theres only Grace.

After a long weekend, I can't help but smile.

Despite everything, God's is so incredibly gracious, I can hardy believe it.

We went Friday morning to "The Canopy" where spent a couple of hours doing a zipline tour through part of the Costa Rican Rainforest. Our guides were ticos- Eliecer and Ricardo and it was the first time that I had been given instructions for an activity like that in spanish. I think some of the safety guidelines got lost in translation, but who cares! Pura Vida! (Lindsay and Cole poke fun at me because I remember names so easily, but names are important to me.)

*** A side note: Two common phrases here are "Pura Vida!" and "Tuanis". They both mean "anything goes" or "everything is great" or "whatever" and describe the way of life here. Time is not a concept here. People don't wear watches and being late for anything is almost expected. It's what they call "Tico time". They are more concerned about the people they're with and what they're doing than what time it is and if they're going to be late. Cole is obsessed however with saying "Pura Vida"! ***

The tour through the forest was beautiful and we learned so much about how the trees grow. There are even trees with roots that grow outside the tree, in the air, because many years ago, a bird planted the seeds in a nest at the top of the tree, and a new tree was born! How cool! That forest is like a secret world... green, precious, preserved, and free. Protected land is such a gift!

After we finished the tour, we came back to Barrio Jesus (our home) and got ready to leave for our weekend trip to Manuel Antonio National Park, about 4 hours South of where we live. Lindsay's tico dad drives a tour bus and he offered to take us, and four of the German girls that are studying here as well, to the Park. This is where the fun started.... I started to get really sick on the way back from the Canopy... due to the ride in a very small car on very windy roads... road sickness is not my friend. (The four hour drive to Manuel Antonio didn't help the situation!) Hence, by the time we got to Quepos, about 6 miles from the National Park, where were staying, I was not feeling good! But God's provision and timing just blow me away! After trying to translate the word "hostile" in spanish, which NO ONE understood (haha!) we finally found the hostile that our german friends knew about, called "The Wide Mouth Frog". This place turned out to be the most beautiful blessing in disguise.

We got our (super cheap and extremely clean!) rooms and I went to sleep with a fever... while Linsday and Cole when out and got some dinner. I prayed and prayed and prayed on the way to Quepos and once we got there that God would provide and that my body would heal quickly. All Glory to God! He did just that.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling a thousand times better, and we all left together for Manuel Antonio. The day was beautiful and we just marveled at our first sight of Costa Rican beach! Once we got to the park, we began walking and soaking it all in. Not even five minutes into the walk we saw two sloths, and how interesting it was! They look like big balls of fur, and it's almost impossible to see their faces and they move sooooooo slowly. We also saw these very quick crabs that disappeared before we could take pictures of them and then also a howler monkey.

We spent most of the morning though at the beautiful beach. I guess it makes sense that because we're closer to the equator, the sun burns your skin more quickly, but I don't think any of us realized this... oh well! Pura Vida! The ocean was perfect, but the small waves were a little stronger than I realized... I got knocked over more than once! What a good laugh we had! hahaha! After a morning in the perfect water, we decided to go back through the park and eat lunch. This just began a series of unfortunate events that lead to us going back to the hostile and resting for the afternoon.

Earlier Saturday morning I had met four guys from Israel. Itay, Amit, Noy and Hagai (who was traveling with his fiance, Anat). The cool thing about a hostile is that there are many, many students and people from many different places but you can always seem to find someone of your same nationality. These guys met at the hostile and became friends. I spent the evening talking to them and learning about their culture, which fascinated me! There english was very good, but only Itay spoke spanish. What bright people!

There are two things that I absolutely love: people and languages, and there was no shortage of either at this place.

When it was time for dinner, we decided that we would just go down to the store and buy some soup and then come back to the hostile and make it. It is VERY American (according to the my Israelite friends... for some reason i don't like calling them Israelis) to go out to eat every night, and I learned that in many other cultures, it is better to make your own food every night when you are traveling. This way of living is so sustainable and creates a feeling of unity between people that have not know each other for very long. They taught me about their food "shakshuka" (not sure how to write that in Hebrew!) which consists of chopped up tomatoes, onions, red peppers, and eggs. I think it was pretty good!

All in all, the weekend was full of surprises, but God's grace was abundant. He provided fellowship and new friendship and sunshine through the rain. And I am reminded... there's only GRACE.