St. Christopher's visits Costa Rica: Day 4 - April 15, Rainforest Adventure, Drive to San Jose to Meet Bishop Monterroso

I got up at 5 am to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful - and all around were gentle sounds of the forest. There were no creepy-crawlies anywhere in my room or the bathroom next door. I had a very quick cold shower and by now the others were waking up as well. We had breakfast of rice and beans mixed together, scrambled eggs with lots of vegetables (so very good!), toast, fruit, fried plantain, juice and coffee. Lots of toucans in the tall trees nearby and a small lizard on the path back up to the lodge from the dining room. I opted not to do the 2 hour hike through the rainforest as I had a pain in one of my arches and I did not know how rough and slippery the path might be. So Wendy and Anthony went off with William and Matias took me into the nearby town of La Virgen to observe small town life in Costa Rica. First stop - the bank. The original plan was for me to go into the bank with Matias, but once we got there he realized I needed to stay in the vehicle with all our luggage. The big difference with banks in Costa Rica is that you cannot just walk in and out - there is a guard at the door who lets customers in and out. So, I got to spend time "people watching". This was a typical town as we all know it - young moms doing errands with their preschoolers while the older ones are in school, senior ladies meeting each other and catching up on news, young men acting as cool as can be - and slightly older ones with flashy, noisy cars, men greeting each other and doing some business negotiations - this could have been a scene playing out anywhere! After a drive around the town and Matias providing a running commentary about the people, society, and the environment, we stopped at the house of one of his friends - unfortunately no one was home, but I did photograph the beautiful cart on the patio - a signature item of Costa Rica. A short drive brings us back to the main building at Tirimbina and Matias introduces me to Carlos, the director of the Rainforest Center. I have a very interesting conversation with Carlos as he explains the history of the center, the current projects, and the goals for the future. The 3 rainforest walkers arrive and Wendy and Anthony are just thrilled with their experience. William found lots of interesting animal life to observe during the walk and since it was a private group they got to take their time. Another delicious lunch was served in the cafeteria style dining room. Unfortunately William had other work to do but Carlos joined us for lunch. Carlos is very eloquent and committed to the awareness and preservation of the rainforest. We were surprised to learn that Costa Rican children are not taught very much about the environment unless they also participate in extra learning adventures as we were doing. We now have a good 2 hour journey into San Jose for our 2:30 appointment with Bishop Monterroso. Once again we are on a barely 2 lane wide highway, that is always twisting and turning - but the scenery is beautiful! We make it just on time - there was an emergency purchase of candy by Matias from a street vendor - so we now all have a form of taffy stuck in our mouths as we pull up in front of the bishop's office.
We are greeted warmly by Bishop Monterroso and his assistant Roger who acts as his translator (although the bishop does know a lot of English). To summarize our visit of 90 minutes: the bishop gave a brief history of the Anglican Church in Costa Rica and there are now 20 churches that he would like to strengthen and then expand into new areas; there is 1 female priest and 5 female deacons; they have had groups come from the US to work with Vacation Bible School programs (what we call Fun-in-the-Sun) and other projects; his top priority is women and children and they are hoping to build a day care facility which will benefit single and/or teen age moms so they can increase their education and skills and have access to psychologists; he is very pleased at the prospect of developing an ongoing mutual relationship with Canadian Anglicans - and would like to have visitors do workshops on Anglican traditions such as Altar Guild and Servers, as well as innovative expressions of ministry and spirituality such as music and liturgical dance; he thinks it is very important for Costa Rican Anglicans to see people from another part of the world emphasizing the life-changing service aspect of our faith. The time flew by and soon we needed to say our good-byes - after having coffee and cookies of course! - and the bishop expressed his joy at meeeting us and we replied with the same genuine feeling. Matias then took us to our hotel to shower, rest, do laundry, before he returned and we had fabulous dinner together at the hotel restaurant - where it was so cool outside we needed sweaters! When I went back to my room I encouraged a wayward gecko that he would really rather be some place else, thank you very much!

Sunrise from my room at 5 am