July 28 (Epilogue)

7/28/2012 at 5:30pm

I'm sitting on the deck with my sisters, their boyfriends, two of my cousins, and two of all of our mutual friends here at home in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  It's their graduation party and we're currently playing a card game, and all I can think about is how different everything is.  Especially after learning so much about biology and trees, I keep noticing how different the plants are, the food, the customs.  Not better or worse, but different.  I feel stressed as well because I came back to a lot of things I have to get done in the next week so that I will be able to head off to study abroad in Spain in the fall.  My house feels so big, and so quiet: I'm used to the wind blowing through the metal roof of the home I was living in while in Santa Elena.  I should be used to this by now, this going to and coming from Costa Rica, shouldn't I?  This is the third time I've had to do this (although I did spend more time there).  I am trying to be patient and understanding and trying to enjoy myself.  I've had some laughs.  And I'm sure I'll get accustomed to life in the United States again.  And then I'm off on more adventures where I'll have to readjust some more!  It's kind of scary thinking about Spain but it's also exciting.

Above all I'm just so very grateful to the Grace Groner Foundation and everyone involved there for the opportunity to have experienced all that I did while in Costa Rica, and thankful to God for having shown me so much.  I hope to be able to return in the future (my mind is thinking "as soon as possible!") to be able to continue my involvement in the community and hopefully to research and begin writing my thesis for my senior year of college!

This epilogue, then, is my last post and closes my adventures in Costa Rica this year during June and July.  It has been a wild ride, and a rewarding one, and I only hope that what I was able to contribute while there adequately measures up to what was expected of me, and that it is useful, because I have received so much from the experience that I don't even know what to do myself anymore, haha!  Pura vida y que a Dios le bendiga!

July 20 - July 27

This picture at the Mirador is from 7/21, but it was so amazing!

7/20/2012 at 10:15pm

I am super tired and we're getting up at 6am to go to the Mirador tomorrow, which will be awesome, but I'm so tired!  It's worth it though!

So after a crazy day where I walked to MVI for the last time and got my blog and other stuff all done, I translated Abby and Ryan's PowerPoint, did more of my own PowerPoint work, met with Jenny and Fran and Justin with Abby and Ryan to discuss our thoughts on the internship (and had delicious pancakes!), and then had our last packed lunch.  After, I practiced and practiced my dance for tomorrow, and also shared some fun talk with Claudia and Jenny about the fishtail braid I learned how to do and about stuff I do like skating and ballet and piano and such, glory to God.  We then met with Evelyn to do a fun exit activity (aka Storytime with Evelyn Part 2) and then I met with Justin to go over my report for ASADA.  Let's just say I have my work cut out for me tomorrow and I won't be able to go to Guillermo's finca with the other camp leaders to set up the obstacle course.  Instead, I will be heading to the Mirador, doing my report over and some of my PowerPoint, and then walking around town for one of the last times.  After my meeting I dashed over to Jossette's to pick up a dance skirt and such, then I ran into Yeiner and we talked for a while and then I dashed home, changed, searched for Abby (and gave up), and then hung around the centro until Jannelle came and picked all of us up (Matt, too).  So Abby, Ryan, Matt, Jannelle, Rick, and two other lovely people (the woman's name is Harriett and I don't remember the man's name) all had a wonderful dinner and talked a ton about our internships and our take-aways from Costa Rica and things of that nature.  We then all four of us piled into the back of a car and got dropped back off in Santa Elena, with me/Abby/Ryan walking to Abby's to see if her dad was around (negative).  I came home, showered, and here I am: exhausted, but very eager for all of the joy that tomorrow will most assuredly bring!

7/21/2012 at 11:25pm

I'm so tired yet so awake!  God is amazing!  So this morning after a wonderful and delicious breakfast made by mamá I got myself over to Abby's by 6:20am to go to the Mirador.  She eventually got her papá up (who didn't want to get up) and Ryan eventually came over and Pastor Josúe told us it was cloudy and we wouldn't be able to see anything but Abby was betting on her satellite radar we'd be okay and I could just feel in my heart God saying He's reveal Arenal to us as a gift.  So we left and drove there and by the time we got there it had indeed cleared up!  We stayed for around an hour enjoying the view from the Mirador at Hotel Vista Verde, and by the time we left the clouds already started coming in again.  And as we left we were able to catch a glimpse of an eagle, and now that I'm thinking of it I can't help but think of Isaiah 40:28-31 = "Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Our last Supercompro ice cream trip! 325 colones for the win.

