Our trip to the coast

Sandy writes:

We woke up early Wednesday morning to get started on our trip to the coast. The Barbary’s live in Playa Hermosa and it is a four hour drive depending on the traffic. With our stop for lunch and our little putter of a car it took a little longer. We stopped along the way at a restaurant that a couple of sisters highly recommended for there milkshakes. It’s called the Monteverde restaurant, in the town of Monteverde. It is known for the dairy products that the Quaker population started in the early 1900’s when they landed there to settle and started there dairies. The milkshakes hit the spot and where very delicious. So after our break we continued on to the coast. The terrain along the way was very different then where we are in the central valley. Much flatter and many open fields for cattle and horses. It’s also our dry season here and it wasn’t as lush as it would be in a few months when the rainy season starts, but it’s still very beautiful. The roads where much straighter and in better condition also, so that made it nice.
We got to the Barbary’s about 1:00 and had a nice visit catching up and Elise and Ken made a fantastic spaghetti dinner before we headed out for there School and Service meeting. It starts at 7:00 and they have a hour drive to the meeting. Taylor rode with us in our car to show us the way and Elise and Ken drove ahead to try and secure us some seats. They have a nice hall with about 29 in the congregation and the group that Ken and Elise are in has about 15. They join together on Tuesdays for the School and meet separately on Sunday. There were about 96 in attendance that night, the largest so far. So as you can gather, it is mostly visitors. Dad loved not having to wear a suit coat and the brothers wear no ties in service. It’s way to hot and humid for it.
Thursday after a wonderful breakfast by Ken, we went sight seeing. We took a few pictures ot one of the marinas down there so Ken and Terry could look at the boats and dream for a bit. Hahaha.
That evening they took us to one of there favorite spots for drinks at half price and to watch the beautiful sunset. Wow did we feel special! Dinner was next with friends and then home to bed.
Friday was adventure day for Meg and Taylor and some of her friends from the congregation. Terry and Ken wanted to kayak and Elise and I chose to just kick back in lounge chairs at this beautiful beach and watch the local people. It was wonderful. After some dinner and the ride home we changed again into our swim suits and jumped into the pool to cool off. What a great way to end a great day.
Saturday was our day to leave, so after coffee and fruit and our good byes we headed out for our trip home. It was a experience all it’s own. But I’ll let Meg tell you about that. We did get some great pictures of the area and the Barbary’s home. One shot is standing just out there front door. Another is standing in the doorway looking into the house. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and our trip to the coast.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Playa Hermosa and the Barbary’s

Meg Writes:

We have been busy busy busy over the past few days! I’ll give you a brief breakdown. I have some pictures and my mom will have to post the rest.

So let me backtrack to last Sunday, January 22nd. We left early to Sunday meeting so Dad and I could catch his return visit at work on the way to meeting. He called on a man named Miguel who’s an owner of a gym. We walked up and had a brief but great conversation with him and my dad left the latest copies of the magazines. After that we headed straight to the Kingdom Hall. There was a visiting brother and sister along with 2 friends that joined them from the newly formed English group in La Fortuna. The brother gave a fabulous talk on how the natural disasters we see today are not ‘acts of God’.

Service in Sarchi

Monday I worked online all day and we just laid low pretty much.

Tuesday Dad and I went out in service with Marci and Linda D. and had a great morning. My dad got 2 more great calls, one even saying that he wanted to come to the Kingdom Hall — he invited himself! So Dad is really getting some awesome calls – 3 in total. I have yet to develop a good call but there is so much good response that I am sure I will shortly. Tuesday afternoon was packing for our trip to see the Barbary’s in Playa Hermosa.

Wednesday morning we drove for about 5 hours and had a stop at Monteverde Restaurant. They have fantastic milkshakes of just about any kind. We arrived at the Barbary’s home around 1 pm. We visited, took a short stroll the beach – they are like 2 blocks away! – and then it was time to get ready for the meeting. For Wednesday night meeting they meet with an English congregation in Huacas. The meeting in Huacas is pretty warm. It’s an open air Kingdom Hall like the one in Sarchi but because it’s much warmer there there are oscillating fans hanging from the ceiling. The brothers don’t wear coats at the meeting and in service they apparently don’t even wear a tie! But once you’ve experienced the heat there, you know why. The night we went to meeting there was 96 in attendance! Half that amount was JUST visitors. People had to stand outside the hall and listen in because it was completely packed out.

So I know the Barbary’s keep up with the friends but I wanted to relate from our standpoint they are doing well and were such an encouragement! They have a beautiful home in Playa Hermosa and we were able to stay at their home. Mom will be posting pictures of their home very soon.

Thursday we hung out with the Barbary’s, took a drive and saw a few views of the bay. It is gorgeous where they are and the water is fantastic. There are so many different beaches – dark sand, light sand, sand with shells and the list goes on and on. Thursday evening they took us to a great spot called Pacifico’s. We enjoyed comfy seats and a beachfront view of the sunset and best of all – half price drinks for happy hour. I’ve posted pictures of our evening there below. We ate at a steakhouse in Coco later that night with some of their friends and had a good meal and a great time.

Friday was adventure day for me, Taylor, Jaime, Michelle, Kaitlin and Christopher. Here’s what it involved – a drive into Rincon and then we ziplined, rock climbed road horseback to a waterfall, then kept riding on to a river rafting (inner tube) deal, then back for lunch, then off to mud bath and hot springs. Needless to say I was wooped by the end of the day. I had a hard time keeping up with those fit 19 year olds but had a great time trying! I would have to say my favorite part was tubing although ziplining is a close second. The really really nice thing is, we spent a considerable amount of time with each activity. It wasn’t just a tiny bit of each, it was enough to be satisfied and then move on to the next. On our way home we stopped in Liberia for… Papa Johns pizza. And it tasted just like it does in the states!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Saturday morning (today) is when we left. We woke up early and visited before taking off at 9:30 in the morning. We took a different route home so we enjoyed some new scenery of Bramas (?) cows and bulls, horses and cowboys. Later we decided to get home through driving through Atenas. It is GORGEOUS up in the mountains around there.. But it’s also hard on  your car. In short the car began to stutter and stall and bucked like it was running out of gas. We paused a few times and would try to keep moving but the same thing happened over and over again. Finally Dad pulled over on the side of the road and looked under the hood. I was so thankful that we had broke down somewhere that was cool since it was such a HOT day just about everywhere else. Just about 60 seconds into popping the hood a car pulls over and it happens to be a Costa Rican man that spoke perfect english. He stopped the car, hopped out to give Dad a hand and within 5 minutes we were up and running again and tackling the large mountain terrain. Before the man left, mom was able to give him 2 tracts. We felt that it was a blessing from Jehovah to have someone stop, especially someone with such great english. All in all we had a great trip and got home safe and sound.