Let’s Go For A Walk

Each day we walk 10 minutes from our apartment to our school. We live in a lower-middle class neighborhood here in Costa Rica. We enjoy our neighborhood and the sites. So, we figured we would take you for a walk with us to school. We frequently take this walk several times a day. We thought it would be a good way for you to see a little more of our life and the people around us…don’t worry…the video is only 3 ½ minutes long…enjoy:

No News is Good News

As the saying goes - no news is good news. All is well here on the Central-American front...while many, many, many are getting sick, children sick, broken bones, etc. the Pettengill's are managing to stay healthy. I did manage to get a completely good pair of jeans filthy yesterday when I hit one of our MANY moss covered sidewalks and cushioned my fall with my backside (but I Do want you all to know that I SAVED the eggs - none got cracked!!!). We just had our mid-term reviews for Mike and Erin, and we are both doing very well. Madison will receive her mid-term report card very soon.

Uh oh...it's magic!

Is it magic or what?! Washing clothes around here is not bad - we have a washing machine afterall. Mike does all the wash (YEAH!!). My wonderful mother-in-law sent us a Downey ball so we now start putting softener into our wash. However, there are some things that just won't change. Drying with a Brillo pad for one. The picture you see is one of our towels after a day of drying on the line. As I've stated before, we don't have a functioning dryer, so line drying is what we get. We were hoping the addition of softener would assist with the softening process of our clothes. However, hard water and line-drying trumps everything else. Hence, we have towels that stand by themselves. Mike is holding the towel with one hand, and it's standing of it's own accord...sigh...I guess we need to look at the good in all things - we don't have to hand wash the clothes like many do in Honduras. So what am I whining about?

On the front line

There are certain things that come with the territory of being on the "front line". First and foremost you are more susceptible to things. Our school has been rampaged with so many illness and injuries. To date our small school has had 3 fractures, more illness than I can count, more falls than I can count, two babies in the hospital with dehydration, one for surgery, and numerous adults in the hospital with various assorted issues. It is SO wet here, there is no time for sidewalks to dry out, especially it being overcast so much of the day that mosses overgrow the sidewalks. So, you have two choices, chance slipping by walking on the sidewalk, or walking in the streets with the crazy drivers. Typically we choose a little of both. We know the more slippery spots and walk on the streets. Other than mild illnesses, the Pettengill house has been spared any major illness or injuries. We continue to pray that we will be spared. So - please pray! The school is on the front lines and under attack!

150,000 what?!

Live and learn...it's all a learning process...make a million mistakes. These kind of things rumble through my brain on a daily basis. JUST when you think you get something right, you are humbly reminded how much you just don't know. Take, for example, our trip to the ATM yesterday. Mike and I had to pull out some money for various things. Many things around here are cash only. So, I go to pull out 150,000 colones (remember, we use Colones around here - it's worth $300 - mas o menos). The ATM flashes an error - "Please enter another amount" - of course my first instinct tells me - Option #1 - do I not have enough money in my account?! No, I just balanced the checkbook yesterday, there is money. Option #2 - has my card been compromised? Has someone already taken money out of my account?! Yikes! There, of course, is Option #3 - and Mike got there first (I was still on Option #2 thank you very much) - human error. "Did you request colones or dollars?" My sweet husband asks...ahhh...Option #3 it is. "That would be dollars" I reply - no wonder the poor ATM gave an error - it just didn't want to fork out 150,000 DOLLARS, just the $300 it was allotted for the day....live and learn...it's all a learning process...make a million mistakes....

Tortuguero part 3 of 3

Mama turtle tracks Madison on Tortuguero beach. Incredibly warm water and sand, no swimming allowed! 22 miles of preserved/restricted beach for the turtles to nest.

Madison holding "flipper"
A good perspective of the size of the baby turtles.

I hope you have enjoyed your tour of Tortuguero. Madison and I had such an incredible time. This final blog will focus on the baby turtles. As I stated earlier, our guide is a certified turtle handler, so we had the opportunity to "assist" turtles to the sea. It was such an awesome experience. The video is a little blurry as trying to capture a tiny little turtle trying his darndest to get to the ocean is difficult to capture, but I couldn't resist getting it on the blog.

Tortuguero part 2 of 3

A local fisherman - still fishing with traditional methods

A huge fan palm (yes, that's Madison at the bottom of that tree!)
These are called Spider Lillies

There were HUGE bamboo forests all around us - at LEAST as tall as a 2 or 3 story building

Yesteday I looked at some of the wildlife of the rain forest, today I want to look at some of the incredible plant life the rain forest. Once again I am struck with awe at my surroundings. Most of these pictures look like something out of National Geographic (not complementing my photo skills at all - complementing God's beauty - because my camera only captured what He created). If you can possibly go to this area of the world, and not have an understanding or appreciation of God, I would have to clearly question your existence, because how can you not? Enjoy Gods beauty!