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A real entry
Jan. 29th, 2005 12:44 amOk, time for a real post on what's up in my life and how being in Costa Rica impacted me.
From the time that we got there, I could feel God speaking to me. I couldn't help but notice the poorer areas that we drove through on the way to our hotel, and I couldn't help but think what the Ticos must think of us as "rich Americans". Did they resent us for being in their country? Or were they thankful for the income from tourism? For the first time I suddenly realized a little of what Kenya must have been like. And from day one I wished that I were there in a missions capacity and not as a tourist. I want to go back there one day as a missionary. (And as a side note - I want to go to the Tsunami area . . . anyone know how to kind out if there are missions trips going there?) Um . . anyways - Costa Rica. It amazed me to see huge gated houses right beside the slum area. It was such a contrast and you could quickly see that there was a huge difference between rich and poor in the country.
We spent a couple of days in San Jose getting used to the country and getting to know one another and then we were off to Tourtuguero. This place was amazing. It was this little resort right by the rainforest. Everywhere you looked it was green and beautiful. The water was close by, and everything there was great. The only part I hated was flying into airstrip there - I didn't think it was possible to feel so sick! Me and little planes . . . BAD IDEA! But the beauty of the place was worth it! One night we had a reading where we had to write a piece about water that was exactly 100 words. Very challenging - I ended up with a very interesting poem though. It was about the ocean being compared to a relationship, and by the end the ocean is set free. Writing it, I realized that sometime while in Tourtugaro, I had finally given up the heartache that I've been carrying around for months. I stopped feeling sorry for myself, and I stopped feeling that I still was "in love" with something that wasn't there. Finally things made sense to me, and I was freed from so much pain and sorrow that I had allowed to dewll in my heart for months.
Our next stop - Savegre. A cloud forest. We walked down the mountain of death our second day there. This is also the place where we went horseback riding and caught fish that the cook made for lunch! It was a lot of fun. I could have gotten used to life there. There wasn't an ocean nearby or anything - but it was beautiful none the less. It was here that we lost Sue to homesickness. She stuck it out to that point, but she really wanted to be back in the U.S. with her kids and husband. So she didn't go on with us from here.
Our forth stop - Corcovado. This was my favorite place when it came to natural beauty - but I really wished that we had our rooms from either Tortuguero or Savegre while we were here instead of tents on platforms. And I would have . . . have . . . I don't know - something, for a warm shower. I was miserable everytime I went to take a shower because there was no hot water. It was just a miserable experience for me. I was on with walking to the bathrooms and showers, but hot water was greatly missed. After day 2 there (we were there for 4 days) I refused to actually "shower" anymore and instead would only go in long enough to wash the sand off of myself. There's also one night that I was there that I would rather forget . . . let's just say that I had a night where I told God that if I survived the ordeal, I would never get drunk again . . . I was not a happy camper. Then the next day I got beat up with a boogie bored! Now that the swelling is our of my nose and it looks like it's healed, I can touch it, and I don't think that it's all where it used to be . . . there is definlently some cartledge out of place. But besides the physical issues that I was having - this was also the place where I got closer to God again. I think that prayer the one night has something to do with it. Besides that night - it was impossible for not to see how God was working in the nature there. We woke up facing the Pacific Ocean with is always beautiful. And I got to see the sunrise over the Pacific! While listening to Relient K's some about that (i.e. "I watched the proverbial sunrise, coming up over the Pacific, you might think I'm losing my mind, if I should shy away from the specifics, etc") I think that song really spoke to me at that moment in that place because it explains how I've been living for a while now. It was in Corcovado that I hit rock bottom and came back up. I can sit here and say that I regret how much I drank that one night - but that would be a semi-lie. I wish I hadn't done it - but I feel like that night impacted me more then anything else there could have. It made me see who I could become, and it made me realize that I don't want that life.
Finally - it was time to head back to San Jose where we would have a free afternoon, a night in a real hotel with hot water, and then a trip to the airport at 4am. That afternoon, after surviving a horrible flight in a 5 seater airplane, we went to a new mall that had just opened and played around there for a while. I shopped at Aeropostle . . . why when we have them in the U.S. you ask? Because I could! And I got a really pretty bracelet at a jewelery store . . . it was really the first time that I had done souvenier shopping because I didn't want typical cheesey souveniers. We went back to the hotel for a final dinner with our tour guide, and then it was off to bed. The plane ride the next morning was rather uneventful, and we arrived safe and sound in a snow covered Pittsburgh.
Since then . . . not much has happened. I've considered moving to Pittsburgh. I've even considered moving back to Clarion and finishing up my English degree there (is that an insane idea or not? I can't decide.) Right now I'm sort of just "chillin" and trying to figure out what God wants me to do. I'm still not as close to Him as I should be, but I'm better then I was before I left.
