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| Children Performing at Iglesia Biblical Church Service Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Mexican Lunch at my house. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Passionflower seen on our walk. Atenas, Costa Rica |
Saturday at Hogar de Vida
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| We scraped trees in preparation for painting the bottoms. Hogar de Vida, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Team members sharing stories.over morning coffee. Hogar de Vida, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Sorry, but we are not allowed to share photos of the children on the internet for security reasons.
First Full Day at Hogar
| Sorry, but we are not allowed to show children’s faces on the internet! My best photos!
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| Sign at Entrance Gate Hogar de Vida, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Matt gives team tour of campus (3 team members not in photo) Hogar de Vida, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| 8:30 AM Devotional for those not in school Hogar de Vida, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Rene painting in one of houses |
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| Welcome sign for team at San Jose Airport for Thursday. Hogar de Vida, Atenas, Costa Rica |
New Horizons for Coming Mission Team
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| Photo sent to mission team this morning as encouragement for their flight here tomorrow–Thursday. Sunset over Pacific Ocean while flying along west coast of Costa Rica in March. |
New Bromeliads + A Favorite Road
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| Bromeliad Pink in a Shady Area of My Garden I think it will do very well here & I have 6 of them! Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Bromeliad Red which I really liked, but as you see it gets some sunlight thus I hope it makes it. I got only 1 of these. Bromeliads prefer shade. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Road behind Banana Azul Hotel in the Caribbean of Costa Rica The photo & quote that I shared with the mission team today + a Scripture verse with their’s. Photo made in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica |
¡Pura Vida!
Triquitraque or Mexican Flame Vine
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| The Triquitraque is in 2nd period of blooming just in time for my visitors coming this week! Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Just sorry that most of my others are not blooming this week. But this is colorful! Atenas, Costa Rica |
CR’s Trump-like Candidate Soundly Defeated
In the Costa Rica Presidential Election yesterday the candidate most like Donald Trump, whose only platform was to stop gay marriage at any cost, was defeated 60% to 40% of the votes. Earlier polling showed it to be a closer race than that. Again Costa Rica is proving to be smarter than the U..S.
Good Friday Silence
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| As I walked to town, the streets were empty! Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Even around Central Park Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Every store is closed except Supermarkets & the Gasolinera that will close early. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Many homes had added new, bigger decorations. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Even the Catholic Church added a similar new decoration. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| And people will be coming and going from the catholic church all day (all week!). The only activity. Atenas, Costa Rica |
And you might ask, “What about the non-religious?” Well, they are the ones filling the public beaches this week and fishing on the lakes and other “vacation” activities. One family I know is spending the whole week at the nearest beach. Semana Santa or “Holy Week” or “Easter Week” is not the best beach time for tourists, though most locals try to use different beaches and try to avoid tourists, but not totally possible, especially at Jaco, the closest big beach town to San Jose.
The smaller number of evangelicals and protestants in Costa Rica have a less dramatic emphasis on Easter and some expats, like the “new community” here at Iglesia Biblical have special activities they did back home. Ours did a Maundy Thursday Lord’s Supper or Communion Service Thursday night and some will meet at a member’s house at Sunrise Easter Morning for a Sunrise Service – which will be a good excuse for not attending the Spanish Language Easter Service at the church later.
Hotel restaurants have to be open on Easter, but not many others will and even the supermarkets will have very limited hours on Easter. But this year will not have the usual Easter pageantry in the streets by law, since the first Sunday of April is Election Day and no public activities are allowed to compete with voting (only worship inside a church building). Meaning that many people will leave their church of whatever variety and go straight to the voting places where the unqualified, anti-Gay presidential candidate (an evangelical gospel singer) is expected to narrowly win the election in this conservative Catholic country.
Read the article Holy Week the Costa Rican way
Felices Pascuas
Poner toda la carne en el asador.
¡Pura Vida!
Pre-Easter Yellow
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| And for one week only – this particular tree. Seen from my terrace as is the photo below. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Behind my “Cow Pasture Neighbors” Houses Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Even the silhouetted Chachalaca seems to be admiring the yellow flowers. In my Guarumo/Cecropia Tree Atenas, Costa Rica |
¡Pura Vida!
Danta Corcovado Book is Ready!
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| Click image or this caption for a FREE ONLINE REVIEW OF THE BOOK & ALL PHOTOS! |
I probably say this about all of my trips here, but this was one of the best and some very good photos like this cover photo of the Red-eyed Tree Frog made with my cell phone! When you click and get to bookstore, just click the cover image to start free preview of all pages and click each page to go to next page in this amazing digital world!
Happy Easter Week!
¡Feliz Semana Santa!
Read what one gringo says about this holiday week here.
It is SPRING BREAK in big way with schools out and many off from work.
Beaches are very busy this week.