TravelStream™ news feed for member george_r_hall on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/george_r_hall en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 16 May 2009 21:06:51 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242522060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242522060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242522060/tpod.html Sat, 16 May 2009 21:06:51 -0400 San Jose, Costa Rica, 2009

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Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Emma and I took a zip line tour of the cloud forest. They are proud of saying that most travel magazines rate this as the best zip line tour in the world. I believe it. It was a lot of fun. I think there were 19 zip lines,and for fun they had what they called a Tarzan swing. It was kind of of small bungy jump, except that you we seated and buckled in. It was pretty intense. Emma got a movie of me screaming on it, anmd I have a m ovie of her.

Afterwards we did a walking cloud forest tour with the high foot bridges.

Afterwards we did nothing (strangely) for the afternoon.
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Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Today we started out for Monteverde. First we stopped and toured the school for kids with disabilities. Emma and Megan plan to volunteer here for some par tof their next three weeks. It is really great. Great facilities and equipment. Everything seems under control. There are no children that are not involved in some kids of meaningfull actgivity. Charlie tell us that this is the oldes school for kids with disabilities in Central America, and that they travel all over CA consulting and helpìng start programs. Her is a school I would be very pleased to have Andrew attend.

We arrived in Monteverde checked into our rooms and went on a night tour of the cloud forest. We saw a really big sloth with baby in a close tree, lots of racoons, a large tarantula and amny insects. Our guide was very interesting and his spanish was very clear and distinct so that we understood everything.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242350760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242350760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242350760/tpod.html Thu, 14 May 2009 21:38:16 -0400 San Jose, Costa Rica, 2009

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Los Guido, Desamparados, Costa Rica

btw for you spanish speaking folks out there..Guido is a last name and so Los Guido is correct in this case. It is "The Place the Guido Family Lives"...used to live..I guess.

Onother overwhelming day. More painting. Last night we had a traveling Methodist evangelist. He did some Ranchero style singing and dancing before preaching. It was an amazing slice of culture. He showed a film I was not crazy about (except that it was interesting an a socialogical kind of way...more on the film later) but the singing and dancing was great. Then after the preaching the church band cranked up and the place went a litle crazy. The children always have a big dancing thing and sometimes a conga line kind of thing going on (want to try this at Chamblee UMC????). They always come and invite the North Americans. Emma and Megan were dancing a lot. I actually was a little too and I was invited to join the modified conga line and accepted too for a while.

The Ponce family is just SO kind and engaging.

I was able to do a little computer consulting. Pastor Edgars family has a new computer and I was able to help them set it up to do some photo processing and viewing. They dont have much computer experience. I show them a few simple things and a big chear would go up from the entire family. Some things had been driving them crazy and I helped figure them out. They were VERY excited. I also helped them set up for some multimedia stuff they want to do in the chuch. Interestingly enough the instructions for the projector were all in english. Arent they all in spanish always at home. I guess those companies hire MBAs to amke sure noone every gets instractions in their own language.
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Los Guido, Desamparados, Costa Rica

The hospitality of Pastor Edgar and his family is a bit overwhelming it is so great.

We have been welcomed into their home as guests. We are eating at the family table. They are so kind and put you so at ease about excercising your spanish and making big mistakes. We all laugh at each other..actually we just all just laugh a lot. We are here in a week of special services to welcome the community. Los Guido is a VERY poor area near the capitol. The Methodist Church there has a vibrant community outreach program. We assisted in serving a meal to children that would not eat otherwise each day. We also painted a lot. Tonight there was a prayer service before the main services start tomorrow. They get pretty intense during Church and the prayer service was even more so.

I´ll edit this and add more later.

btw.. Megan´s spanish is rocking. When I had been studying the amount of time she has I wouldn´t speak at all, but she is trying and learning a lot. It´s really getting better day by day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242176460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242176460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242176460/tpod.html Thu, 14 May 2009 21:11:44 -0400 San Jose, Costa Rica, 2009

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San Jose, Costa Rica

I have been out of computer range for a few days so I will catch up with very brief details of each day. There are many more thingse to say so I will update the blog later with details. I only have a little bit if time withe the computer.

Today we worked again at the orhpanage. We painted doors and hung closet doors.

The construction supervisor for the missions organization (Wihlbert) and Daniel (our driver and part of the family of the pastor in Los Guido) are trying to learn english and we are all trying to learn spanish. For us learning Spanish is very enriching...for Daniel and Wihlbert it can mean a dramatic increase in maketable skills and income.
All around the house there were small groups of language learners. We would tell a story in english and they would try to translate with our help, then they would tell a story in spanish...... This really seemed like the kingdom of God come in a small way. On a mission trip the work is something you do to keep your hands busy while you form community..which is what it is really about (my mission trip philosophy). Sitting in a circle and deciding to form community now is kind of like pulling a plant up and checking the root every few minutes. Real community kinds of sneaks up on you while you are doing something else.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242005520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242005520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1242005520/tpod.html Mon, 11 May 2009 20:43:20 -0400 San Jose, Costa Rica, 2009

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San Jose, Costa Rica

We got up early and went for a short trip to Poas. We thought we would not get there in time to see the crater. Coulds come in and obscure it, but we were lucky. We had a great clear view for about 10 minutes before the clouds rolled in. It is active with a big steam vent and a beautifil volcanic lake. It was quite cold so Emma and Megan returned to the museum and gift shop. I took a hike. Could cover was total by that time so I didn´t see anything but it was a great walk in the woods.

Poas was the place where the big earthquake happenen earlier this year. We saw a lot of washed out roadway and big clacks in concrete houses. We saw some totally detstroyed houses. We had to turn back because of a closed road and return a different way.

