Wildlife Costa Rica Style

Giant iguana on the river bank

                                                                           Just pretty

               Iguana JesuCristo because it can make bubbles under its feet and walk on top of the water!

                                            Female kingfisher spreading her wings to cool off.

     Family of howler monkeys crossing over us as we float under the bridge. The howl of the male is startlingly loud and deep, like a lion's roar!

Finca Sura

 Garden of Eden

This is Roberto. He and his wife own this beautiful pineapple farm and started it from scratch on an abandoned dairy farm. They grow ornamental plants, cinnamon, cacao, star fruit, coconut and many many more. They gave us fresh pineapple juice, pineapple bread and all the fresh picked pineapple we could eat. This large fruit he's holding is actually cacao - the beans inside are covered with a sweet slime that supposedly is good to suck on.  I thought it was disgusting. 

I'm standing in front of the sura tree - this one is the largest and es más grande, as tall as a redwood! The farm is named for this amazing tree. It's large buttresses support it as the roots are shallow but the buttresses are hollow.

Planting my piña in the Texas row!

We each took home pineapples we picked ourselves.

Weekend Class Trip

                                                  On the way to the rain forest in the clouds

                                          The Walking Palm. Roots are on top of the soil because the feeder roots are so shallow, they can't support the plant.

The rain forest is so thick and dense, grows so fast, our guide told us the cartels can carry their murder victims into the forest and no one can ever find them as the plants grow over them so profusely. The forest grows up to the highway and needs constant maintenance or it would overtake the road, too.

A few more pics

Costa Rica flag outside the entrance of Conversa 

Coffee plantation on the mountain side on the way up to school every day.

Typical home on the route to school

Professional Chef

Fabiola goes to English class every Saturday and has learned to say, "When I grow up I want to be a professional shef." She got to practice her skills after we bought the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies.  They were a big hit with the family and with the other estudiantes at school!

Ticos

Saturday night I attended a Family Home Evening with the elders in a tiny living room of the sister in the center. Several members (about 10) from our part of Santa Ana were there - we had a great lesson (I only got the jist), sang songs, played telephone and ate chicken fried rice. Warm, sweet and so committed to the gospel! I enjoy their spirit and genuine love for the Lord and others even when I can't understand them.
Other pics:
Farmer's Market every Sunday in Santa Ana
Sunday was Corpus Christi - a celebration of the body of Christ. The designs are made with a template and are made of grains and rice.  The young girls who have completed their catechism classes (that's Fabiola) walk in procession around the block where all four calles each have a different design. As they walk through the beautiful grains, they symbolize the sharing of the Savior's message and sacrifice outside the walls of the church with the people of the pueblo.

Saturday at the Temple

Beautiful, beautiful morning! Got to the city bus stop, rode to San Jose, caught a taxi from there to Belén where the temple is - all by myself. A little scary but ended up to be no problema. Met some lovely senior couples happy to speak inglés and spent 6 hours in this lovely, peaceful place. Such a comfort and blessing to have this rock to stand on as I navigate a foreign country.