Bethany's La Paoma Report

We awoke to the infamous beeping of the alarm clock at 6 A.M. After slipping hastily into our clothes, beating our black, brown, and blonde manes into submissive ponytails, and yanking on socks and shoes, we set off down the countless flights of stairs leading to the Lodge. Upon arrival, we met with our tour guide, Carlos. A 28-year-old native, he had planned to stay at La Paloma only for a few months, but soon became captivated with Corcovada National Rainforest and couldn’t tear himself away. “A lovely place to be imprisoned,” he says smiling.

The other participants of our tour group, a French couple, were already there so we set off to the dock. About 5 minutes into our 35- minute boat ride, a trio of frolicking dolphins surfaced. Seeming to sense how exciting we were at their arrival, they stayed close to our boat and entertained us with giant leaps that quickly turned into graceful dives. After a five-minute performance, they lost interest in our boat and decided to move their itinerant circus to the next audience.

The boat slowed down, as the shoreline loomed larger and we allowed the roaring waves to carry us in. We were told to jump in the water and my mother eagerly grabbed the railing being the closest to the rear. Unfortunately, a large wave was lifting the bow of the boat just as she jumped, and upon landing, was thoroughly drenched. After that, none got wet above their knees. We were told not to put our shoes back on yet for there remained two shallow streams to cross. After pausing briefly to dry our feet and slip on sneakers and socks once again, we set off.

Shortly after embarking into this total haven of greenery, we heard the distinguished cry of the howler monkeys accompanied by the gasps of excited tourists. We caught up to the group ahead of us and Carlos immediately erected a contraption that looked like a mix of binoculars and a telescope.

Howler monkeys travel in groups so we could choose any of the fifteen present to observe closely. Moving on, we came to two spider monkeys that soon turned out to be three. Carlos pointed out a little baby that was tucked into its mother’s pouch. I was shocked to learn that monkeys give birth up in the trees. They grasp a branch with their tail and one leg and
then catch the baby with the other leg! After enjoying this spectacle for a few minutes with Carlos stocking our head full of information, a guide came running back to tell us a large snake was up ahead and to come before it left.

As mom said “it was the first actually beautiful snake I’ve ever seen.” It was light pink with slightly lighter and darker patches of pink speckled down its spine. Carlos pointed to an unfortunate pygmy squirrel who was grooming itself on the branch above. As we moved on, it was startling to see how Carlos could pick out tiny animals that blended absolutely perfectly with their surrounding. Even with a stick pointed only an inch from its head, it wasn’t till it the tree frog jumped did we nod our head in agreement to his question, “Do you see it Now?”

We came across many brigades of leaf cutter ants that went as far as the eye could see. Amazingly, ants are completely blind! They follow paths laden with formic acid left by the scouts and simple trust their antennas to lead them home. To prove his point, he rubbed a strongly scented sun block in the middle of an industrious line. Just as he had said, the ants wondered
aimlessly in all directions now that their sole “compass was erased”. Nothing exceptional happened in the last stage of our trek toward the small brook. Upon reaching it, we rested for a while and watched various types of birds and their young. On the way back however, we saw a sloth- a gray one at that. Carlos said that some are greenish colored because of the fungus that grows on this almost stationary animal. He spouted off some amazing facts about the sloth that seem almost impossible. They can sleep for a week; it takes them a week to go down one tree; and, upon reaching the ground, is the only time they excrete refuse for the next seven days. We
spotted but one more unusual animal on the way to the waterfall/ swimming whole after we had reached the beach where we had landed. I have forgotten the Spanish name so a brief description will suffice. It was a little bit larger than a rabbit, had the head of a squirrel, and the tail of a rat. It is the largest rodent in the world. Though seemingly hesitant and with his
nose in the air, he stayed next to us for a while and allowed us all to get a good look. Because I have never heard of nor seen or, for that matter, even known existed such an animal, it was my favorite of the tour.

After the suffocating humidity, all of us headed straight to the pool and had a heavenly relaxation time in the shade. Back in Puerto Lempira though, I’m having a hard time conjuring up the image of a paradise-like pool. Hopefully Syracuse will seem cooler even though it does have its hot days. Hope to see you soon!

