Costa Rica

[Punta Leona]

My second trip to Costa Rica was much different than my first 2 years earlier. I was with the rest of the group and one of us if from Costa Rica. That immediately gives you the upper hand as far as activities and places to go. We spent the first part of the month in San Jose, taking classes on Latin America attempting to discover the worldview and thought processes of where we were staying. It was a bit of culture shock just coming from Spain and Morocco, but beautiful none-the-less. One of my favorite things on the trip is seeing the differences and similarities between cultures. It is a constant reminder that we are all human and we are all in this life together.
We had an opportunity to go to the beach for a weekend with Carla's family. After so much traveling and running around with busy schedules, it was relaxing to just sit and take in the beauty that Costa Rica has to offer.

Deni and I had the opportunity to go to a small ministry called Casa Luz. It's meaning in Spanish is House of Light and it was started a few years back by a Canadian couple in response to the vast need of protection for abused women. The women who are in the program either have children or are pregnant. The home offers protection, a day care program, a place for the ladies and their children to stay, and trained home-mothers for them to talk to and relate with. Casa Luz has a lot to offer Costa Rica since domestic abuse and forms of rape are prevalent among the different poorer communities. They are in the process of building even more apartments for the women, a better day care center, and a playground for the children to play freely. It was a relief to be there; there was a huge sadness, but also a response birthed in Hope.



During the outreach portion of our time in Costa Rica, I had wanted to go down to Peru, then Panama, then Cuba... but plan after plan fell through because of financial reasons; but looking back, God's plan was better. A few of us traveled by car to the south of Costa Rica to help out with a project for the Guyami people. They are a people who were originally nomads from the northern Panama area but have now sought permanent residency in Costa Rica. Panama and Costa Rica differ tremendously due to economic and social variables. For example, Costa Rica doesn't have an army, so the government money can be allotted instead to health care and education. Because of these reasons, the indigenous people stayed and have access to the benefits just as any other Costa Rican citizen.



The government gives free education to all children in Costa Rica including the Guyami. But the children usually come from poor families who can't cover the extra expenses like uniforms, extra books, and Christmas presents. A grass-roots organization in San Jose, the capital, have started a link between some of the private schools in San Jose and the indigenous people. Before Christmas, an angel tree is put up in the private schools with the pictures of each of the Guyami students and the private schoolers will buy a gift for one of the students in the indigenous villages. The small group of us that went down to the Guyami did so in order to get the pictures of the students who would be getting Christmas presents from San Jose this year. Usually it is a little bit difficult to come into a place with your camera poised and ready to capture images, but when that is the stated point to why you are there, it becomes much easier in a small amount of time. What takes weeks takes just moments. It was a blessing to simply be with the children, smiling with them, stuttering what little Spanish I know, and being the object of teasing and laughing. It doesn't get much better than that and I would love to go back someday to see them.

[An assortment of images from the Guyami people in Southern Costa Rica]

Its no wonder that Costa Rica is the top eco-tourism spot for North Americans. There is so much to see, so many trails to hike, and a lot of rice and beans to eat. There is everything from dense jungles complete with spiders, purple-heart wood, and spider monkeys to high elevation volcanoes. Even a month is not enough to spend there and see even a fraction of the beauty that Costa Rica contains.

[Some of the amazing nature of Costa Rica]

That is all for this time. I appologize that the posting is coming so late. The post-Costa Rica schedule was quite hectic and crazy.
Blessings in Christ
John Paul