Excitement Downtown

You could definitely tell that it's almost Semana Santa here in Costa Rica. There were lots of people downtown last night. We started our night a little later than usual. We always start in one of the main parks downtown. As we walked through the park there was a couple having a screaming match. Well honestly she was screaming and he was just listening. We didn't interfere and kept walking. We noticed right away that there were more girls working outside rather than in the hotel. I think part of that is because it's warmer now. Anyway the point in there were two "ladies" on one of the corners. It's a pretty dangerous intersection so we decided it would be best to cross over farther down the street and walk back up. We saw a couple of our regular homeless people and were able to talk to them for a few minutes. We did get to the girls and talked to one of them for a pretty long while. Her name is Angie. She of course has children and needs to make money to feed them. It was the beginning. Now as we return each week we will make a point of speaking to her and see where she is and if she's ready to reach out for some help. Help might include night classes, training for another job, moral support, prayer, there are lots of options and we just want them to know that. The other girl didn't have much to say but that is typical of the transvestites. After we left them I noticed that the girl from the couple earlier was on the ground and the guy was yelling back. I mentioned it to Jamie and told him what I saw and I felt like we should at least cross over to see if she was ok. In the meantime I saw him pull a gun. Jamie was already on his way across so I was able to let him know. Before he got over the guy had put the gun back in his pants, and Jamie and the others just stood back and offered coffee. He was very agitated but just with the girl and told her if she wanted to go with us that she should just go. Of course as in most cases she ran after him and said no she wanted to be with him. They did get out of the park and started walking toward a more populated area. I just pray that girl is ok. We saw a few more people sleeping on the street than we have in the past weeks too. Another sad sight right as we were getting ready to leave was two boys sleeping under some card board. The oldest may have been 14 but I think probably more like 12 and he had his little brother with him. I just wanted to take them home with me. I said that to Anna and she said to remember that hopefully in the next year there would be a home/shelter that we will be able to take them to. I can't wait.

Volcan Poas

I made my 5th or 6th trip to the volcano today. It was different than usual though. I went on the bus with some friends. I think the bus trip was definitely more entertaining than the volcano. For me anyway. It is really cool and all that, the lake is also beautiful and of course since it's summer here the weather is amazing! Typical of buses in Latin America, they let as many people on the bus as can cram in. The way up the mountain we were lucky enough to have seats together. We were of course separated by the people standing in the aisle over the top of us. We did the tour of the volcano, the lake, the gift shop, and had lunch. We knew we needed to be back at the bus by2 because it was leaving at 2:30. Yeah, so at 1:45 we headed to the bus and there was a long, and I mean long line already there. I thought we were crammed in on the way up. That was nothing compared to how many people were in there on the way down. It was almost as much fun as a ride at the amusement park though. You figure we're standing in the aisle, the trip is about 2 hours, it's down a mountain, the roads here leave a lot to be desired. Get the picture?!

Photos from Nicaragua

Here's a lake in Nicaragua that contains fresh water sharks! I don't think I'll be doing any swimming there.

These are volcanoes on an Island in the lake. I think this island may be where I take my next trip to.








You can definitely see that it's poor here too. Even the horses were starving! It was sad to see. I asked the ladies about that and they said that when they left it was because they were afraid of the army. Now after the war there is no work which means no food.

The architecture was amazing! Of course there were Catholic churches in every square just like in Costa Rica. We were able to be out after dark in the towns with no fear at all. The school kids were still out so we figured it had to be safe.






The houses in town were beautiful! They looked very modest from the outside but they all opened into a courtyard and the rooms were all off to the sides. They were amazing! We stayed at a hostel that was really more like a bed and breakfast. I don't even have the words to explain it and unfortunately I didn't take good pictures of it either! Sorry. I will try to do better next time.