Chaela's Snorkeling Report

I was assigned to the day we went snorkeling so here it is: We got up at about 6:30 which wasn’t the most fun thing, we then got ready and headed to the main lodge where we all got our gear fitted except 5 out
of the 20 people because they were going scuba diving. Then we walked down to the dock and the guides split the group in half and each group took a separate boat out to a bigger boat that could accommodate us all. On the way out to the bigger boat we saw a lot of dolphins and followed then around for a while. Once everyone got onto the big boat it was another 2 hours till we got to a small island beach. Once on shore, the five divers went off to a different spot and we snorkilers got on our gear and headed back out to the small boat. It then took us out a little deeper where there was a small coral reef. After we got geared up we jumped in. The water, to say the least, was a bit cold. The fish are very hard to describe but they were all very unique and beautiful. After about an hour, we went back to the beach and ate lunch and walked around a bit. After another hour we went back to the big boat and motored for about another ten minutes to a different spot. There the water was very deep and we got to see three sharks. Once we got on the boat again my family and another couple went on a small boat that went a lot faster, and on the way back we saw school of flying fish. When we got to the lodge we enjoyed a relaxing evening.

See you all soon,
Michaela

La Paloma Lodge

Hello everybody! As most of you know, my family and I went to Costa Rica for our last “mandatory” vacation (yup, it’s pretty brutal having to go on vacation). We’ve decided to each write about a different aspect of the trip and my assignment is to write about La Paloma Lodge. So here I be, writing to you dear blog reader (even though I’m supposed to be doing math homework but shhh… don’t tell).

On April 23rd we left our apartotel were we had been staying while in San Jose (it was wonderful- I like lived on yogurt) and took two taxis (by law the maximum number of passengers a taxi can carry is four. A cab driver in Tegucigalpa got a ticket for trying take our whole family.) to a little, tiny airport. Because the airplane we were taking was so small, all passengers had to be weighed with their carry-ons. I wonder how many women, after spending several days splurging
on the great Costa Rican food, felt a little uncomfortable with that. Guess you could always blame it on the carry-on. My dad pointed out to us the unique way in which the airplanes were stored- there were two rows of little hangars with a road running down the middle, kinda like two rows of stalls with an aisle down the middle.

After a short wait, we were escorted out to the plane that would be taking us to destination- Drake’s Bay. The plane had huge windows (the largest I’ve ever seen on a plane) that were several seats wide and went almost from floor to ceiling. The plane itself looked as if someone had taken paint filled balloons and chucked them randomly at the plane, with the general target appearing to be the tail end of the plane. I’ll say this much for it, it definitely got your attention. Our take off was uneventful, and once in the air, I spent my time gazing out the massive windows at the panoramic views. One thing that struck me was the number of soccer fields I counted. Granted I realize I’m in Latin America, but still, 15 soccer fields in the same number of minutes? It was pretty neat to watch a soccer game from that far up. I’d see this itsy-bitsy black thing roll across the vibrantly green soccer field with two white blobs chasing after it. The black speck would disappear as one white blob over took it and then the speck would be off again.

We followed the coast south most of the way, and I spent my time watching the white line of waves rushing through the crystal-clear, aquamarine waters and then crashing on the shore. I could tell we were nearing the end of our flight when the plane turned left and started heading inland. After landing on a narrow grass strip with mountains at one end and ocean at the other, we got off the plane and walked to a thatched roof hut where several groups of guests were waiting to fill our now vacant seats and head back to San Jose. A native came up to us and asked if we were going to La Paloma Lodge. When we answered in the affirmative, we were ushered into a battered old jeep while Dad and our taxi driver took care of the luggage. A couple local kids hopped in the car with my sisters and I while we were waiting. I asked one little girl in Spanish what her name was. Had no clue what she said. Como? She said it again. I looked at my sisters and asked if they understood her - they both shook their heads. I tried again. Como? I still didn’t know what she was saying. I tried one last time. “What the hecko is your namo?” She mumbled her name again. Whatever, I give up. “Oh, that’s a pretty name,” I told her. When Dad and the driver came back, I learned that the kids that had joined us in the car were the driver’s kids. Dad and the driver talked in Spanish while I watched the country roll past. One part of the road reminded me very much of Trinidad. Steep, jungle covered hills rise up so sharply from the roadside, you have to crane you neck to see the tops. Our driver kept on pointing out iguanas as they ran across the road. Yup, in Syracuse we have to watch out for squirrels running across the road- here you have to keep an eye out for iguanas. While we were driving, I noticed a pretty broad stream up ahead that crossed right over the road. I was looking for a bridge when I realized that there wasn’t a bridge. Oh no, we were going to drive right through it. We were only a couple feet into the stream when Dad decided he wanted to tape it so, after letting him off, the driver drove through the stream a couple times. I soon realized the stream wasn’t as deep as it looked and that the driver knew what he was doing. However, it still looked pretty rugged on camera. Big, battered jeep, plowing through the stream, water flying everywhere, while the occupants inside bounce around like crazy Mexican jumping beans, despite which, Chaela manages to wave wildly at the camera through the whole bouncy ride, looking like the good tourist that she is.