When we came back we had another delicious breakfast with two of Pastor Josúe's friends, including bread with dulce de leche (wayyy too good!), and then Ryan came back over after he showered and we all did work together for a few hours (we have to redo reports/PowerPoints).  After we got sick of that we ran around town and even bumped into Matt, so we all shopped around (I got my reusable coffee filter, Lizano sauce, and VitaMaiz!) and just hung out until 4ish.  I then returned home, straightened my hair and did my makeup for tonight, dashed over to the church to block the dance, and then read and prayed over John 17 and I felt the Spirit in such a strong way speaking to my heart.  So eventually after much technical help I was able to go up and dance and I felt the Spirit so strongly and it was amazing.  I believe it honored God.  Then Zaray put me, Courtney, and Abby on the spot and we had a goodbye moment full of tears, even though it's only goodbye for now.  They had just all become my family.  Later after the service I had an awesome dinner with Zaray, Steven, the Pastor and Pastora, and Abby, and it was delicious with great company.

7/23/2012 at 11pm

The last couple of days have been jam-packed and a blur.  I didn't journal yesterday either, which is worse because now on a tired brain I have to think super hard about what happened.

Well, I remember going to church after working more on my report and PowerPoint.  I took notes on the message and met a new CR student.  Ah, and then Gaby invited me over to have lunch with nearly his entire family: him, both of his brother José and Josafat, Josa's girlfriend Jennifer, Jenny's mom, Gaby's aunt, and his mom and grandparents.  I was so nervous at first meeting everyone but Josa was so nice helping me out with my report and I love his girlfriend, and really the whole family is just really cool (though as the gringa I'm lost often when trying to figure out conversations).  We played Frisbee for a bit after lunch and then realized we needed to get to the going-away party ASAP, so Gaby and I ran to the pulpería to get a two-liter of pop and dashed over tot he party, which lasted until 6ish and was full of Uno and Frisbee and food and pictures. I was so full (and soaking wet thanks to Osvaldo and a cup of water, but it's all good) that I just went home, showered super fast, and didn't eat dinner and went over to Gaby's to go with him for a walk.  He bought an ice cream fruit dessert that we shared over at the new heladería and then after we walked way way out past a roller rink to this path with some rocks to sit on and a tree over there, and stayed and talked for like an hour.  And we trekked all the way back to home.  Then as I went to finish my report for Monday my charger stopped working and so I began panicking a bit because I still wasn't done and only had 15 minutes of battery power left and an hour of work to do.  But I couldn't do anything so I saved the file and closed the computer.

Abby and Ryan practicing their presentation in the morning.

This morning, however, with Andrea's help, I got it to charge to 50%, enough to finish everything over at MVI.  Pastor Josúe took us to the Institute and it was great.  I hasn't run through at all beforehand so basically I just got up there and talked and hoped for the best and it seemed to go fine.  Gaby walked in about 10 minutes into my presentation as well which was so cool because no other family members showed up.  Abby and Ryan had awesome presentations as well.  We all had lunch after and Sofía and Justin ate with me, Abby, Ryan, Gaby, and Jenny among others.  I said my goodbyes to all the staff and the architect students and then I met up with Abby and Ryan at CASEM with Gaby to take the bus back.  I quickly changed and let everyone at home know I was going to Las Torres with him.  They all looked at me incredulously and said it takes three hours to climb and three back down.  I had to be ready to go to dinner at six.  Well, Gaby and I (after taking a taxi to Hotel Belmar) made it up the ridiculous climb in 35 minutes and down in about 20.  We spent at least an hour up there taking pictures and exploring.  When we left, after getting back down, we walked all the way back to Santa Elena and I quickly showered and changed and we all except Eric went to dinner.  It was a tonnn of food, and I hardly knew what to say because there were so many people and I didn't want to say goodbye yet.  After we left I began packing at home and then remembered that I had left my shoes at Yerlin's so I went back for those and ended up spending an hour at the church saying goodbyes and an hour at Gaby's looking at pictures and talking and laughing with the family.  Josafat made an awesome math/matrix reference that I don't recall because he's an engineer; nerds for the win!  I laughed so much.

How do I feel?  Well, the only time a tear fell down my cheek was reading the going-away gift Gaby gave to me after the fact again later.  I guess I'm more or less at peace, thanks to God.  I would like to spend more time here, but I"m ready I guess: ready to go because God would have me go.  He prepared me well for all of this.  And my heart is about as full as my suitcase now: it probably won't close because of how full it is!  I am ever grateful for this opportunity and will cherish the memories forever and always.

Me at Las Torres; you can kind of see Santa Elena in the background!

7/24/2012 at 10:34pm

The last dinner with my family at the restaurant.

My papá left early this morning, and I cried saying bye to him.  He has taught me so much about Costa Rica and has joked with me and laughed with me about so much.  Coco and María left after and I thought they'd be coming back before I left, but Jenny came with Tony before they came back from the clinic (Luis was sick all night and this morning with a fever).  That probably made me the most sad actually, even though I didn't interact with them as much, because simply by living peacefully with me they have made an impression on me.  It was hard saying bye, then, to Auri, Eric, and Andrea, and of course Luis and mamá.  I was in that sad mood, feeling the pain, around until we maybe started leaving Ryan's house and had a hysterical moment with his dog Sam wanting to come with us.  We drove to Las Juntas and stopped for lunch, and it's so much hotter and humid than in the mountains; I want to go back to Motneverde!