After this we had lunch and went to Log guido for the Church service at the Methodist Church. This is a very poor neighborhood and the churh and its outreach are vibrant. Pastor Edgar and his family seemed like old friends and welcomed us warmly. His two sons have started english lessons, so its their turn to speak english some and be embarassed. I did that all last year (in spanish). The Church service was 3 hours but VERY lively.

We will be returning there to stay a couple of night later in the week.
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San Jose, Costa Rica

Today was our first work day. We are helping to renovate a house in the orphanage Vista Del Mar. They have some impressive new facilities since last year. They have a large modern chicken house so that they have fresh eggs and sell the extras. Also they are completing a hydroponics facility. It´s pretty big. I think they had some leadershp problems and changes and the new leadership is very energetic. Emma and Megan played with kids when possible. We all worked on closet doors today. Today is Emmas birthday. Everyone sang to her today. We went to the Columbian bakery for treats to celebrate.

Putting hinges on a few doors doesn´t seem like much but we are a worshipping Christain community and there are many parables about seeds, and they are very little things too.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1241918460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1241918460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/3/1241918460/tpod.html Sun, 10 May 2009 21:31:55 -0400 San Jose, Costa Rica, 2009

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San Jose, Costa Rica

It was a travel day like other travel days..long. Luck is with us on this trip. Emma and Megans bags both weighed EXACTLY 50 pounds. A lot of that is supplies for what we will be doing.

The week is shaping up like this

Sunday-- A short day trip to Poas volcano, then Chruch service in Los Guido.

Monday -work in the orphanage.

Tuesday --work in the orphanage, then in the evening go up to Los Guido, spend 2 nights there and work with various social outreach programs.


Wed---- Los Guido


Thursday - work in Los Guido the return to spend the night at Guadelupe again.

Friday - visit the school for kids with disabilities for a quick visit to introduce ourselves and let Emma and Megan get a look around. They will be working here a lot for the next three weeks.
Head off for 2 nights at Monteverde.

Sunday - return me to the airport from Monteverde. Emma and Megan are staying.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/2/1216347600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/2/1216347600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/2/1216347600/tpod.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:25:28 -0400 Los Guido Costa Rica

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San Jose, Costa Rica

I forgot to mention a great moment for me yesterday. Emma and Hannah were playing with some of the little guys during a break and i had some of the older kids read me stories from a Spanish children's Bible we have with us. They read quite well. They also like to speak a little English with us. They all say they learned it at school. Actually is is mostly greetings and salutations. When we get to a real conversation we have to go back to Spanish. It kind of seems like their school is serving them well. I hope so. The pastor tells us that most of the kids they serve have parents involved in drug trafficking, gangs and prostitution, and they are hardly aware they have children. He tells us that no one plays with them or gives them hugs ( or good meals) except for the folks at the church.

Everyone was sad to be finished in Los Guido. Its always that way on these trips. We actually didn´t get a lot of work done today. Joe and I moved some dirt. The ladies were cleaning the place where they had been plastering the wall, so that the floor could be worked on. A big rain started and we mostly just played with the children after lunch. We did a few odd jobs when they came up, but mostly gave attention to the children.

It has rained most every day but we have been pretty lucky in that it has not interrupted work much.

It was really delightful listening to the rain and reflecting a bit in between jump rope, bubbles, coloring. Pastor Edgar started each day with a short devotional with us. Todays was really good and useful for me.

We made arrangements to go out to a restaurant tonight. We asked Charlie in plenty of time so that our cook (Rosa) would know not to shop for us. We took Emily (the intern that has been with us mostly) and our driver. Charlie recommended Doña Lena. It serves typical Costa Rican food on banana leaves. In a lucky turn of events, Randall (one of our favorite drivers) brought another group to Los Guido right before we left. They will be starting work there tomorrow. I asked Charlie if we could swap drivers, since we had just met the new one that day. He worked it out and we were glad to be able to take Randall out with us. Everything was great and we had a great party. The food was amazing and we laughed a lot. Randall (driver) and Emily (intern) are both a lot of fun.


Hannah and Emma made bracelets for all of the kids (100 bracelets) and made bracelets with names for all of the pastors family. It is interesting top see how people think of generous things to do on these type of trips. Joe has been helping Wilbert (the construction supervisor) with his English. He gave him his spanish-english dictionary today when we were done. How do we pack up the impulse to generosity and take it home with us?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/2/1216002960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/2/1216002960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/george_r_hall/2/1216002960/tpod.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:44:40 -0400 Los Guido Costa Rica

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San Jose, Costa Rica

We visited Volcan Irazu today.

It was about 11,000 feet so it was cold. It is active with the last major eruption in 1963 and a few small ones since. It is a lunar landscape looking place with three craters. The most deep and recent has a beautiful lake at the bottom.



We went to the church service in the afternoon in Los Guido.

It a sort of squatters town where immigrants and the very poor Costa Ricans build houses of tin, plastic and a few blocks. The church service was very energetic. The young people dance during the music and they came to get Emma and Hannah to dance with them.

They danced a long time. I would call it aroebic worship, good for the body and soul. The pastor was very emotional and moving. Our bus driver indicated he was deciding to follow Jesus. There were lots of children.

We are going back tomorrow to help in a feeding program they have for children in the community. They server them 2 meals.

I am speaking a lot of Spanish. More than on any other trip (execpt the spanish immersion one I guess). I guess I am better and more confident. I think also that the legendary friendliness of the Costa Ricans makes them really enjoy talking, and they are patient with our limited Spanish.

Everyone is happy and tired. No time to post pictures, Maybe tomorrow.
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