We finally get to the beach where a boat is waiting for guests and luggage headed for La Paloma Lodge. We have to walk a couple feet in the water to get into the boat so anybody wearing pants or sneakers changes into short and sandals. A few quick steps into the incoming surf, then a strong brown hand grabs my suddenly very white one (and here I thought I had some color), and helps me into the bobbing boat, where I wait for the last couple of guests. Once everyone’s in, we head for a little cove on the left side of the bay. We pull up to the lodge’s dock, jump out and walk up a short flight of concrete stairs. One of the lodge’s helpers lead the way while the rest of us trudge up the steep hill. By the time everyone reached the top of the hill, we were all puffing. Thankfully the rest of the walk was relatively flat and allowed us to spend more time admiring the vibrant flora and fauna that surrounded the flagstone walkway as it wound through the jungle. As we veered to the left, I spotted a pool between the trees and took note of where it was- I’d knew I’d be spending a lot of time there.

The main lodge soon came into view and as we walked up the steps, Katie (the owners’ 26 year old daughter) came to meet us. We were led to one of the several long dining tables where iced tea, fresh fruit, and homemade bread awaited us. She told us about the lodge, meal times, the rainforest and snorkeling outings, and other activities that she could arrange for us (horseback riding, bug tour, and zip line canopy tour). After handing us a waterproof bag filled with two flashlights, four sarongs (used because they require less water and detergent to clean then towels), and five water bottles, a helper led us to a freestanding, two-story bungalow- our home for the next six days. We walked up a flight of stairs onto a small porch, complete with a hammock at one end. Our guide told us that just a couple weeks before a strong wind came through and blew down a huge tree that had once dominated the view from our porch. She said it was her favorite tree because monkeys and all sorts of jungle birds used to congregate there. Now all that remained was a knotted mass of roots, branches and vines. We walked through the door into what came to be Mom and Dad’s bedroom. Another door led to small, pale teal tiled bathroom. A spiral staircase led to the upstairs, which was where we girls slept. Our bedroom had two beds (one queen sized one, which Bethany and Chaela shared, and a single) a wicker couch, and a table. From our room you could look out the large sliding windows and see jungle covered hills sloping down to the roaring ocean below.

After getting semi-settled, Dad, my sisters, and I put on our bathing suits and went looking for the beach. After a 10-minute hike through the jungle, we could hear the sound of the surf crashing and soon came to our destination. As we were putting on sun block, I noticed with a little apprehension that swimming area was strewn with sharp rocks that protruded out of the water. To add to that, the surf was pretty strong and the receding waves revealed more submerged rocks. We ventured into the ocean and swam out beyond the rocks, but soon decided that it was too dangerous to keep on swimming. We got a little scratched up from the waves pushing us over submerged rocks but besides that everyone reached the shore okay. Dad decided to go exploring as we were walking back to our bungalow and found that a nicer and much safer beach was just a little further down the trail. After showering and changing into dry clothes, we all laid down and read until dinnertime rolled around. At about quarter after six we headed up to the lodge to hang out with the other guests and enjoy the hors d’oeuvres. My sisters and I sat out on the open porch and talked, while Mom and Dad sat in one of the deep, wicker chairs or sofas that were set up around the room. At quarter to seven we all sat down to a family style dinner. The food was nutritious, delicious, and salubrious, as Dad always says.

