The Caribbean

I know it has been over a week and that I need to update this. 

Independence Day:
September 15th was Independence Day which meant a lot of red, white, and blue.  The night before I went with my neighbors to see their 9-year-old walk in a parade type event to celebrate.  It's put on through the school and the kids all wear the traditional clothes.  Girls wear red, white, and blue dresses.  Boys wear white shirt and pants with a red handkerchief.  So cute to see them all.  For the parade they each make their own "lantern" which can be anything from a square lantern with decorated sides, to a house, to an airplane, to a toucan.  Loved seeing them all.  It's too bad it was dark so pictures wouldn't didn't turn out very well.  Then, the "middle school aged" students played in a drum line, which just meant snare and bass drums that were extremely loud through the whole thing.  Any teacher in the States would think the whole event was complete chaos, but somehow it was really organized chaos.  It was great to experience the pride they had in their nation.  

Weekend Adventures:
The whole LASP group took a trip to Limon, a city on the Caribbean for a long weekend. We visited a coffee, pineapple, and banana plantation on the way there.  In Limon we had to get perspectives of the Limonenses about poverty, because the majority of people there are black and there is stereotypically more poverty in the area.  It was interesting to hear their viewpoints on poverty, discrimination, racism, etc. Saturday we went to the Indigenous tribe of the Kekoldi who are famous for raising iguanas.  It was so neat to have a gal named Gloria share about their way of life, see their village, and hold the iguanas.  Then, we got to relax for an afternoon on the beach.  SOOO wonderful!  I've never felt warmer water than there--had to be at least 80 degrees.  The white sand beach had plenty of sand-dollars, a starfish, and the infamous monkeys and sloths in the trees.  It was a picture of a postcard indeed.  We also got some amazing Caribbean styled meals which have a little more spice and coconut taste to them.  The weekend was thoroughly enjoyable!

That's probably enough to read for now.  If you have any questions about a particular way of life here, feel free to comment and I'll make a blog post about it.  After a while, the Tico way of life becomes natural to me and I forget how different certain things are.

Otherwise, I'm loving my time here, learning a ton, and staying healthy-praise the Lord!