Progress Continues...

With sadness we said hasta luego to our hard working friends from St. Louis Park. They left last night  for some well deserved R&R at the Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge in La Fortuna.  Meanwhile, the Perez family, Chato, John, Jeff and I stayed behind to wrap up our work.  

Today was a bit unusual with some unexpected excitement.   Our 16 year old, hardworking friend John from Melrose opted to go into the forest via horseback to check out a herd of cattle with the dad Perez.  Because we knew it would be about 2 hours to the herd, then two hours back and in the middle of the forest, John decided to take his epipen since he is highly allergic to bees.  Smart kid!  So, he showed it to Chato and Chato then showed it to Perez. During the demonstration, believe it or not, Chato gave himself a shot!  (Really?  Seriously???)  I could hardly believe it but I guess John thought it was pretty funny and was rolling on the ground laughing.  Chato felt pretty stupid.  Imagine that!  Unfortunately, John did not go into the forest without an epipen and Chato spent the rest of the morning calling clinics, pharmacies and doctors to locate another epipen.  Fortunately, we have been getting lots of great laughs out of the story as most of the folks know Chato pretty well and would all agree that the episode fits his character well.  The only bummer was that when Perez reached the herd, there was a cow who just had a new calf.  tI would have been a pretty cool ride in the forest, pretty cool experience just hanging out with Perez, and pretty cool to see the new baby calf being born.  Especially since the breed of this calf at birth is about the size of a 3 month old holestene.

I am happy to announce that we did get a couple hours of work out of John today while Chato was making the phone calls.  Once they were able to locate a new epipen, they left for the city and the rest of us continued to make great progress.  

We made up for the time lost yesterday.  It's finally looking like an oven.  Today we finished the dome and prepped the base for the chimney.  Tomorrow we will finish the chimney and a couple final fire bricks.  We will probably leave the last layer of cement that will go over the dome for our last day so the refractory mortar has more time to set before we add that much more weight to the top of the oven.  

So, until tomorrow,  blessings to all!  

Thanks again for your prayers and continuous support.

The C.R.O.P. clan

The Help Arrives

It’s been five incredible days since our wonderful friends from St. Louis Park arrived.  We spent a few days in San Jose touring while we waited for Jeff to arrive prior to heading back to San Marcos.  I wish I could have found the time to blog more frequently to share with you all the wonderful things we’ve done in the past few days.  It’s been too fun, too exciting and too exhausting to stay up extra late and blog. 

Here’s a quick summary:  INCREDIBLE white water rafting (photos to follow), nature walk to the crater of Poas volcano and laguna.  Be sure to ask the kids how fun that was!  Laughs, lots of laughs.  Rosti Pollos.  Swimming, more swimming and one last swim for the kids.  Beautiful views, landscape and vegetation.  A visit to Chato’s town and home.   The first taste of home cooked food.    

We finally arrived in San Marcos Saturday night (July 28^th).  The Amelse and Falzones enjoyed the evening at Tilajari resort, while the St. Clairs and Jeff adventured to San Marcos and each stayed with local families.  We also picked up extra help on our way through town.  John Schwieters, a young and hard working 16 year old from Melrose, MN agreed to leave his exciting summer surfer life in Nicaragua for a taste of "tico".           

Yesterday (Sunday) was our first day of work and DID WE EVER WORK!  The weather did not want to cooperate with us, but with the new gazebo as our shelter we were able to progress without delay.  The mud and rain didn’t stop the kids from having fun either.  The locals got a kick out of watching the boys jumping in the mud puddles and the moms enjoyed seeing them with such happy faces.  Their clothes and shoes from that day will carry with them the memories of their fun (mud, lots of mud). 

The moms (Michelle, Barb and Ann) helped in at the local school house preparing for a teachers workshop.  They were there until almost 2:00 when Chato finally went back to rescue them.  The teacher, Roxanna just didn’t want them to leave… she knew from the beginning what helpful and kind ladies they are and just kept given them chores after chores.  She even gave them homework to do.  They really were a great help.  Meanwhile, the men (Tim, Joe, Rob, Jeff, John and Chato) were hard at work, laying the hearth and walls of the oven itself.  We could not have asked for a better group of hard working men.  They complimented each other and their skills so well.  They even had entertainment (guess who)!  Within hours they had completed what took us two days to complete during our class.  It was an incredibly rewarding and hard working day. 

