Lake Neuron

This Saturday has been dominated by two projects — making gumbo with Alton Brown’s recipe from “Good Eats” (or as close as I could get with items stocked at Kroger), and burning DVDs for my mission trip partners.
The gumbo turned out great.
The DVDs did too — eventually. It took me hours (over a period of days) to work on my photo slideshow and then figure out how to do a DVD with a menu that would let viewers choose between the Costa Rica video and the slideshow. Eventually, it all came together, and now I’ve spent several hours on the repetitive, hurry-up-and-wait task of burning copies. Of course, the reason I need so many copies is that I have so many partners and supporters, and that’s something to celebrate.

The fifth and final installment of the Costa Rica series is now online.

Part four of the Costa Rica series is now online.

Part 3 of the Costa Rica series is now online.

Part 2 of my Costa Rica series is now online.

Part one of my Costa Rica series is now online.

Here’s the rest of them.

I got home to the apartment about 7 tonight. I haven’t posted before now because I’ve been busy with a million little things and I’ve been trying to upload all my photos to Flickr, and I had been hoping to include a photo with my first post.

I can’t find my thumb drive, which I did not take with me and which I now need to move my video footage from the laptop to my desktop computer.

I’ve been up since yesterday morning. Because our flight left at 6:45 this morning, we had to allow for two hours at the airport, three hours of drive time from La Fortuna back to San Jose, and a little extra time just to be sure (we’d had a flat tire on the way to La Fortuna a couple of days earlier). So we checked out of the hotel at 1 this morning, and with that schedule we didn’t bother going to bed last night.

(As it turns out, we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare — an hour ahead of schedule, and before the airport tax window or the Continental Airlines check-in had even opened.)

It was a great trip. I’ll be working on my newspaper stories tomorrow, and hopefully the video (even if I have to buy a new thumb drive to do it). I will try to post a photo along with a link to all my photos at some point before I go to bed tonight. Hopefully, that will be soon. I’m pooped.

We went to see the La Fortuna waterfall today — and it was quite the experience.

The trip starts with a 30-minute horseback ride. My only equestrian experience was riding a mule a short distance on my first foreign trip, in Nicaragua. I have some weight and self-image issues that cause me to worry about this. Would the horse be able to handle me? Would I be able to mount and dismount?

I was assigned a strawberry roan named Rosita and made the trip relatively well. I was sort of tense at times, when we´d speed up, but I got over it.

The horseback trail takes you to the top of this ridge, from which you have to descend a hiking trail with many, many steps down to the waterfall.

Down is not the problem. I knew I´d have to come up those same steps. At the bottom, you have to wade through thigh-deep water to get to the waterfall. The waterfall was spectacular, and I´ll share photos when I get back home.

I knew I´d have trouble with the return climb, so Frank and I left 10 minutes ahead of the rest of the group. I stopped four or five times, completely out of breath, but we made it to the top just as the rest of the group caught up to us.

Then, Rosarita took me back.

Was it stressful? Yes, at times, because I worry about everything. Was it worth it?

You bet.

We´ve only gotten fleeting glimpses of the top of the volcano. I´m hoping I can get a good clear shot some time before we leave overnight Tuesday-Wednesday.

Hi. This is NOT one of my pre-written, pre-scheduled posts. This is actually me, from Costa Rica. The trip is going well, the people are fantastic, and I can’t wait to tell you about it when I get back.

Tomorrow, we’re taking a break from mission responsibilities and going to the beach.

Talk to you all soon.

Carolyn Schussler, one of four members of the Costa Rica team, has had a family medical emergency and is going to be unable to make the trip. Please keep Carolyn and her mother in your prayers.

I am going to have to take over teaching the soap-making workshop. I know it, I’ve done it before, but I wasn’t preparing to lead it this time, and so I’m going to have to put together the equipment and supplies I need to take.

Today is one month from my Costa Rica trip.

It is also five days away from my sermon at Annual Conference. I am humbled, and a little surprised, by how many of my friends, family and fellow church members are making the effort to come and hear me that night. The church is planning a carpool. They announced it a week ago and then moved up the time this week after deciding that seating would be at a premium.

I bought a new shirt and tie today to wear that night.

Here, for your amusement, are a few random moments from training yesterday. Later, I will post some excerpts from Gail Drake talking about the purpose and vision of LEAMIS.

Team Costa Rica, originally uploaded by jicarney.

From left: Frank Schroer, Carolyn Schussler, me, Megan Siegrist

Well, it was a great day of planning. Some of the things I have told you about the trip turned out to be out-of-date. We will be in one location after all — Heredia.

I’ll have some video to show you, but probably not until tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to the trip even more.