The next day we just hung out. My sisters and I wandered over the pool a little before lunch and jumped in to escape the humid heat. The pool temperature was absolutely perfect, and with trees overhead, and an unobstructed ocean view, we were all reluctant to leave for lunch. My sisters left to shower but I stayed behind, too caught up in a good book to leave. As I was reading, I heard a splashing noise in the pool and as I looked up I spotted a Jesus Christ lizard running across the water. It turns out that these unique lizards are pretty common in the area, and we saw several more of them during our stay. A couple days later, while I was swimming alone in the pool, I looked up to see a pair of toucans flying through the trees. Later that afternoon, Mom, Dad, and I walked down to the beach to watch the sunset. As we were walking, I noticed what appeared to be hundreds of shells crawling towards rocks and large pieces of driftwood that had been washed up on shore. On closer inspection, I realized that they were tons of hermit crabs, ranging from pea-sized squirts to tomato-sized bullies that crawled over the smaller and less fortunate crabs in the rush to get to shelter before nightfall. As we started walking back, I heard rustlings in the plants that grew up on either side of the path. I cautiously peered into the dense green, getting ready to bolt if the creature looked anything like a large spider. A black and red form scurrying through the plants, made me jump until I realized it was just a crab. We later learned on our rainforest tour that what I was seeing was a land crab. They burrow into banks and the like and are found in great numbers in the jungle that borders the sea. As we continued up the path, large iridescent blue butterflies, another common sight at the lodge, flitted along path. We stopped by our bungalow to get ready for dinner, and then headed up for another great meal. The next day we went kayaking (which Dad briefly describes in his blog entry) which was a ton of fun. I wish we had proper foot ware because I would’ve loved to been able to go further up the river.

We woke up bright and early on our third day at the lodge, and had a wonderful time walking through and learning about the Corcovado National Rainforest (Bethany’s gonna write about that). Later that night, we went on the bug tour, which was absolutely amazing (Mom wrote about that). It was very informative and interesting, and I would say a must for any guest staying at the Lodge. We spent the next day snorkeling off an island in the bay (Chaela’s topic). We saw a couple white-tipped reef sharks and multitudes of colorful tropical fish. That night after dinner, my sisters and I headed back to our bungalow so Bethany and I could get changed before baby-sitting the kids of a family (the Eshaghpours) so their parents could go on the bug tour.

Chaela was leading the way with the flashlight, followed by Bethany, and then me. We were walking down the path when Bethany suddenly jumped straight up in the air, and started screaming. Chaela and I immediately asked her what was wrong. She didn’t answer but saying kept saying, “Oh my God! Oh my God! That was soo freaky!” Now for those of you who know Bethany, jumping up down like a kangaroo, and screaming wildly isn’t quite in form with her usual calm, cool, and collected self. It was so completely out of her character, that Chaela and I couldn’t resist laughing at the comical sight. When I realized she was okay, aside from hyperventilating, I edged closer to her, still chuckling. She practically jumped on me, screaming in my ear, “Get me out of here! That was so scary!” “What happened?” I asked, eyeing the bushes that grew up on either side of the path. “Ugh, it was a huge slimy thing, and it wrapped it self around my legs. I’m going back to the lodge!” “Bethany, don’t be ridiculous. We’re almost there.” Bethany insisted on carrying the flashlight and then ran the rest of the way home. Leaving Chaela and I to face whatever it was that “attacked” her in the dark. Although a little incredulous, neither of us were very keen on finding out what it was that had caused Bethany to flip out so. We were soon chasing Bethany yelling for her to wait up. She later said it was about the size of a rat and had wrapped itself around her legs before she succeeded in kicking it off. We think the mystery monster was one of the humongous (a good seven inches long, and very fat) toads that live around the lodge. The only other thing that we did that pertains to my blog entry is when we went swimming in the ocean the day before we left. My sisters and I walked down by ourselves and had only been swimming about 15 minutes before being joined by Dad. The tide was coming in so there were huge waves. We couldn’t really body surf because waves were hitting the shore with such force that it made it, if not dangerous, pretty uncomfortable to be thrown onto the beach. Bethany, however, didn’t listen to me and tried to ride a good-sized wave into shore. She did several somersaults, and was pounded onto the beach. She sat up, with a dazed expression on her face and groaned. She gave a wry chuckle, “Don’t do that”, she said as she brushed off the sand that covered her hair and bathing suit. I couldn’t help saying, “Told ya so.” The towering waves would pick us up, lifting us way above the shore, and rush towards the land. To avoid being tossed when the waves broke, we’d stick our feet straight out, landing gear fashion, and break our descent with our bent legs, trying desperately to remain upright. Once in a while, a big wave would succeed in knocking us over, and we’d go tumbling through the water, legs and arms flailing above the froth, before being tossed up on the shore. The water was filled with
grit from the turbulent waters that arose from the incoming and receding waves clashing together. A couple waves were so strong; the undertow knocked us off our feet. We spent at least an hour and half doing this, before heading off to the pool to rinse the salt water off.

