Costa Rica! - Barva, Heredia and San José

This weekend we went for a quick trip with long bus rides to visit the good leaders from the Evangelical Mennonite Convention of Costa Rica. In short: Friday (Oct 30) was a long bus ride and then eventually arriving at the church's offices in Barva, Heredia; Saturday was a day of meetings and IVEP/YAMEN interviews; Sunday was a church visit and exploring downtown San José; Monday was the long bus ride back to Managua.  I realize I don't have the best pictures to document the trip, but here are some bits and pieces.

Here is a map so you can see where we traveled.  We left our house in taxi at 4:00 am, boarded our bus at 5:00 am, went through border crossing procedures at around 7:30 am, were taken from a bus stop to the church offices, and arrived around 3:00 pm.  Whoever was on that 50 minute flight in the map may have beat us there, but we have built much more character. 

 Here's Rebekah and Silas, enjoying snacks and jackets.  Of course the jacket here has to do with the bus air conditioning, but we certainly enjoyed the climate around Barva and its beautiful, cool evenings.


 On Saturday morning we went around down around the hill to enjoy a very nice little track/soccer field/park and very nice view.

Another picture of the mountains, from the other side of the field:


 
 The kids enjoying some exercise equipment.


Creative play in dirt.


We also felt a little tremor while out in the park.  Here are the stats:

As I mentioned I don't have pictures from our meetings.   Meanwhile, Lia and Silas colored and watched some videos. Here's Lia doing her homework for school.

Sunday morning. Lia and Silas wrestling and tussling.

The church in Barrio Jesús had some dancers with their worship time, and lots of the church's girls joined in.

Afterwards, they were serving Sopa Azteca as a fundraiser for their Sunday School classes.  Lia really enjoyed it.

Here's a picture with Sandra Campos, president of the Evangelical Mennonite Church of Costa Rica; Andrew, who is on our MCC team and spent a year in Costa Rica in SALT; Fernando, the pastor, and a girl from Sunday School class.

On Sunday afternoon we went with Sandra and Andrew to explore downtown San José. 

Here we are in front of Hotel Costa Rica, which is apparently an old hotel where President Kennedy stayed once upon a time.  More importantly, here we are enjoying Pops ice cream, a fine Costa Rican product.

Lia and Silas entertain themselves chasing the pigeons.

Lia and Silas play among the statues in front of the Banco Popular.  Sandra tells us that the joke is that these people, who represent the poor of Costa Rica, came to the bank for a loan and were left waiting so long they turned into statues.  Lia and Silas had fun here until Silas tripped off the edge of the statue platform and landed hard on sidewalk.  Fortunately, he's alright.  Thanks to all of you keeping us in your prayers!

No pictures from the ride home.  It was another long one.  We made it.