it was a little smaller. I caught an incredible couple waves.
Countryside
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rugged coastline
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Sunset over Jaco beach. This beach was fun to surf on with smaller waves.
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This is Bocca Barranca. This is Cundido. He lives right next to this wave in the house you see behind us. Everyone pays him 3 dollars to park in his gated area and he watches the cars so nothing gets stolen. You can also use his outside shower to rinse the sand off. He is a real nice guy. He tells us when the waves will be good and when they won't. He also tells us if the crocodiles are in the river. He is like a weather wizard. He knows his wave better than everyone else. He is so friendly and helps everyone.
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This shot I pulled from the internet so you could see the wave at boca barranca. The river you see is the crocodile one. the wave wraps around the point you see. If you don't paddle out the river you have to walk all the way down the beach and paddle straight out and then over the area in front of the river.
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This is another picture I pulled from the internet to show you the wave. It was bigger than this when we surfed. The wave just never crashes. It just keeps peeling around the point you see above all the way into a bay where it finally breaks. the bottom has smooth rocks so that is a little bit of a pain too. You don't want to touch the bottom. The wave breaks in deep water so it is not much of an issue except on the way out the first few steps.
Luke and I had some great times as brothers the last few days surfing together. We had perfect surf the last 2 days that was just pure fun. We both caught a wave together and rode at least 100 yards with Luke whooping. Then he fell and I kept going. I actually dropped in on him which is a surfing no no but he forgave me. He probably would not have fallen because he had to ride close to the white water while I was on the face. I surfed at least another 200 yards. Our arms and back are burning. The waves are so long you just have massive paddles back to the waves. We saw a bunch of crocs today in a river (not the one we surf thank goodness). Luke took these pics from a very safe vantage point I promise.