That pretty much concludes our stay at La Paloma Lodge. We all had a great time- I think it was the best vacation we’ve ever been on. I’ve got to go get ready for the day cuz I’m still in my PJ’s (it’s only 2:52 p.m.) and get going on school. I can’t wait to see you all next month.

-Gabrielle

From Ed: Costa Rica Trip

Grace and Peace from our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ

We just spent about ten days over in Costa Rica thereby fulfilling our obligation to leave Honduras every 90 days. What a totally different feeling! It is a modern, clean, friendly country with drop-dead gorgeous scenery. Although I never been to Switzerland, the carefully cultivated mountainsides and breathtaking vistas in Costa Rica reminded me of the photos I’ve seen of it. We stayed in what is known as an apartotel (combination apartments/hotel) with a nice inner courtyard centered around a pool. It was a small place in a quiet residential neighborhood. The girls luxuriated in their new surroundings. They enjoyed hot showers, microwave popcorn and eating gourmet grilled pizza while watching movies on TV for a couple of days. We shopped in the central market for some much-needed clothing. Both Bethany and Chaela (the “startled stork”- that’s Gabrielle’s new nickname for her) have grown out of many of their clothes. I rented a car, much to Karen’s dismay, and we got up early to drive to a nearby volcano (Poás if you’re looking on a map). From the capital, San Jose, the winding road climbs non-stop for over an hour and half up to nearly 9,000 feet. Along the way we passed coffee plantations and strawberry fields clinging to steep mountainsides. Cows grazed along the roadside as we passed through pine forests and tidy little villages. Farmers wearing knee-length black rubber boots, their hoes slung over their shoulders, headed out to the crops. The road to the volcano ends in a parking lot of the national park built to protect Poás. From there you walk along a paved pathway to a wooden platform overlooking the volcano. Dirty white sulfuric plumes of smoke rise up in various places around the crater’s lake. The air is so toxic that within minutes everyone is coughing. It’s not overpowering just irritating. On a clear day it is said one can see both the Caribbean and the Pacific from here. Although it was sunny, clouds were rolling in off the Caribbean. From the platform a narrow trail leads through the dwarf cloud forest to an extinct crater lake. What I noticed on this forty- minute walk through the woods was the complete absence of songbirds. I attributed this to the sulfur fumes. By the time we left the park, the clouds had rolled in and the temperature was the coldest we had felt since leaving the States. We quickly descended out of the clouds and back into the warm sunshine on the Pacific side of the mountain. Not knowing where to stop for lunch, we asked one of the farmers strolling along. We were directed to a delightful chalet overlooking the valley spreading out far below. We were surprised by the quantity and quality of the food until we remembered that we eating (at noon) the main meal of the day. After lunch we drove to a waterfall where you can walk behind the plummeting waters. Chittenango Falls is much bigger so it was nothing great in our spoiled eyes.

San Jose is surrounded by mountains. Early the next morning we took a elightful flight over the mountains down to the southwest corner of the country. The plane climbs high enough to just barely clear these mountains before beginning a slow descent all the way down to sea level. Through the plane’s huge oversized windows, we could look out over the coffee plantations and the fields we had driven through the previous day. Gabrielle remarked that she counted something like 16 soccer fields in the course of our short 30-minute flight. The last few minutes of the flight are flown over the ocean parallel to the coastline. When the plane suddenly turns inland, there is no landing strip in sight, only mountainous jungle. Being a pilot, I unbuckled my seatbelt to catch a glimpse of what we’re going to land on. What I see is not for the faint of heart. A very short, narrow strip of dirt bordered on either side by rainforest, terminates at one end in the ocean and at the other end in a mountain. I appreciate the fact that we’re landing in the direction of the ocean. The plane is down and stopped in less than half the length of the strip. Two old, battered Toyota Landcruisers wait for us when disembark. I am shocked as I watch the pilot depart downwind, heading right for the mountain. I’m equally surprised when I see that the plane is airborne within about 500 feet and high above the mountain when it passes overhead.

