Costa Rica

Here are a few pictures from my man's latest work adventure. While the pics are beautiful, there aren't many since he was working 15 hour days for 11 of those days. He did get to see the temple since it was just down the street, and he took some pics of the spectacular hotel that was difficult to enjoy alone.

This last one was a walk down the street looking into someone's yard. There were some expansive properties in this area with varying degrees of home size and age.

Costa Rica is a beautiful country with very friendly people, stable government ("No army since 1948!" the locals proudly proclaim), and a fairly good economy. It was not built on slave labor in the colonial period, so the populace is much more equal than other Latin American countries. The people there are very big into eco-tourism, with 25% of the country as national parks. We're sure we weren't getting the full story from the unhappy citizens who weren't spouting the party line, but it did seem beautiful from the pictures and Darren says the country is very nice compared to other ones he's visited.

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Darren here. I have to add to this post an interesting occurance from the trip. One day as I exited the warehouse I choked over one of the most horrible smells I'd ever smelled. I asked what it was and my host casually mentioned that it's a slaughterhouse on the other side of the industrial park and when the wind blows from that direction occasionally we get the smell. Then he told me to cheer up because "on the other side of our factory is a Jelly Belly factory, so we get to smell popcorn or fruit just as often." (Quote possibly paraphrased or mistranslated!)

A family project

This project began with an idea from an ingenious guy

who then carried it out with a few supplies, powerful tools, ....playful kids,

excited helpers,
and learners,
to become our own little rotation system for some food!

Dressing up

For Halloween, someone decided this would be a cute costume--maybe he's a pumpkin? We had a fairy fashioned straight from ideas in her head and favorite dress-up items (it worked well enough)

We had a youthful Obi Wan jedi in our midst (such interesting boots and light saber)Super Why arrived with his power to read (certain books, at least) And this clown had a difficult time not eating his nose (once we let go of his hands, he grabbed the nose again) This unusual couple claimed to be Malysian artifacts (someday they will embarrass their kids)

We all had fun with a few festivities, and we love our friendly neighborhood and the great weather to walk around and spend time with friends.