So much ridikulusness: Costa Rica edition - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

Alright ya’ll, here goes round two of: Ridiculous, hilarious, crazy/scary moments… Costa Rica edition.

Our first boarder crossing from Panama to Costa Rica. Things never go quite as planned. They wouldn’t let us into the country until we had proof of leaving so we decided to buy random tickets from a sketchy man on a bus.
The bus drops us off on the side of the road in the middle of no where, and two random cars stop by to see if we need taxis. Well, we obviously do, so we decide to get in and let them take us to our hostel. Later we hear that while in Jaco, you only use the red taxi’s because sometimes any other taxi could be pirates trying to drive you off into the middle of nowhere and mug you for all your stuff. Whew, won’t make that mistake again.
Repelling down 4 waterfalls and hanging upside down on three zip lines flying through the Costa Rican rainforest. The ultimate adventure!
About lit all of Jaco up in flames the night we decided to light lanterns on the rooftop of our hostel. It was a good thought, but fire and rooftops with lots and lots of buildings around was maybe not a good plan.
We like to throw pool parties/ dance parties/ birthday parties and buy pizza for the entire hostel to enjoy. Yeah, Christians are cool too!!
Our bus ride from Jaco to San Jose was just a little full to say the least. Seats where hard to come by so sometimes you get boob checked in the face by some hispanic woman on the public bus. Sorry Cody.
Jumping/flipping off things has always been a certain passion of mine. Especially things like big walls by the pool and the bottom of the cement slide. Yeah, you can bet they didn’t let us do that again, but my motto is “always ask for forgiveness rather than permission.”
Sometimes you juggle your soccer ball on the beach and meet a cool Costa Rican man who wants to play soccer with you. Before you part ways he decides to give you an ice cold coke, and a sweet little note that says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus said to him I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Neat how God puts you in situations at the most random times for the neatest ministry opportunities.
When you get to your ministry sight just to see two dogs who are stuck together after mating. Big dog, little dog… definitely not the most comfortable combo.
We love having big all squad slumber parties in Central Park… aka the big open space between our tents in the gym we’ve been sleeping in. Talk about real vulnerable community living!! I mean we’re adults… when do we really get to have slumber parties like that anymore? Best part is falling asleep to Jacob’s stories every night.
There’s nothing wrong with being a child at heart. Slip n slides, mud wars with the neighborhood kids, playing soccer in the pouring rain and big massive coloring parties are only a few of the exciting things you get to take part in.
We love fun healthy games like water drinking wars all month. Who says being healthy isn’t fun!!
Water pong tournaments is a thing. Congrats Craig and Courtney for being hydration winners!!
Deep, thought provoking conversations into the wee hours of the night is always ok.
I love rain storms. Especially the monsoon kind where the entire tin roof sounds like it’s going to be crushed by the weight. I also like trying to carry on a conversation while said monsoon rainstorms are taking place. It really challenges you to learn to read lips because hearing them is just not really an option.
Watching Jacob climb into his Eno hammock hung 3 high above the cement floor is entertaining to say the least. Safe, no, but entertaining? Absolutely. Definitely impressed with his monkey like maneuvering skills.
Rice and beans… enough said.
Hiking to the top of a mountain with 30 gringos so we can have an incredible view of the entire valley of Los Guido. Absolutely beautiful view, but somewhat scary walk/hike through the slums and mile high grass, weeds, and trash. To say we attracted a lot of attention is a total understatement.
Tent pranks are always a classic. I especially love Jake’s “Eviction” notice “as a result of neighbors complaint of bad odor.”
Watching Shark Tale in Spanish with the neighborhood kids is basically the greatest thing ever. Especially when all 40 kids begin the movie with screeching screams in a very enclosed space. Torture, I tell ya. Torture.
Sometimes our men like to have their nails filed and painted. Don’t lie, Josh and Cody… you loved the light blue and rainbow explosion.
We like to show the October birthday babies our love by crushing eggs on their heads. You’re welcome.