Glimmering in the morning sun out in Drake Bay is a giant white yacht like the ones in the James Bond movies. The two Toyota “taxis” rattle and shake as we meander over the jungle path back towards the water’s edge. A tiny fishing village emerges from the undergrowth. Smiling faces, men repairing nets under the palms, lazy waves breaking on the dark sand and the humid heat all say “slow down” to the haggard travelers from the U.S. who’ve joined us. Just looking at their faces causes me to give thanks to the Lord for the peace He’s allowed us to enjoy in Honduras. We roll up our pants before boarding the small launch that will drive us over to La Paloma Lodge. The dock is tucked away in a corner of the bay at the mouth of a small river. It is a very steep, very humid walk up to the top of the hill where the open-air restaurant/clubhouse of the Lodge is located. It’s something right of Casablanca—large ceiling fans, wicker furniture covered with white and green colored pillows, toucans and scarlet macaws zooming by at eye level, the azure waters of the Pacific crashing on the beach far below, and the noise of the rainforest everywhere. A young American Katie (the daughter of the owners), greets us with a warm smile. She moves so slowly and is so mellow that you can tell she’s lived here a long time—23 years in fact. She hands each of us a brightly colored sarong telling us that they’re used here instead of beach towels as a way to conserve water. The first time I see Karen in one I fall in love all over again. As we head to our bungalow we pass giant blue butterflies, lizards and screaming parrots. The rainforest just teems with abundant life. Katie apologizes that our view of the ocean is practically unobstructed as a result of a giant tree being toppled in a sudden rainstorm two weeks ago. She is sad, saying that it was one of the local monkeys’ favorite trees. Practically the entire ocean side of the bungalow is comprised of windows with no screens. It occurs to me we might be joined by some monkeys in the middle of the night. Judging by the look on Karen’s face, I sense she’s thinking the same thing.

We quickly change into our swimsuits and head back up to the pool. Thank God it’s very well hidden in the shade of the trees, keeping the water at a perfect temperature. Only the sundeck, literally built out over the treetops, protrudes into the intense sun of the tropics. After playing in the pool for a couple of hours, I take the girls down to the ocean for their first swim ever in the Pacific. Unfortunately only later did I realize we ended up at the wrong beach. We swam but I quickly realized it was quite dangerous. The strong tide and attendant currents threatened to throw us up on the hidden rocks. When we left the water I went exploring and found the correct swimming beach.

Early the next morning I set out by myself to search for monkeys. From my days in both Paraguay and Gabon, I had an idea of what to look for. About twenty minutes later I came across a family of spider monkeys having breakfast in some nearby treetops. It is a pleasure to observe how playful and affectionate they are. Monkeys stretch to incredible lengths to grasp food. It makes me wonder what our bodies would be capable of if we were to stretch like that each day. Late that same day we all headed up the river in kayaks to explore more of the jungle. Everyone loved it. It’s a great way for a family to travel. Unfortunately upstream we ran into a series of rapids making it impossible for us to continue. The rocks were quite jagged and none of us wore proper footwear. The good news is we had great fun running the rapids on the way back. Instead of heading in, we proceeded out into the ocean. The sensation of being lifted up by the ocean swells in a tiny kayak is exhilarating.

Delicious dinners were served family style with all the guests seated around two or three tables. There were only about twenty to thirty guests and this method forced everyone to get acquainted. We met some truly delightful people. A doctor of nuclear medicine from the University of Tucson and his wife, a nurse and current administrator at the same hospital, are avid birdwatchers. He has been literally all over the world looking at birds. We met an interesting couple from the Florida Keys who have scuba dived all over the world. There was a wonderful Jewish family from New York, Arthur and Abbey Eshaghpour (Persian for “Son of Isaac”), along with their three little kids. Arthur was born in Iran. His family immigrated to New York just before the Shah was overthrown in the early 1970s. He runs a decorative stone company importing beautiful stones from all over the world.

We spent one day on a guided tour of the rainforest in the Corcovado national park. Bethany will be writing about this in the very near future. Gabrielle will be writing about the Lodge in more detail. Chaela will be writing about our snorkeling trip. Karen has already posted her impressions of our bug tour--a highlight of the trip.

