Guacimo!

This weekend I went with my friends, Morgan, JT, Arden, and an intern Kaylee to Guacimo. I had such a great time! The trip started with getting up super early Saturday morning, waiting on the guys, and getting on a public bus! I did not realize this before coming, but I had been there before! Back in 2011 with my youth group when we came to Costa Rica, we spent a whole day at the church in Guacimo! When we got there we were expecting to work with the Children's Ministry at the church but they had a missions conference this week. Which, in my opinion, was super fun anyway. We helped clean the church for the conference that night. Then we went to walk around downtown Guacimo and got smoothies before the service. That night me and JT helped with the kids by helping interpret and playing games. We were expecting it to be super hot, but when we got there was overcast and somewhat cool. Except Sunday. Sunday was so very hot. I woke up and sweat until we got to this side of the mountains. The church service for JT and I was the same as the night before, except more games, which made it a little more enjoyable. The Tico lady we stayed with, mamma Maria, is so wonderful! She is so hospitable and such a fantastic cook!! She certainly helped with my Spanish, especially since that's the only language she knows. She really helped make me feel at home and asked a lot of questions about where I live back in the States. We also got to meet Lauren, a past GAP student from 5 years ago. She came back with us from Guacimo to San Jose. Now, this is where the story gets funny. Sunday at 1 is when we needed to be at the bus station for the 2 o'clock bus. When we got to the station the people Lauren was staying with were dropping her off at the bus station as well. After a short exchange of hello's, somehow it was decided we would go with the pastor of the church and a doctor in the church back to San Jose. A little less than halfway back the van (the same one I was in) got a busted hose. So we pulled off the side of the road, on the side of a mountain, to see what the problem was exactly. When they found the hose, the two men took the good vehicle and went to the nearest mechanic shop (that was open on a Sunday). While they were gone, we were imagining ways we would be murdered on the side of the mountain. One theory was a random stranger would come kill us, another was one of us would go crazy and end up killing everyone. It took a long time for the two men to come get us... When they finally returned we were on our way back in no time! Except, the van was only going 2 MPH and still smoking. So we pulled off to the side of the road and Dr. Allen took Kaylee, Morgan, Arden and Lauren down to San Jose and was going to come back for the rest of us. Well, maybe an hour after they left, JT and I were hanging out in the backseat of the van when we notice a tow truck coming along beside us. At first we thought it was for the other people broke down in the same area, but no. It was for us. While I was freaking out at the thought of being towed, while in the car, going down a mountain the tow truck was pulling us up onto the truck bed. So I can now say I have ridden in a car that was being towed down a mountain. From there on out was smooth sailing, we made it back to San Jose, took a taxi and got home around 7 that night. Five hours of travel for a normal 2 hour bus ride. Moral of the story? Even when they insist on taking you back to San Jose, just take the bus.