When we got to Sámara we attempted to go to the beach but it started raining and lightning started striking as soon as we walked into the water.  Hooray for rainy season!  We got downpoured on as we walked around the twon and came back to use the wifi briefly before dinner.  I enjoyed everyone's company over dinner, adn really throughout the day, but I'm already missing the Motneverde atmosphere and climate and environment and people.  I did have fun swimming tonight in the pool with Abby and Ryan, playing Lemonade and reliving memories of old movies.  It's hard because I've been in Monteverde for so long that I feel like traveling to Sámara and thinking forward to going back to the States is like me adventuring to see new things and Monteverde is the norm, not that I'm returning home.  I am happy to see all my family at home again though.

7/26/2012 at 7:50am

Oh yes, I am drinking coconut water from a coconut in Nicoya.

I was again too tired to journal last night.  We had a very long beach day.  Abby and I slept through our alarm and so had breakfast at 8:30am before we all changed and went to the beach.  We wave jumped and walked all the way over to a cliff full of crabs by the time lunch came around, went and ate lunch at Princesa, then relaxed at the hotel for a while before going back out and making a ridiculous, painful, long trek over to the other side of the beach to see if we could get to the island.  The tide became too high and it was really rocky.  My feet hurt so bad that I almost wanted to cry and I kept going.  It was a long trek.  We're all sunburnt even with SPF 50 and it was too hot for my liking.  On the flip side, we have like five pounds of really cool shells and we found a brittle star that was still alive.  I picked it up and it felt so cool!  We caught (well, tried to catch) crabs that were both little and also as big as our hands, and we did tons of wave jumping in pretty strong tides.  We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then Ryan, Abby, and I watched "All Dogs Go to Heaven" off of Ryan's laptop.  It was cool because I watched it when I was little and so much went over my head that I didn't catch until now.  Abby and I then stayed up and talked until midnight, and we got up at six this morning to pack, eat breakfast, and get on the road again.  We're on our way to San José and to Cartago by bus.  Hopefully all works out and I get to see everyone and Abby/Ryan enjoy the town and my friends.

I am thankful to the Grace Groner Foundation so much for my experiences here.  The charity and legacy of one person make such an impact in the world.  And I am hugely thankful to God: for pursuing me, for protecting me, for showing me the most incredible things and helping me meet the most incredible people.  Thank You, Thank You, so much.

7/26/2012 at 11:45pm

It's the brittle star from 7/25!  So super cool!

Holy cow, what a crazy-weird yet cool day.  We traversed from Sámara to San José for half the day and then took a bus to Cartago.  On the way there, we got scammed out of like eight bucks because we stepped on the bus before it pulled up to the stop after people got off, and then Abby got pickpocketed out of four bucks or so.  I dislike San José transportation.  Not just public transport either, but also how crazy crowded the city is and how hardly any cars can move when it's daytime (in fact, at any time).  Anyways, the guy next to me on the bus was a Veritas student reading about the design of "A Nightmare Before Christmas".  Pretty cool.  It also dawned on me why God let my study abroad program in San José fall through: Besides being close to Cartago, I probably would have hated it.  I'm not a city girl at all.  I miss the wildness of Monteverde.


In Cartago, Abby, Ryan, and I ate and then spent an hour trying to figure out how to call Diego and Juanmar.  We eventually ended up using the phone of a worker in the cell shop who was super nice and I felt so bad for using so many minutes but eventually we got Juanmar's address and taxied over there and had an awesome couple of hours with him and his mom and Chico and Pancho and Prisci.  We went over to the church and saw Abraham and Aaron and Ariana Diego's sister.  It was so nostalgic being htere, even after only a year.  Finally we had to go, so Juanmar dropped us off at the bus stop and we went back to San José and taxied to Café Mundo for dinner.  We just hung out in the hotel after dinner.  I received some really great messages from friend in Monteverde on Facebook and eagerly responded while trying to push away the sad feeling of yearning to be with everyone again.


7/27/2012 at 3:45pm


I am on the airplane on the way from San José to Miami.  After a rough takeoff we finally rose above the clouds and have gotten to see some very beautiful sights.  The moon, the ocean, the islands...but today we had to say goodbye to Jenny and Tony, who were with us from the very start and always there for us.  It was kind of sad.  I know I'll see them again, but in the moment it still hurt.

I will miss you, Costa Rica!

I'm concerned that I may end up in shock.  It's been so long since I've been in the States I feel like, and it hasn't really dawned on me yet that I'm not just going on another adventure with Abby and Ryan, I'm legit going back to Crystal Lake...for a month, anyway.  Then it's off to Spain, and I've been realizing more and more how much I dislike flying, so I'm not looking forward to the flight there, even though I'll be with other students.  But Spain will be exciting.

Flying over the ocean while listening to Death Cab for Cutie's "Transatlanticism" makes me realize how huge the world is and how far away I will be from everyone I've known in the past two months, and it's overwhelming.