Yesterday we started off the day by sleeping in again. I asked them on Saturday night if we were going to church, and they said that they do not really like their church and did not feel like they get filled when they go. They said they go more out of obligation, and they don’t’ like that. So we didn’t go. It was nice for me to be able to start the day by spending time with God and journaling. It was a really great start to the day.
At about 11, we had breakfast (or maybe more like brunch?) and then we watched a soccer game on TV. I also spent some time doing homework. Then about 3:00, my sister comes into my room and tells me that we are leaving. So out the door we go! I thought she said we were going to eat, so I figured it would only be like an hour or so. Well, I was definitely wrong!
We proceeded to drive to Heredia, which is another province in Costa Rica. While we were here, we drove all up in the mountains, and it is just so beautiful to drive up in the mountains. I love driving through this country because there is always something to look at. We drove for a couple hours, and then my dad said we were going to see where the earthquake damage had been. About 2 years ago, Costa Rica was greatly affected by an earthquake. The whole country felt the earthquake, but there were definitely parts of the earthquake that felt it a lot stronger. The part we drove through was just unbelievable. The mountainside that once was full of houses and green grass and trees was completely bare rocks and dirt. All the houses that had been built on the mountain had fallen, and a lot of people died. A whole town was completely demolished—there are virtually no remnants of a town even left. A few houses are still standing, but they are in extremely poor condition. Most of the houses were completely destroyed and are no longer visible. The road was totally mangled, and it was an off-roading experience for sure. Driving along this damaged road was the worst roads I have ever experienced, even worse than the roads in Africa. There were just huge potholes (some were half the size of a car) and parts with half pavement-half gravel. It was just so damaged. The amount of land, roads, and homes that were affected by the earthquake was huge: we drove for probably over an hour as we saw the destruction. This means that we were on this off-roading experience for over an hour, which is quite the ride! Seeing all the destruction was incredible and so sad. So many people lost their homes, everything they had, and many even lost their lives.
Once we got through the more destructive part of the journey, we went on to see a waterfall: La Paz. It was so pretty and just so natural. We actually saw about 7 little natural waterfalls as we drove along, but this one was really legit and more of a touristy place. I was really disappointed that I had no idea we were taking this trip, b/c I didn’t have my camera! My sister took pictures on her phone, but they are kind of low quality. Anyway, I just came to accept that God wanted me to just take in the scenery and be present in it, insead of trying to capture it in a picture that would never do it justice anyway. So that’s what I did: I just enjoyed being present and tried to soak in all the beauty around me.
When I told my family I was sad I didn’t have my camera, my dad just laughed and said that I should always bring it with me because they never know where they will end up. My mom was like “yeah, we just get in the car and drive.” I asked them if they knew they were going to take me to see the waterfall, and they just smiled and said “nope.” Haha, I love the randomness of this family. It’s so refreshing. They had no idea what they were going to do or where they would end up, but here we were—a few hours away from home, just driving through Costa Rica and enjoying its beauty. How refreshing to not have a plan or think you need to know what time you will be back. When I’m with them, I have no idea what is going to happen, but I really did just enjoy the ride.
On the way back to San Jose, we stopped at this beautiful restaurant for lunch/supper. It was about 7:00, so we kind of missed our afternoon lunch that we were going to do! The restaurant, of course, was outside, but it had like a thatched roof overhead. There were like 2 sections of an open aquarium, and there were these fish in there that were relatives of the priannah. These fish were huge! To demonstrate their size, I would estimate that they were like 2 feet long and 1 ½ feet wide, and they were just swimming around in their tank that was made of rocks and windows. It was just a gorgeous restaurant.
After we left the restaurant, we proceeded along the mountain roads. By this time it was night, so the fog was really heavy. There were times when we could not see the road at all. We probably were driving like 10 miles an hour for a lot of it as we had no idea where the road was. And keep in mind that the roads here are through the mountains, which means that they are constantly curving. The ride to Pella would be considered straight as an arrow compared to these! You seriously are like turning every 50 feet. The ride back to our house took over an hour, but we finally made it safely. And our journey ended about 9:00. What a great way to spend the Sunday afternoon: nothing but a free schedule and the beautiful Costa Rican landscape. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment