At the Foot of a Volcano in Costa Rica

Hello Hello to our Friends and Family, we are sorry for the long absence, but we have been well and full of activity, sort of.

So as of now, we sit in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, at the foot of the Arenal Volcano. Shes an active one, sputtering a bit of lava daily since 1968, so we are excited to be in her path. We just got in to Costa Rica 2 days ago, and so we spent some time up around LIberia, where a large festival was in full operation. People were everywhere, and last night we joined them at the bull ring for some chaotic bull riding. The men would bust out of the shoot riding the bull and there were hundreds of people in the ring. after the guy bailed from the bull, it was time for the bull to chase the masses around and try to get his horns into them. This made for spectacular viewing, and of course we cheered for the bull. We arrived here in the middle part of Costa Rica today, driving around Lake Arenal to get to the volcano. What a beautiful road it was, with a large market for property consumption, a very popular American destination you see. But enough about the place we have only just arrived in, how bout the journey getting here ay.

We last left off in Chetumal, heading into Belice. What a thrill it was to be heading into a place where reggae is not only a musical favorite, but a way of life. We spent our first night in Belice City, and met a new friend named Harry Beeks, a Bob Marley loving rastafarian. He spent the next few days traveling with us, showing us around his small country. We all wound up at the YWAM base in Belmopan, where we visited Santi and Liliana, some friends of Garrett´s family and the directors of the camp there. We spent the day with them, poured some concrete with them, and learned to make tortillas. We then headed to Spanish lookout to be with Harvey Pletts and his family, members of the menonite community and also friends of Garrett´s. They were awesome. We wanted to go to a cave, and so we, and quite a few others piled into their truck and all went. We enjoyed our few days with them as they showed us around and treated us to good home cooking and many stories. Wonderful.

So soon to leave, but with a long road ahead, we made our way through the border into Guatemala. We had been nervously anticipating this place, as all the reports say it is dangerous and to make your way through quickly. But shorlty after arriving, we ran into beautiful terrain. The jungle soon surrounded us, and the people seemed almost welcoming, not dreadful at all. So we ended up for a few days in Rio Dulce, a port town of a few retired sailors from the states and some friendly locals. We met a man from Massachusets who owned a lil pizza parlor there, and would ya believe it, he had the best apple pie you ever ate, mm mmm good.

So after a few days here, and deciding this would definately be a place we needed to return to, we set out on a driving frenzy. We went south to El Salvador and ended up somewhere outside of San Salvador in a small market town. We pulled in late, and there was not a hotel to be found. Finally we found a bicycle cop and he was willing to lead us to one of our old standbys, the autohotel. We began following him through town and before long another cop joined him and we weaved through some sketchy areas and began getting a bit nervous. We werent sure if he was leading us to jail, to a place to rob us, or by God´s grace, to a hotel. We finally arrived at the latter of the three, our hotel, and became ashamed at our mistrust, but hey, ya never now. So the next day we made our way up into the mountains to a small artistic community by the name of Alegria, where a lagoon in side an old volcano was said to hold mystic healing powers. Who wouldnt wanna swim in that, can ya tell me. We hiked up the trail to the lake, and the lone Carder took a dip, and came out healed, from, ummm, somethingi guess, but definately healed. On the walk back to town a little old lady remorsed with Carder about the days of her youth, and visiting the lagoon, and its work in restoring her beauty, and ohh how happy she was that we had visited it, cute.

So this sums up our time in El Salvador, now for the borders of Honduras, ohh what despair comes with crossing here. We arrived at the first border between El Salvador and HOnduras and 3 guys come running at the vehicle. Why the heck are they running at us and what are we gonna have to do to get outta this one we thought. This would soon be our helper, an agent if you will, who reduced our crossing time from the said 6 hours, to a mere 2 hour jaunt. Garrett and Jason went with him to the office to get our permits, then to the next, and the next and on and on and on it went untill many offices later, a bunch of copies and $150.00 in fees we were on our way through Honduras. A mere mile inside the country and we were asked to pull over and told we didnt pay the toll for the road.

¨There is no toll¨we said.

¨Oh yes there is, and if you like you can pay it here, or return to the border and do it there¨

¨Ok, we will return and pay the $20.00 there, and you can come with us.¨

This dint please them and they reduced the fee to $10.00 and we were on our way, feeling good at negotiating our first bribe, the first of many more, which i will add, we havent payed a bribe since. We have become quite keen on the methods employed in extorting money, and we will have no part in this dirty practice.

So the next border was no better. Honduras to Nicaragua, a negotiator, $100.00 more dollars, and we were in, on our way to Leon. We spent the evening and a bit of the next day relaxing and enjoying the the modern art gallery (including some Picassos and some very innteresting metal works) in this mid sized town. We then headed for the beach, Ponelayas to be exact, and the three of us rolled around in the waves and enjoyed some more relaxation. Matter of fact, the next week or so would probably be defined by this one word, relaxation.

After spending the night at the YWAM base in Diriamba, Nicaragua, we embraced the arrival of a fourth companion for the trip, Amber Dunnavant, a friend whom Jason met in China. She is accompanied by her guitar, Martin, which makes for some nice music in the evenings. We four spent a day or two in Granada, where we visited a huge volcano by the name of Mombacho. An awe inspiring thing occurred atop this beast, she moaned, like the sound of thunder groaning from below is. It definately caused an irregular palpatation of the heart.

So finally we arrive at last week, where we spent its entirety on Lttle Corn Island, a friendly little place of just under a thousand people. This place is near my heart, as all of us were touched in some way by the life, or the people of this island. The pace is very slow, the main goal being, once again, relaxation. Everyone has a friendly side, and once you see them a few times, which you indefinatley will, small conversations and smiles galore abound. We hadnt planned on staying here for a week, but we decided to get scuba certified (which if you are gonna, this is an excellent place to do so, full of coral reef dive sites, sting rays, sharks, and beautiful fish) and the process lasted about a week. Unfortunately Garrett had to stop short of finsishing the course due to a ruptured ear drum, a painful occurrence he could have done without. Our instructor was an interesting gal from French Canada named Maly- a very enthusiastic girl, searching for answers about life, about our age, who loved traveling and loved being under the water, very fun to be around and definataely close to our hearts.

We feel very priveleged to have gotten to dive here and i must say that i have never seen anything more breath taking than the flight of an Eagle Ray (stingray). The creature looked to be about the size of one of us and protruding from its sides were two long wings, that gently floated up and down as it glided through the water, as if in flight up in the sky. This was amazing, absolutamente beautiful. I have much respect and admiration for this creature, and i must say it was a little intense being around them, due to the loss of our dear friend Steve Irwin, may he rest in peace. I just cant say enough about this magnificent creature.

We ended our time here with a little more color on our skin, scuba certified, relaxed and hearts ablaze for the community of Little Corn Island. A flight back to Managua, a cab ride and bus trip to Diriamba to get the car and we were off, on our way to Costa Rica. The border crossing was relaxed and fairly void of hassle and that brings us to the current.

Thank you all for your prayer, your love, and your thoughts always. We love you all and look forward to hearing from you. Untill next time, Buen Viaje in this voyage of life.