From the time that we got there, I could feel God speaking to me. I couldn't help but notice the poorer areas that we drove through on the way to our hotel, and I couldn't help but think what the Ticos must think of us as "rich Americans". Did they resent us for being in their country? Or were they thankful for the income from tourism? For the first time I suddenly realized a little of what Kenya must have been like. And from day one I wished that I were there in a missions capacity and not as a tourist. I want to go back there one day as a missionary. (And as a side note - I want to go to the Tsunami area . . . anyone know how to kind out if there are missions trips going there?) Um . . anyways - Costa Rica. It amazed me to see huge gated houses right beside the slum area. It was such a contrast and you could quickly see that there was a huge difference between rich and poor in the country.
We spent a couple of days in San Jose getting used to the country and getting to know one another and then we were off to Tourtuguero. This place was amazing. It was this little resort right by the rainforest. Everywhere you looked it was green and beautiful. The water was close by, and everything there was great. The only part I hated was flying into airstrip there - I didn't think it was possible to feel so sick! Me and little planes . . . BAD IDEA! But the beauty of the place was worth it! One night we had a reading where we had to write a piece about water that was exactly 100 words. Very challenging - I ended up with a very interesting poem though. It was about the ocean being compared to a relationship, and by the end the ocean is set free. Writing it, I realized that sometime while in Tourtugaro, I had finally given up the heartache that I've been carrying around for months. I stopped feeling sorry for myself, and I stopped feeling that I still was "in love" with something that wasn't there. Finally things made sense to me, and I was freed from so much pain and sorrow that I had allowed to dewll in my heart for months.
Our next stop - Savegre. A cloud forest. We walked down the mountain of death our second day there. This is also the place where we went horseback riding and caught fish that the cook made for lunch! It was a lot of fun. I could have gotten used to life there. There wasn't an ocean nearby or anything - but it was beautiful none the less. It was here that we lost Sue to homesickness. She stuck it out to that point, but she really wanted to be back in the U.S. with her kids and husband. So she didn't go on with us from here.
Our forth stop - Corcovado. This was my favorite place when it came to natural beauty - but I really wished that we had our rooms from either Tortuguero or Savegre while we were here instead of tents on platforms. And I would have . . . have . . . I don't know - something, for a warm shower. I was miserable everytime I went to take a shower because there was no hot water. It was just a miserable experience for me. I was on with walking to the bathrooms and showers, but hot water was greatly missed. After day 2 there (we were there for 4 days) I refused to actually "shower" anymore and instead would only go in long enough to wash the sand off of myself. There's also one night that I was there that I would rather forget . . . let's just say that I had a night where I told God that if I survived the ordeal, I would never get drunk again . . . I was not a happy camper. Then the next day I got beat up with a boogie bored! Now that the swelling is our of my nose and it looks like it's healed, I can touch it, and I don't think that it's all where it used to be . . . there is definlently some cartledge out of place. But besides the physical issues that I was having - this was also the place where I got closer to God again. I think that prayer the one night has something to do with it. Besides that night - it was impossible for not to see how God was working in the nature there. We woke up facing the Pacific Ocean with is always beautiful. And I got to see the sunrise over the Pacific! While listening to Relient K's some about that (i.e. "I watched the proverbial sunrise, coming up over the Pacific, you might think I'm losing my mind, if I should shy away from the specifics, etc") I think that song really spoke to me at that moment in that place because it explains how I've been living for a while now. It was in Corcovado that I hit rock bottom and came back up. I can sit here and say that I regret how much I drank that one night - but that would be a semi-lie. I wish I hadn't done it - but I feel like that night impacted me more then anything else there could have. It made me see who I could become, and it made me realize that I don't want that life.
Finally - it was time to head back to San Jose where we would have a free afternoon, a night in a real hotel with hot water, and then a trip to the airport at 4am. That afternoon, after surviving a horrible flight in a 5 seater airplane, we went to a new mall that had just opened and played around there for a while. I shopped at Aeropostle . . . why when we have them in the U.S. you ask? Because I could! And I got a really pretty bracelet at a jewelery store . . . it was really the first time that I had done souvenier shopping because I didn't want typical cheesey souveniers. We went back to the hotel for a final dinner with our tour guide, and then it was off to bed. The plane ride the next morning was rather uneventful, and we arrived safe and sound in a snow covered Pittsburgh.
Since then . . . not much has happened. I've considered moving to Pittsburgh. I've even considered moving back to Clarion and finishing up my English degree there (is that an insane idea or not? I can't decide.) Right now I'm sort of just "chillin" and trying to figure out what God wants me to do. I'm still not as close to Him as I should be, but I'm better then I was before I left.
