My Costa Rican Adventure: Uvita

Wow...what a weekend! Layne and I took a taxi to the bus station in San Jose on Friday afternoon. Our plan was to go visit some friends and volunteer our time to help them out in Uvita, Costa Rica. Before I go any further, I'd like to tell you what they do. My mother's church (New Covenant in Denham Springs, LA) helps support this young missionary couple who live in Uvita. Their names are Jason and Sarah Smith and Jason's mom attends church with my mom. So, that's the connection. Jason and Sara work with an organization called Answering The Call ministries. Because I didn't want to get any of the info wrong...I copied this bio off their blog...

"Jason & Sarah moved to Costa Rica in January of 2007 on what was to be a “one-year” stay. Since then, they have settled into their new life and community. They work with Answering The Call, a mission organization based out of the United States, working to advance Christ’s Kingdom in “hard to reach places” and throughout the world.
Their ministry with ATC is two fold. They serve at the ATC training facility as the Directors of Refugio Solté. This training center has been set into motion with the vision of training and providing a place of refuge for hard to reach places throughout the world, specifically the “10/40 Window”. In addition Refugio Solté hosts numerous church groups and families throughout the year. This opportunity allows them to minister to teams in a unique way during their stay at Refugio Solté through service, local outreach, worship, and teaching.
In addition, Jason & Sarah oversee an internet café ministry, Café Perica. The café is a local ministry of Refugio Solté in the town of Uvita de Osa providing a forum where people can come into contact with Jesus Christ. It is here at Café Perica where they pastor a small church gathering called La Reunión (The Reunion)."

Here's a little Youtube video about Refugio Solte...http://youtu.be/ukxsWWKDL7I

It's a really cool place and Layne and I went down there to do whatever we could do for them. So, Friday afternoon we go to the bus station and I was just a mess. I was so scared that we'd take the wrong bus and end up lost. It all worked out, though. We caught the 5:30 bus and arrived in Uvita at 9:30. Jason picked us up and took us to the internet café where we slept on the floor on air mattresses. It might sound bad, but it wasn't. They were comfy enough and we were tired. On Saturday morning, Jason came to pick us up. We stopped at a bakery to grab some pastries for breakfast and we also got this braided bread thing that was filled with chicken. Can you say YUM! We saved it for lunch as we headed up to the Refuge. Even though it was only 4 miles up the mountain, it took abut 30 minutes to get there. The 4wheel drive 1977 Jeep really struggled, but finally made it to the top. This is me and Layne on the way to the top....the views were amazing...

Once we got to the refuge, it was breathtaking. First of all, it's in the rainforest, so it was soooo green, but secondly the sounds were amazing. Here's a little video that Layne took of the property. Just listen to the hisses and buzzes out in the jungle...

http://youtu.be/layGeOTD9lA

It was really amazing. Once there, we set our lunch out to heat up on the hood of the jeep and started raking grass clippings under intense sun.

It was a very long day...and very very hot. We were beat when we were done, but it looked good.

You can't see us very good, but that's me, Dan (Jason's intern), Jason, and Layne.

The next morning Layne and I went down to the beach before having to catch our bus back to San Jose. Can I just say WOW?!?! Sitting on a log, I looked up and saw coconuts hanging from the tree...