Birthday in Playa Tamarindo & Liberia

We had a wonderful weekend exploring some of the Nicoya Peninsula where a lot of the known tourist beaches are. Since it is not tourist season right now, we had the beach to ourselves! And lower prices too! It is a very pretty area! 

We stayed at a hostel that had a super fun hangout area with a nice kitchen & hammocks! We cooked 3 meals there, kinda fun! 

Tamarindo Cabinas where we stayed

Nice warm ocean water! We tried snorkeling out to an island until some jellyfish got in our way and we turned back.

Not very much ocean life here for some reason but we did see a few fish and this cool blue starfish!

Beach & Surf town

Landon got me a massage on the beach for my birthday! This was the view we had when we were done. So beautiful!

Beautiful cat eyes!

Hmm.. lots and lots of mosquitos here :(

Casada for lunch again! 

Waiting for the bus to Liberia

These sweet friends had a birthday cake made for me :) Tina, twins Valeria & Mario, & Claudio (oldest son) 

Little baby doggies :)

The twins, 9 years old, Valeria & Mario

Ever seen a double barrel banana ??

Adios, Ricardo & Efrain!

Sooner than we would have liked, we had to say good-bye to our dear friend Richard as he heads off to start convention rounds and begin in his new field in Guatemala. Gerald & Angela Schober from Nicaragua (originally Washington) came to visit and he left with them to have a few days at their place. We will miss him! He was such a HUGE help to us as we were planning our trip here and helped get us situated. Cannot thank him enough! It was such a sweet experience to travel with one of God's servants and see the love for the people. It was fun to get to know everyone and hopefully we can remember how to get back to some of the homes for future visits :) We are excited to get to know the new workers who are coming in a month or so. Barbara and Hilda. Efrain will be laboring in Panama with his brother Everardo. 

Chilamate & Quepos

We went to Chilamate for the weekend to be there for the meeting on Sunday. It's a little far from where we are staying so we went for the weekend. Also so we could spend some time with this sweet couple! We taught them to play Yahtzee and Spot it! :) We had a sweet little study together on Saturday and then everyone was together for meeting Sunday morning. Then we went to Quepos by Manuel Antonio National Park to meet up with Richard for a few more visits with some that have been listening. So very special to be able to tag along and see the word of God shared just as Jesus would have. It was fun to see Manuel Antonio because we haven't really seen to many tourist places yet. It's a very beautiful place!

Landon checking out the motos with Eladio

My nueva amiga Rose Mary (Rosmy) We had such a fun weekend with this family! 

There is about to be a lot of new butterflies at this farm! Or pretty soon no more leaf to eat...

Dona Beatrice was grinding corn to make corn tortillas. 

Maybe this is why we love visiting this place! Super friendly dogs and sweet little kitties :) Always lots of help for Rosmy in the kitchen. This is my FAVORITE picture!! :) 

Visiting the beautiful farm of Don Simion y Dona Beatrice

Hmm.. What's Landon up to now?? Trying to fix a broken griddle with a saw? .....

Poison Dart Frog just outside Rosmy & Eladio's home

Que Bonita!

Rio Sarapiqui

Such a beautiful place to cool off!

Iguana

Found this picture after we got home from the weekend and asked Landon, What is this?? Oh yeah... forgot to tell you I found a lizard on your pillow.. haha! Good thing I didn't know about it! 

The boys after morning meeting.  Eric, Landon, and Eladio

Waiting for the bus to come with Dona Nelly after Sunday meeting.

It's a Bugs Life

This is Hotel Verde Mar that is owned by our friend Marlene. A very beautiful place close to the beach! 

A view of the hotel from the beach

Manuel Antonio Beach

Nothing like the beach! 

This is the dog Mapache that lives at the home we are staying. He's a great watchdog! We bought him a bone and gave him a bath so he's pretty happy! We have been taking him on walks too :) It's different for us cat lovers but it's fun taking care of dog too :) 

Our first attempt at making Costa Rica style meal. Soup with rice beans and chicken. Although I found out later that actually the beans and rice should have been separate ;)

After all the rice and beans, we have been craving veggies. The bread is something we bought from a very nice man who own a bread store. It's like cinnamon bread. 

Time to give Mapache a bath and get rid of some fleas! 

Our room :)