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 28th). 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!
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