Today (Monday, July 30, 2012) we did have a few setbacks.  It took Chato the whole morning in Ciudad Quesada (a larger city about 1.5 hours away) the whole morning to arrange a way to cut eight bricks.  It was a critical cut for the arch of the dome that required accuracy and precision.  Meanwhile the rest of the men were back prepping a brace to pour the sides of the oven with another layer of cement and the women were back at the school preparing (and waiting) for the workshop to begin. 

Today we were able to pour the cement round the brick and prep the site for tomorrow’s building of the dome.  Special thanks to our St. Louis Park friends who said their good bye’s to the Perez family today.  What incredible workers they all were.  How generous they were to spend their vacation time here in San Marocs, helping a community, sharing their passion and doing good.

As it is said  “And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” HEBREWS 13:16

We love you and we will miss you here in San Marcos!

Welcome Home Chato!

Chato arrived in Costa Rica just three days ago and he has been busy ever since.  He spent the first couple days visiting with family and friends, but has also been very busy planning for the arrival of the other 13 Minnesotan’s coming to help in the oven building.

Yesterday Chato, West and I headed back into San Marcos to finish the last phase before the rest of the group arrives.   We arrived at the Perez family with arms wide open.  We immediately went to work preparing for the last cement slab.  This is the final slab where the fire brick will eventually be placed to begin the construction of the actual oven itself.

So, today was a double duty day.  We helped with the shelter while at the same time laid the foam glass and 4 inch slab.  The bulk of the work today was under a plastic tarp.  Cristina kept us well hydrated and well fed.  West kept busy with the chickens, pigs and brand new puppies, born just yesterday.

Thanks to the ongoing support of friends and family, we offered to pay for the tin roof of a shelter.  Prior to leaving on Friday, I told them that we had gathered enough funds to pay for part of the shelter.  The Perez family was so excited that they immediately called a local construction guy and had him over to discuss options.  To our surprise, a round open shelter was always in their dreams, they had been saving old electric posts in hopes that they would someday be able to build.   They bartered with neighbors for additional supplies and immediately began construction.   Tomorrow we will purchase the tin roof and with cooperating weather we may have something more than a large plastic tarp to protect us from the daily bouts of rain.

Special thanks to those who are still donating.  Please be sure to pass on our blog to friends and family who would be interested in our journey.  It’s been word of mouth that has gotten us this far.  Just as you have, others may still be interested in supporting us and the purchase of cement for the shelter floor.

So, until next time, blessings to you all.  Happy trails to those traveling to join us.

Adventures in San Marcos

It’s not all about work in San Marcos.  Each day has been a new adventure for West.  His first day in San Marcos he made new friends within 20 minutes and went off with friends into town to watch a soccer game and kick ball with friends.  The following day, he was up at 5:45 excited to adventure to his new school, a kilometer walk from our new home.  On our walk we saw multiple pairs of parrots, one set flew right in front of us.  He spent the rest of the day at his new friends house Tito playing with the local kids.

Every day (literally every day) is a new adventure.  The following day, he was up excited to ride horse to school.  Again, he spent the afternoon playing with friends.   That night, after an adventure into the forest seeking the sight of howler monkeys, they brought him a new horse “Chito”, just his size.  Wednesday (July 18^th) was a typical July day in San Marcos.  RAIN… LOTS of RAIN.  That didn’t stop West from another early morning on horseback. This was a sight to see.  If only I had someone to capture the memory with a camera.  West in uniform, sitting on his new horse, grin from cheek to cheek and an umbrella large enough to cover him from the down poor and me in my shorts with big rubber rain boots, and an umbrella, let’s just say not quite as large as his.   We adventured to school. 

I must admit, I too had a grin from cheek to cheek… this was like a dream come true.  The idea that I could share this life with my kids didn’t seem possible.  But there we were.  I was leading my son on his horse to school.  He was excited to arrive to at school to be with new friends and I was thrilled to be able to greet old friends as we passed their homes and they noticed the crazy gringa walking in the down poor.  The only difference this time is that it’s 20+ years later and I am sharing my new life and family with their new lives and families. 

West’s new school consists of grades K-6.  There are two classrooms in the school and have two sessions a day; morning (7:00-11:00) and afternoon (11:00-3:00).  They switch sessions every week.  Each classroom consists of multiple grades (up to three) and one teacher.  And we thought our teachers had it tough!  Many of West’s classmates are children of the youth that participated in the youth group that I had formed years ago.  Some of his schoolmates are even children of my kindergarten students.

Rumor has it that the gringo kid is pretty smart.  The teacher called on him the second day of class to answer a few questions about a story they had read.  He stood up and proudly answered all three questions.  He may seem to be fitting in a bit TOO well.  I passed by one day and saw him goofing off with his friends… potentially doing something they probably were not supposed to be doing (kicking an empty bottle around as if it were a soccer ball).