Things I love about logistics. Taking an entire day to travel to the bus station to find that they won’t give us tickets unless we have copies of passports instead of numbers. Ask a taxi driver to take us back to our bus stop to find he’s trying to rip us off by taking roads that are out of the way and stopping at a gas station to air up his tires while the meter is still running. Ok dude, we may be gringos, but we ain’t stupid!
Sometimes team time turns into story time. Aka, Tyler sharing his success story about pooping from three stories high in Nepal. Congats, Tyler. Really… congrats.
Team movie nights every night on the projector. What’s not to love?
By day we live in a sauna, but night we live in a freezer box. This gym is the outside temperature heightened exponentially.
Watching Tyler fall from his ENO hammock after his brand new atlas straps snap in half. Sorry for laughing… I didn’t even see if you were ok first. How rude.
10 men, 3 stalls, 1 problem. Who’s the mystery clogger? We’ve been in Central America for 2 months now, we should know… toilet paper doesn’t go in the toilet!
Peanut butter goes well in anything. Hot chocolate, toast, rice, granola bars, brownies, eggs, oatmeal… EVERYTHING.
Intense knockout games in the evenings ending with a graceful wipe out on the tents. Entertaining to say the least.
3 day weekend off ministry = get a hotel room at the Holiday Inn downtown and sneak 8 people in because we’re cheap and don’t want to spend more than $15. Then proceed to fit 8 people comfortably into beds so we can actually sleep. Well, sleeping wasn’t really a thing, but it doesn’t matter… there was HOT WATER!
And I thought Panama showers were cold. I literally have frost bite, and the shampoo and conditioner is actually frozen into my hair after these showers. Guess we’re down to once a week showers. No shame… no shame.
Sometimes our squad likes to run 5K’s around Los Guidos claiming the city for Jesus. I’m sure the community doesn’t usually see 20 some gringos with smiles on their faces, joyfully running the streets on a regular basis. A few of the cool things that happened during the race: We had invited three older men from the community to run with us as well as multiple children. Several of my squad mates were able to run hand in hand with the children from the community, Jacob was able to pray over Jonathan, the barber a few of my squad mates met while getting their hair cut. We also invited the two older men and Jonathan to church the next day. Jonathan didn’t come, but the other two men came. The squad mates who didn’t run also had the opportunity to pray for an elderly man with a limp who was watching us run. It was also an incredible experience to watch peoples faces as we stood on the sidewalk praying over the city. You could tell they were curious. Running for Jesus was probably one of my favorite days.
I love waking up to 11 little newborn puppies 2 days before we are supposed to leave the country. Thank you, Holly, for blessing us before we leave for Nicaragua.
Volcanic soil face masks with Andrea, Jenna, Tommy, and Josh in the women’s bathroom. Who say’s men aren’t aloud to care about their complexion.
How we celebrate halloween on the race… team themed costumes, throw a dance party in the kitchen, strut the runway, shove donuts in our faces on a string, and watch Hocus Pocus. A few of my favorite costume themes include… “The Men of iSquad” thanks to teams Imago Dei and Anchored in Waves (Also happened to win first and second place in the runway competition. Don’t mean to gloat or anything). “Gangsta Girls” from Sista Fierce, the “Worm Race” by Royal Covenant, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Free Indeed, and “Undercover Cops” by Warrior. Dressing and acting as Josh all night was surprisingly easy. O and let’s not forget… ending the night with carmel apple bar and Hocus Pocus. Ya know… just a typical holiday in the life of a world racer.
Mark and Meg, our ministry hosts this month, so graciously decided they would drive us to the bus station the morning we were leaving. We had to be at the station by 6:30 for our bus that was leaving at 7:30 am. So we had to be ready to go by 4:45-5ish. Well the drive to the Tica bus station was just slightly cramped and bags are large soooo that meant put the passengers in the van and cram the bags that didn’t fit on top of the van on top of the passengers. O and then said van that was clearly over capacity limits and weight limits had to drive up a giant mountain/hill to get out of Los Guido. He was florin it, and I swear the engine about dropped out the bottom. We about had to Flintstone our asses there.