More from Costa Rica

Friends and Family,

"The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made." Thank you so much for praying. All of the procedures that Dennis has been through have come without complication. (Except for the passing out at the sight of blood thing. : ) )

Dennis had his first stem cell treatment today. Everything went smoothly. He received umbilical cord stem cells in his spinal cord. The stem cells from the liposuction will not be used until Monday. He is doing fine. Tomorrow is his birthday and he does not have any procedures scheduled, so the kids and I are going to stay with him and do something fun.

The kids and I were at Los Guidos again today. I hope to post some pictures soon – I will have to figure out how to do that. My kids are getting more comfortable with Spanish. They can say, “What’s your name?” and “How old are you?” and are getting brave enough to use it.

The Los Guidos community is 90% squatters – people from other countries like Nicaragua who can not legally work here. Still, they come because it is better than life in their own country. Because of this, the community of Los Guidos is very poor. However, the children that we have come in contact with seem happy and healthy. Pastor Edgar interacts with all of them and he has made my kids feel more welcome by “picking” on them. He like to talk like Donald Duck, in Spanish of course, which is quite a talent.

Today was much like yesterday. We painted, played with the children, and served lunch. The pastor’s wife serves our meal separately from the children. We eat with Edward, the pastor, and any other men that are working there that day. His wife and her helper sit with us, but do not eat. Yesterday she fixed typical Costa Rican food which is chicken with rice. She also served potato chips out of the bag that were similar to our potato chips, just a bit more done. We also had salad with a little bit of oil for dressing. The drink was made with a fruit I didn’t recognize. Everything was good. The favorite thing, however, was the oranges. Pastor Edgar taught my kids how to eat oranges. He peeled the orange with a knife until it looked like a white ball. Then he sliced the top off and showed the kids how to suck the orange out by squeezing it, almost like you’re drinking from a cup. Nate really got into this and they laughed at his enthusiasm. Pastor Edgar thought he had the ages of my kids down, but he had Matt and Nate confused. He thought Matt was the younger because of his size, but when he found out that Nate was the youngest, he had a good laugh and the man next to him flexed his muscles and pointed to Nate.

Today we ate hamburgers which were similar to U.S. burgers, but had a piece of ham on it in addition to the meat. We also had a large slice of fresh pineapple and, of course, more oranges. Our drink today was made from another type of fruit, light brown in color, that I still didn’t recognize, but I thought it tasted good.

Tonight we ate at the Italian restaurant in the hotel. It was Matt’s turn to impress the waiter. They didn’t have a small portion of the lasagna he wanted, so we ordered the regular portion for him. He ate every last bite. He may be small, but on occasion he will put away more food than his brother.

In Costa Rica there are many restaurants that we know. There is McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut, and probably others. I saw a Payless Shoe Source today and there are Walmarts that just go by different names like MegaSuper. The supermarket that we shopped in was owned by Walmart. You can tell because walmart.com will be printed at the bottom of the receipt. Everything was clean and well organized. The prices seem to be more expensive than at home. We went to Subway last night, and I didn’t consider all of the choices there are at Subway and that I would have to communicate all of that in Spanish. However, with their broken English and my broken Spanish and a lot of pointing, we managed to get everything we needed.

Another interesting thing about Costa Rica is the driving. It is insane! I am so glad I do not have to drive here. Everyone uses their horn to “talk” to other drivers, in essence saying, “I’m going, get out of my way!” or “I’m here, don’t run over me.” Pedestrians and motorcyclists are free to maneuver in and around the traffic any way they choose. Our drivers pass close enough to pedestrians that they can touch the vehicle and this doesn’t bother them (the pedestrians, I mean)! Vehicles pass this closely as well. However, even though it is seemingly chaotic, we haven’t seen an accident, so I guess it works for them. San Jose has so many people that each vehicle is assigned a day of the week that it can’t drive in the city.

Please continue sending comments and emails. It is good to hear from everyone at home. We will try to keep you updated daily.

Love,
The Trammell Family

Psalm 145:13b