God willing, we’ll be heading to Florida on June 7th. We plan to spend a few days in Sarasota with Karen’s family before arriving in Syracuse around midnight Sunday, June 12th. The girls are very excited about returning home. The same cannot be said for Karen. Just the other night she said to me, “You know, I’m really going to miss this place.” Me too.

We continue to see God’s strong right hand upon our lives here. Our hearts are filled with thanksgiving.

Shalom,
Br. Eddie

From Karen: House of Hope & Costa Rica Update

Dear Friends and Family,

I’d like to first start out with the most recent news and then work backward to our exciting trip to Costa Rica.

One of the ships that frequent the pier here in Puerto Lempira sank at the mouth of our lagoon just before we returned. Two men lost their lives and all the ships cargo still lies on the bottom of the ocean. Huge propane tanks were lost. Most people here use it to cook with. Roger came over to see if they could borrow our spare tank. They were in the middle of baking bread at the House of Hope, ran out of propane and found there was none in town to buy. I said sure. He lifted up our spare and found it was empty. He then asked to borrow the one hooked up to the stove. “Sure, I don’t need it until dinnertime,” I replied. He picked that one up. It felt lighter than the empty one. So guess who went without warm bucket baths and ate sandwiches for dinner? Gabrielle pointed out that that’s how our time in Honduras started, out in Cauquira, and so it was fitting that it should end in the same manner. Fortunately the propane dearth lasted only a few days.

Roger had an extra computer monitor in storage that Ed asked if we could borrow. We have no working laptops. Ed figured we could get one of them to work, even though the screen is not working properly, if we had a monitor to connect it to. While searching for it in one of the storage rooms at the House of Hope (“H. of H.”), Roger was stung by a scorpion. Ed said he jumped up and down and yelled loudly for quite some time. The next time I was over there, a family whose house burned down came looking for any help we could give. Katrina had some clothes that had been donated to the kids at H. of H. that were in pretty bad condition. Because she had been given so much in certain sizes we had weeded through them and put the really soiled
stuff aside to give away to someone even more unfortunate than the H.of H. children. Here they were. Believe you me, I was so cautious going through the box of discarded clothing- I was on high scorpion alert.

The newest addition to the H. of H. family is a little malnourished baby girl. I don’t know if any of you remember, but when we first got here, I wrote how Katrina and Roger had a malnourished little girl they were caring for. That girl ended up in the hospital with pneumonia at the same time as the 17 year old burn victim. This is her younger sister. She is 18 months old and weighs about 10 pounds. She looks as if she is about 5 months old, but her physical abilities (or lack thereof) are that of a newborn. She can’t even steady her own head with her weak neck muscles. The grandparents brought her to Katrina after the birth mother ran out on her children. Supposedly, the mother starves her kids in order to “get back” at their biological father. Don’t even ask. The doctor at the hospital told Katrina she got the baby just in time. She was literally at death’s
door. Bethany and I went to the H. of H. the following day. We both fell in love with her. The next day Michaela came with us. She’s smitten too. We took her home from church with us on Sunday to give Katrina a break and to spend some time doting over her. Bethany and Michaela named her Noelle (she had no name). In just 5 days time, she’s gone from no expression to occasionally smiling when we blow raspberries on her belly. How overwhelming it is to see my Bethany cherishing, nurturing and nourishing this starved fragile life.

Holding Noelle in church Sunday morning, looking around at the meager, dirty surroundings, the missing ceiling tiles (if you stare long enough you can spy a rat or two up there), the nursing dog standing in the doorway, and singing one of my favorite worship songs, I realized how hard it will be to leave this place when the time comes.

Now about our trip. We all enjoyed a wonderful time in Costa Rica and have decided that each of us will pick a portion of the trip to write about. I had a hard time believing this country was in the same region of the world as Honduras. Costa Rica is prosperous, modern, clean, ecologically conscious (eco-tourism is big), and breathtakingly beautiful. Chaela absolutely loved it, especially the Paloma Lodge located on Drake’s Bay-due south, on the west coast. She plans to spend her honeymoon there--that’s how great of an impression it made on her.