His first homework assignment is worth the read.  Proverbs 15:14.  "A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash."  Imagine that, a public school system teaching our children the important value of such simple words of wisdom.  

So, there you have it:  las adventuras de West.  With a little help from her papi who arrives today, maybe I can get AnaGrace to write a quick post about her adventures in town with her cousins and grandparents.   

So, until then... blessing to all!

Phase III: Slab II

Wow.  Who would have ever thought that being without internet access for five days would be such a challenge?  Yep, five whole days!  It wouldn’t have been so bad if email and skype weren't my only confirmed ways of communicating with work, friends and family back in the USA.  Or if we hadn’t done anything and I didn’t have anything to share with friends and family.  But since then, much has happened and I'm glad to be back on-line and able to share with you.

Besides great family adventures, we completed the third phase of the oven project.  Last week-end, I went back into town to purchase another batch of supplies (and a bag of chicken feed of course).  Sunday morning, July 15th I brought West with me and we headed back into San Marcos.   Within 20 minutes, West had made a new friend and was off to the center of the village to watch a soccer game and get to know the town.  While he was adventuring elsewhere, we laid the second layer of cement on top of the cement block walls (forming a base for the construction of the actual brick oven).   

As with our first day, Sunday was a beautiful day with overcast, the perfect weather for a labor intense project.  To my surprise, they cut down a tree in their yard in order to make the wood planks to support the cement slab.  For all you tree lovers.  Not to worry, the bulk of the tree had already been cut down because of a power line issue. 

Again we had a nice size group to help and plenty of food and fresh drinks.  This time we were able to finish our work by 5:00 just in time to celebrate Dona Teresa’s birthday, the 88 year young grandmother of the family.

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS DONA TERESA

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The Adventure Begins

By now most of you are aware, AnaGrace, West and I are here in Costa Rica.  We spent the first couple days with family and soon I prepared to adventure into the village of San Marcos.  On Monday July 9^th, we agreed that the kids would stay behind to be with cousins while I went into San Marcos with the Perez family.  We loaded up the pick-up with supplies and heading in for the first phase of work. 

On Tuesday, July 10^th, bright and early, the work began.  The weather was perfect.  A bit of overcast, ensuring that the sun wouldn’t make it unbearable to work.  At times it would sprinkle just enough to cool off the air. 

At 7:00am we began just the family and two other members of the community.  Soon others would join in to help.  As word got out, more joined in, young and old, others came to observe and others even came asking if we could build the next oven in their village.

I thought we would work all day in hopes that we would finish the first step, the foundation.  We worked until 10:00 pm that night, completing both the foundation and the second step including the base, made of cement block. 

Although the work was hard, the process different and the climate at times unbearable, the experience was incredible.  We would take breaks oven.  We would cut down coconuts to drink fresh coconut water (the kids you all purchase at the grocery store for $2.50).  Cristina would make sure we will well nourish, offering us fresh papaya, fresh pineapple, typical meals, coffee and plenty of water. 

Special thanks to all who have been supporting us in this effort. 

Without your support and financial help, this would not be possible.  The family is very grateful for all that we are doing.  They are excited to and feel so blessed that we have chosen them to share in this partnership.  If you did not have a chance before I left, there is still time.  We were able to raise enough money for the oven, but are now hoping to raise enough to build a shelter large enough to cover the oven and a small working area.  As in the past, you can give through PayPal, using your PayPal account or a credit card in the upper right hand corner of this blog.  If you prefer to write a check, Chato doesn’t leave until July 21^st and Jeff doesn’t leave until July 28^th.  Just let us know.  The check should be made out to Costa Rica Explorers. 

Until my next post, blessing to all! 

Spanish Garden Party Fundraiser Success

Thanks to all of our wonderful guests who supported us at our special Garden Party event.  It was a great success.  Our goal was to raise at least $600.00 Everyone's support helped us far exceed our goal.  We hoped for 20 guest and were thrilled to host 35.  We raised over $1,220 that night.  In addition to surpassing our goal, friends and family continued to support us in the days following with an additional $850.00!

THANK YOU!

Special Thanks to Joanna and Bridget for hosting the spectacular event.  The gardens were beautiful, the weather was perfect and the setting was amazing.


Extra special GRACIAS to our amazing amity Juan who graciously prepared a beautiful "and authentic" Spanish meal including sangria, three delightful appetizers, gazpacho, paella and a delightful dessert.  

We love you and we miss you Juan-2-3!