Last day in the Garden of Eden, massaje & caliente agua

(The volcano chose to make an appearance.  I don't think we saw it the whole time we were hee last year.)

   Today is Sunday. It is our only full day at La Fortuna, so church services are scheduled for later in the evening.

Several of our group chose the option of taking a ziplining tour.  Torch members from as young as 12 (I'm guessing), to as old as 60+ (Ricky & Freda Butts from Gulf Shores, AL) flew through the jungle.  I decided to save my $$ and treat myself to a massage later.

Terry had arranged for us to have day passes (lunch & dinner buffet included) at Baldi Springs.  Last year, I chose to stay at our hotel, little did I know what I was missing.  Just imagine a Garden of Eden theme park.  That's the best way I can describe this place.

(Chillin' on the back porch of our room.)

In the middle of beautiful tropical vegetation you have heated lagoons & pools of varying degrees of warmth.  Many of us had sceduled massages, but we whiled our way hiking up and down sampling the many pools.

Several of us had appointments for 4:30, but Diane and I headed to the spa around 3:30.  They had an additional heated pool on what seemed to be the roof.  We relaxed there and enjoyed the quiet.  We headed down tot he spa and they treated us to hot tea and cookies.

One of our leaders had bargained for us to get a free facial if we selected certain packages.  I accepted the deal and got a full body thermal mud massage.  Let's just say it was heavenly!!!  Each massage room was partially open to the lush jungle.  When my massage was over I was directed to a shower.  In  CA is it very common for showers to be cold and this was no exception.  There was a filled tub built in to the concrete that I was hoping was warm water and it was.  After we got out, we got to lounge in our robes and were treated to either tea or water!!  Heavenly!!!

We ended the evening with our church service.  Singing here is what I imagine heaven to be like.  Except, I'll be a beautiful singer in heaven.    Our collection (it was a surprise) went to Cristian and his family who will be moving to the states in a few weeks for Bible college..  The family was moved to tears by this gesture.

Friends, I hope you have enjoyed following along with me on this trip.  Torch Missions 2015 as always has been one epic trip!!      

(Restaurant at Baldi, It was basically like an enormous tree house in the jungle.)

I have some great spa pics, but the internet is so slow right now that I'll have to share them later!!

Over and out!!! xoxo

Saturday..leaving Camp Jennie Sue

(Do you know why it's called the rain forest?  It rains a lot!)



Friday I ended up the night playing cards and then turned in for bed early.  The longer I stay here the better I sleep.  Our cabin, with about 20 bunks for ladies was surprisedly comfortable.

I awoke early, as usual, and go ready quietly so as not to disturb the later sleepers.  I put on my makeup on the porch of the cabin and watched the ducks doing their morning routine.  This routine seemed to consist of morning stretches, some chatting and chastising, before jumping back into the stream for a swim.  (Kind of like our life.)

I worked on Friday's blog while waiting for breakfast.  We would only be at this camp through early afternoon before we would have to say good-bye to most of the church members who had come for the retreat.  Cristian, the minister, and his family would be going with us to our final retreat at La Fortuna.

We finished up our Bible retreat with one more split class.  Margaret Reeves lead ours and had us share our thoughts, feelings and good-byes to our Costa Rican sisters.  She shared that from her own experience that we have no guarantees that we would be back next year.  (She couldn't come last year.)  It is also always emphasized that this team this summer will never be exactly the same again.  She also exhorted us to do everything possible to make sure that we would all be reunited in heaven one day!!

Several of us shared and our hearts were full.  I shared that this experience, I felt, was the most like heaven there is on earth.  That is being surrounded by like-minded Christians while we totally focus on praising God, serving Him, helping others, sharing and learning more about the Bible, and being the hands and feet of Jesus!!!

There also was additional sadness because Cristian and Yendry will be leaving soon to move to the US for two years. Cristian will be attending the Southwestern Bible College and his family will be living in Texas during this time.  Yendry's mom, Maribell, cried and expressed her sadness about not seeing her daughter and granddaughters for two years.  (People in other countries, especially Central America, don't have the freedom to fly to the US.  In fact, Yendry shared how they had been trying to get a visa to study in the US for 8 years.  Each time they apply their is a hefty fee and most are often denied.  They had been denied until this last time.)

Not only that, Maribell was worried because her other daughter and son-in-law had gone to Panama to study.  While there, they had a terrible experience.  As a mother, she felt so bad because she wasn't able to help them as much as she wanted to.  We all assured them that their experience in the US would be much better.  In fact, if it wasn't, several of us said we would go to TX and help.

We packed up and left the camp after lunch around 2.  We hugged and said our good-byes and "Proximo Anos" to the church members that had to leave.  It is great that we can at least stay in touch via Facebook.

We boarded our buses to head to our final destination, La Fortuna. Our rided lasted several hours, but was filled with lots of sights to see has we headed over the moutanins that had been in the background the whole time we were in San Jose.  I will stop here for now, but try to add pictures that will tell the rest of the story.

(Sorry for the crazy selfie.  We made it to La Fortuna and Arenal Paraiso, where we are staying.)

There is a reason they are called Rain Forests!!

Thursday

 

Today was a travel day for us.  Some of our group had to get up early to get to early flights.  Others were dropped off at the airport, as well as one of our leaders dropped off his rental  SUV.  Traveling with 20+ people can be complicated!!

 

These pictures are from where we had lunch, Jalapenos.  This is an ox cart which CR is famous for.  These wheels are often used to make cool table tops!!
 

 

Most of came down with 2 rather large suitcases, mostly for donations and supplies.  We’ve given those things out and added a few souvenirs to our suitcases.  Our bus driver let us know that his tour bus couldn’t make it over the mountains with all of the extra suitcases, so we made arrangements to drop off our suitcases with our last hotel destination. (A bed and breakfast that we’ll stay in on Saturday before we fly out on Sunday morning.)

 

Every drive we take is filled with new gorgeous sights and interesting things to see.  After a few turns and some asked directions, we found the B&B, a small place on top of a mountain, with breathtaking views in all directions. 

 

There were two of these and they could talk and laugh like a little girl!!

 

 

 

 We took a bathroom break and left our extra piece of luggage.  We then headed to La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano. (The most active in the world, or so I was told)

 

 

We found a cool place to eat lunch on the way back down this mountain.  It was called Jalapenos and I ordered chicken fajitas.  It was very delicious, but served a different way that I’m used to, no tortillas and a side order of French fries!!

 

Our whole time here we have been surrounded by mountains off in the distance.  These mountains always have beautiful clouds around the top.  It is hard to explain, but these are called cloud forests, we traveled through these as we made our way to La Fortuna.  Everything we have seen is beautiful.

 

I’m not exactly sure how long our trip was, but there was much to see so it went by quickly.  Besides the cloud forest, we traveled through the rain forest.  There was lush vegetation everywhere!  Needless to say, beautiful!

Bridges where only one car can pass at a time

 

 

We arrived at Arenal Paraiso Resort and checked in to our rooms, which are more like cabins.  The resort has many things to do, many of them free.  (Pools, hot springs pools (straight from the volcano), trails, spas, etc.)  They also have many types of tours that cost extra. (Horseback, boat, hiking, canopy tours, jeep, and many more) 

 

Diane and I had a pedicure before dinner because it had been over a month for both of us and we needed it.  We ended the evening with some songs and a discussion of whether some of us might want to do the tours together. 

 

 

 

 

www.arenalparaiso.com

 

 

 

My plan is to horseback ride for 3 hours and do the canopy tour!!  You only live once!!!  Lord, give me courage and strength!!  J 

 

Hasta luego!!

 

PJ  xoxo