I have never stayed in a rainforest before. It is not for the faint of heart. The humidity was unreal. When we would hang up a damp t-shirt to dry, it would actually be wetter in the morning. Once something became damp (from sweat) or wet, that’s how it stayed. There were no screens on the window frames, only slatted shutters. The bugs, which were more numerous than those in Puerto Lempira (and in some occasions, BIGGER), flew in and out our bungalow at will. The surrounding grounds were very steep and at night down-right treacherous. Gabrielle wants to write more about the Lodge, so I’ll say no more. Our stay at the Paloma included two excursions. One, a day trip to a rainforest national park (6:45 am departure) is Bethany’s designated topic to write about. The second excursion involved snorkeling off an ocean island (Chaela’s subject).

One evening we went on a two-hour bug tour with a local entomologist (Tracy). WOW. I think it was the highlight for all of us. She started us out in a small grass field and asked us to hold our flashlights up by one of our temples and comb the grass slowly with the beam of light. She asked if we could spot glints of green light, like crushed emeralds sparkling in the grass. These flecks of bright green were the reflection from spider’s eyes. She concluded that there was about one spider every 6 inches. She then led us along the steep narrow dirt roads that snake around the area. On one side of the road there was a dirt wall about 5 feet tall. This area was loaded with nocturnal insect activity. We saw and she handled some of the most gruesome creatures (mostly spiders) I’ve ever seen up close and personal. We were all ready to bolt in case the dreaded creature she was handling jumped out of her hand. Spiders that weave a net to lower on their prey, spiders that build trap doors to snatch unsuspecting insects that venture too close, and spiders that each night take three hours to weave an elaborate web resembling a strip of the finest linen (it’s rectangular, about a foot long and 4 inches wide). One huge spider, I think she called it a “wandering spider” has a relative in Brazil that is so aggressive it’s been known to chase people in order to bite them. Their bite can be fatal. We learned about a fungus that burrows inside a grasshopper and then eats the non-vital organs. The grasshopper’s brain is the next to go, the fungus eating just enough so that the grasshopper will go mad and travel up a tree--not a normal behavior. Once it reaches the top of the tree the fungus has multiplied enough to explode out of the grasshopper’s head, raining new spores on the rainforest floor. I’m not kidding! Before walking back to the Lodge, Tracy’s helper took a Tupperware container out of his backpack containing a large scorpion. He let it crawl all over his hands and arms. He’s somewhat impervious to the venom, so handled it with no fear. Tracy taught us that if you ever have a scorpion on you, just let it crawl off and don’t move. They respond to pressure coming down on them. They love moisture (in the Tupperware was a piece of damp sponge) so be
especially cautious when handling damp towels, etc. Not all the creatures we saw were of the skin crawling nature. We did see a very cute salamander sleeping on a leaf, tiny white “ting” frogs, and a poison dart frog. The tour ended in the Lodge’s open-air dining room. There were huge frogs on the floor looking for food scraps (they love dog food). The rainforest nightlife verges on the unbelievable. Would you be able to go back to an open-air bungalow and sleep tight after that?

The day before our bug education, I was about to lie down for a nap when I noticed three rodent-type feces on the bedspread. A rat in the rainforest? Then I thought “gravity”, and looked directly overhead to see the BIGGEST grasshopper/locust (?) ever. It was about 6 inches long and very juicy. Ed pummeled it and the mess was bad enough that housekeeping put a new clean bedspread on our bed the next day. YUCK!

On our last day in Drake’s Bay we zoomed through the rainforest canopy about 50 feet above the ground on zip lines. Believe it or not, it was not as thrilling as we had anticipated, but we were glad to have tried it. Because the foliage is so lush and abundant you don’t have the sensation of being very high up. Also, the equipment they have you buckled into makes it almost impossible to hurt yourself.

We left Paloma Lodge intending to fly to Tegucigalpa (capital of Honduras), via El Salvador, spend the night then make our way out to Puerto Lempira the following day. We only made it as far as El Salvador. The burning of fields in preparation for planting created so much smoke that all the major airports in Honduras were closed. We spent an unexpected night in San Salvador on TACA airlines. The next day we were only able to make it as far as San Pedro Sula (in Honduras). Eddie rented a car and we drove to La Ceiba to spend the following three days in our favorite hotel there (good food, a pool, hot showers and cable television!). The smoke finally dissipated enough for us to fly back to P.L. Due to the delays we were all ready and anxious to return home.

Thank you Lord for a wonderful trip! How awesome is our Creator! How manifold are all His Works!

We miss you and will see you all soon.

Love in Christ Jesus,
Karen and family