THREE WISHES GRANTED

One last update from Jeff (8/11/2012): 

The voyage home turned out to be a little more interesting than I expected.  Nancy and I got up early so she could take me to the airport in San Jose.  After only about 20 minutes on the road we came upon stopped traffic in a small town called Zapote.  Nancy was able to move forward around a few trucks and cars but we ended up sitting still.  It turns out there was an accident between a car and a motorcycle.  Listing to people talking around he the details in the gossip changed but one thing was common, there was a fatality.  Since we left early we thought there wouldn't be a problem.  So we sat.... and sat.  In the mountains in Costa Rica there aren't exactly any shortcuts to get around things like this.  As time went on we began to realize that I was going to miss my flight.

An endless line of cars among this beautiful landscape

I though that maybe I could get into someone's Wi-Fi with my I-phone so I got out and started to walk ahead.  I went down the hill and up the next one far enough to see around the next bend, only to see nothing but cars.  And there was no Wi-Fi.  So I turned around and walked back.  Halfway up I somehow got just enough of a signal to find out my flight had been delayed by three hours.  Which turns out to be the same amount of time that we sat still in Zapote.  So I made my flight.  Unfortunately the airline finally decided to board the plane a half hour late and then they sat on the tarmac for an hour before they finally took off.  So of course I missed my connection in Houston.  After waiting in line for an hour and a half I ended up getting a room at the Hyatt and a first class ticket on a plane the next day.  I finally made it home Sunday afternoon.  It was nice to get home to Diane, get unpacked and have a hot shower.  It's back to reality tomorrow.

Best of wishes to Nancy and the Perez family as they begin to use the oven.

Since Jeff left, many wishes have been granted.

8/14/2012 Wish #1 Granted:

 I returned to San Marcos after four long days in Ciudad Quesada (where Chato’s parents live and where Ana spends most of her time).   I had been feeling quite under the weather since August 9^th.  Without going into too much detail, let’s just say my pants have been feeling a bit baggy these days!   

Abuelita Teresa "sobandome" in hopes to remove the "pega"

So, I'm back in San Marcos and Cristina and Laura are taking good care of me.  I got a good "sobada" (when they massage your arms, neck and back to remove the "pega") from the abuela Teresa.  I don't think either of these words have translation that would describe properly their meaning, but after 5 days of feeling like crap, I knew a little home town remedy would do no harm.   IT WORKED!  I had two bowls of soup yesterday and three “pipas” (coconut water).

8/15/2012 Wish #2 Granted:

Thanks to all my Costa Rican family and friends who “wished”’ me a Happy Mother’s Day.  Costa Rica’s celebration of Mother’s Day is a national holiday.  Although I wasn’t able to be with my favorite fourteen year old in the whole wide world (I love you Ana!), I spent it with West, the Perez family and loads of neighbor kids and a surprise little clown who pulled a cake out of our oven!

A Happy Tico Mother's Day to all Mom's EVERYWHERE!

Pipilacha the clown with a nummy cake

8/16/2012 Wish #3 Granted:

Carlos and West tasting the "BEST BREAD EVER"!

Delicious!  Amazing and Exhilarating! Today we tested three different recipes of bread.  I decided to rely on the power of prayer and added a short prayer with the ladies of the house (Abuelita Teresa, Cristina and Laura)!  Not only did the power of prayer work, but our wishes were granted!  The most beautiful loaves of bread created with our own hands, laughter and the love and compassion from all of you who have helped us achieve this amazing dream.

Words cannot express the excitement we all felt when we opened the oven door.  First off, we were overly thrilled that we were actually able to remove the door.  It must weigh at least 50 pounds and was sealed tight from pressure.  We laughed… good thing no one was watching us!  We all agreed that someone needs to make us a new door.  This heavy duty door is awesome for maintaining the head BUT it is just not fun to work with. 

Our first sight of two amazing loaves of bread

The minute we were finally able to open the door and see the bread, we all jumped, screamed, laughed and look at each other with great surprise and excitement!  Minutes later we were planning our marketing tactics for the big community distribution.  We decided that we could easily cook 30 small loaves and distribute them (for free of course) to all those who helped us and stopped by to see our progress.  The word will spread FAST…  Believe me.  This is a small town and “ticos” are good for “chismes”.      

Our first batch of bread is worth a thousand words!

We are still stoking the oven in hopes to have pizza tonight for dinner.  If all goes well, I will blog again tomorrow with more photos of our successes.