24 hours in...

NOTE: Sorry this is just now going up, we have been dealing with technical issues all day.

So after spending around 24 hours in Costa Rica, I decided to collect some of my thoughts. We did not arrive at the Universidad Biblica Latinoamerica until around 1:30 in Saturday night/Sunday morning. This was due to a bunch of compiling situations, but the short of it is travel being travel.

Once we arrived and met our hostess Margie Miller (individual volunteer in mission for the United Methodist Church) and our guide Karla Koll (Presbyterian Missionary), we were introduced to the campus, given room keys, sent to our rooms to drop off our luggage, and told to meet in the chapel/dining hall for a late night snack.  It was at this specific moment that I knew this week was going to be fantastic. After we were warned that it is super easy to lock your keys in your room...I locked my keys in my room the first time I left my room. Embarrassed, exhausted, and hungry I went to get a snack and inform our host and the rest of the group I needed my door unlocked. Luckily everything was quickly taken care of, and I was able to get to bed after our meal.

I slept some what poorly as I adjusted to a new bed, but was awoken by the sunlight shining through my window. After I got up and got ready, I went down to the dining hall to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee and the beautiful Costa Rican morning. We had a delicious breakfast (prepared by the amazing Doña Emma) and then embarked on drive through the countryside to the  Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles in Cartago. Once we got there, we attended catholic mass. This was very...interesting for me for two reasons: 1. Mass was conducted entirely in Spanish, a language I know very little of, and 2. I had never been to a catholic mass before. This led to me being confused and lost through most of the service. I did get a few thing out of it though. The music was fantastic, played on an acoustic guitar,  and sounded like a love song to God. The church was alive and full of energy. During mass there was everything from children running around beautiful giant sanctuary to people walking on their knees to the front for penitence, all why all of the church doors were wide open. Finally, the one part of the church service I recognized was the passing of the peace. We were greeted and welcomed by the other churchgoers there even though few of us even spoke Spanish. It was an incredible experience.

After worship we returned to Universidad Biblica Latinoamerica for lunch and then left via public bus for downtown San Jose. As soon as we got there we went to a festival/convention celebrating locally made/grown/produced/crafted/etc. Costa Rican food and products. There was everything from coffee, chocolate, and baked goods to beauty products, hand painted umbrellas, and cleaning supplies. It was very interesting to see all of the different things made in Costa Rica from Costa Rican supplies. From there we went sightseeing to the Statue of Juan Santamaría, Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, and Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, and eventually made our way to a small artisan market. We were able to stop and shop there for a short bit before continuing on our way. After we left the market we finished our trip through downtown San Jose by walking though a very commercial district to the National Theatre. We stopped there for a short bit to appreciate the building and to appreciate the parrots flying around the building and the trees nearby. I'm sure to locals the parrots are a loud annoying bird, but I was fan.

We rode the bus back to the Universidad Biblica Latinoamerica and prepared for dinner. This was the first meal we shared with the other group that is here this week, part of a Methodist congregation from Arizona. We also had another visitor at dinner, the President of the University in which we are staying. He welcomed us to both Costa Rica and the Universidad Biblica Latinoamerica, and thanked of for coming. Unfortunately he couldn't stay long, but it was nice to get to meet him. After dinner we relaxed, talked about the day we had had, hung out, then went to bed. And now you are caught up to when I'm writing this post that I did not plan on writing. Here's to a great first 24 hours and hopefully a great rest of the week.

Pura Vida,

R Craig Poole