This week has been slow and steady due to a Costa RIcan mystery bug. But, if you going to feel sick, sick life is better on the beach! (It’s not Covid!!!) We aren’t sure what we picked up…something we ate?… something in the water at the park?… we really aren’t sure. We do know that we all have the same symptoms, all have been zapped of energy. Luckily, lots of rainy afternoons combined with stomachs on the rocks, is the perfect excuse to catch up on all the movies Kymble has missed. Our lifestyle is already slowed down with the Pura Vida culture here, but slap a bug on top and we all feel like the days are in slow motion. Hopefully it passes soon, but this weeks’ blog will be short and sweet! (and somewhat educational!)
Not feeling great + Rain = Poolside Spanish Lessons Now the girls have two Spanish Teachers. (Micah is lucky to get private tutoring 😉 But now with Kymble home, they can both get individual help. It is a lot of fun to listen to Marshall and Kymble speak to each other. They of coarse start to speak super Chilean Spanish, which leaves us all wondering if they even speak Spanish in Chile. But, we are all learning fun words and phrases that the natives speak in several different Latin countries. The boys taught so many people from so many different countries. We get foreign language + world history classes mixed with the Spirit and funny stories that are just now coming out that they never told their mother!
We did muster up enough energy to do a couple hours of surfing! Sometimes you can be out in the ocean for a long time waiting for the perfect wave. Of coarse, once you get the hang of getting up on the board, you get excited to catch as many waves as you can. But you quickly learn that just because you can catch the wave, doesn’t mean you always should. Not all waves are created equal. Not all waves have enough force to support a good ride. Some waves are followed closely with another wave, (not a good one to catch) and some are so powerful you just end up swallowing half the sea! There is an app used by surfers that show you time of high and low tide, swell times and wave sizes. Always check the app! Like most things in life, surfing requires a good dose of patience. I think anything in life that teaches this principle is well worth it. Let’s face it… as a mother, we want out kids to learn patience. So when they say, “let’s go surfing,” I am more than happy to drive them to the beach.
Missions are great for so many reasons. But one of the greatest things I have seen in my children when they return is their ability to approach people, and their confidence in engaging with them and quite often, making a new friend. This has been the case for Kymble in every opportunity, the moment he stepped off the plane. EXAMPLE: Go to the beach, meet a kid that is trying to skim board, and start talking to him about how you used to skim board with friends in high school. He asks you to teach him how to do it better and gives you a board. You practice together until another friend joins the fun, and then another! (of coarse one is a little kid…KJ has a way with drawing in the kids!) And pretty soon, Kymble has made 3 friends and invites them all to go to church!
Jaco Walk Shopping Center is a fun, modern, open-air concept just up from the beach. It’s full of fun shops, food, and vendors. On the weekends you can hear live music as you grab some gelato, a churro, or if you are Marshall, a roll of sushi!
Down the street from our place is an Argentine restaurant that sells the best empanadas. The owner who is from Argentina even gave Kymble a job! Kymble takes a bag of 30 empanadas, heads to Jaco, and just sells them on the street! He gets a certain amount of money for every empanada he sells. Does this fall into “Summer Sales”? He would be the first to say that it is not the best paying job, but he has met a lot of people from everywhere! Plus, if they don’t want empanadas, KJ is an expert at offering them a BofM instead! Haha!!! It’s almost like he is still on the mission, with a few slight adjustments. (His companion for the most part is a girl (Kenn)… Swimming is allowed and encouraged… attire is modified to shorts, hat, and sunsceen.)
This is a fruit called Mamon chino (Rambutans: part of the Lychee family) It is a Southeast Asian import that has caught on like mad in Costa Rica. You will find this fruit during the rainy season sold at farmers markets, and fruit stands on the side of the road. It is popular for tourists to try because it is not readily available in the US. You open the red, spiky fruit up and eat the soft, translucent, almost grape like center. It is sweet and a bit gooey, with a pit in the middle. They are really tasty and so fun to eat! (As well as high in vitamin C) Eaten just ripe they are the perfect combination of sweet and sour.
Costa Rica has a huge number a bird species. The diversity is in part due to the wide variety of habitats. From sea level to high mountain. From jungle to rainforest. The warm, humid climate and all the amazing trees are the perfect home. These colorful parrots fly back and forth from this one particular tree close to our house, out to the beach and back. They are so beautiful with their vibrant, primary colors. Different parts of the country are known for certain birds and we hope to explore some soon. We have our eye out for the toucan.
Crazy Good Street Art