Pressing on in this God-made adventure

Penguins and Toothbrushes

2007-09-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

Just over 4 years ago, while I was on a missions training course in Guatemala City, we had to put together a tract, and then use it in evangelism... our mission was to do some outreach to tourists in Antigua Guatemala, and we were to use these very tracts. So I put together a rather tacky-looking tract (in terms of presentation), with writing on both sides of an A4 sheet of paper, folding it twice... It´s not so much the presentation, but the nature of the content which will surprise you - at God´s ability to give inspiration and then to get you to the right place at the right time.
That day I was paired up with Edwin Parada from El Salvador... We hit the central park which, as expected, was packed with tourists from overseas. Before I tell you exactly how God got us to the right place a the right time, I would like you to read the following, which I typed out directly from the tract as it was, scanning in the original graphic that my friend Dylan Wilson put together for me as well:

Penguins and Toothbrushes – Demystifying Sin

“Killing is bad, killing is wrong – there needs to be a new stronger word for killing… like bad-wrong… or badong. That´s it – killing is badong!” – From the movie, “Kung-Pow”

I would equate the word “badong” with “sin”; but to see sin as it really is – what it all boils down to – let me tell you a true story about penguins and toothbrushes:

About three years back, there was an oil-spill off the West Coast of South Africa close to Cape Town. It wasn’t anything spectacular except for the fact that it threatened to wipe out two thirds of the world’s “Jackass Penguin” population – on an island called Dassen Island. Consequently, in a rapid response, the world’s biggest bird-rescue-operation to date was set in motion. Tens of thousands of oil-congealed Jackass Penguins were captured and transported to a warehouse about 20 miles inland. Experts from all over the world were flown in, and with the help of thousands of daily volunteers from the general public, the clean-up lasted the better part of 2 months.

I took part as a volunteer during one of the evenings, donning the generic, yellow, waterproof overalls and black rubber boots. My duties ranged from unpacking boxes of frozen fish to holding penguins with all of my bodily might – so that they could be given iron injections, re-hydrated and force-fed. Of course, the most sought after task was the actual washing of the penguins – scrubbing off the thick, black oil. This sure beats sweeping penguin poop out of their holding pools!

So I got my turn; once again holding one of these feisty critters in my grip – taking care to immobilize the beak – so that the little guy would not bite through my glove… and flesh! A second person was armed with a water hose (connected to warm water) and the tool of the day – a tiny toothbrush. Every square inch of the penguin was painstakingly scrubbed with a special liquid soap using downward strokes, going with the direction of the tiny feathers.

Later on that evening, it dawned on me that basically, we as human beings come into this world with a similar predicament to the oil-covered penguins. It’s just a matter of time before an oil-coated penguin would freeze to death in the cold ocean current – since the oil congeals in the penguins´ tiny feathers and the insulation and body heat is lost rapidly.

Just like the Jackass Penguins on Dassen Island really had no say in the matter (the oil-spill was beyond their control) – so we as people are born into this life (whether we realize it or not) – “covered” with sin.

The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3vs23.) To seemingly add insult to injury – it also says, “For the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Just as penguins have absolutely no way of scrubbing oil from themselves – because duh!! – they have no hands; so it turns out that we as human beings take on the impossible task of trying to straighten ourselves out. The reality is that we need a little help – actually quite a lot – in fact all the help we can get.

Beyond their comprehension, the penguins were captured by a “saving grace” – little realizing that if they quit struggling and squirming - they would be cleaned a whole lot quicker. The less they tried to help themselves, the better!

It is explained in Romans 3vs28 – “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” Faith in Jesus Christ is our saving grace - just as Jesus claimed, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.”

Jesus laid down his life for us on the cross, and took it up again. He dealt with the consequence of sin for us (remember the fate of an oil-covered penguin) – because the blood of his sinless life was shed in our stead. This was God’s purpose for us. He flung a door wide open, and as it says once again in Romans, “We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in the blood of Jesus to take away our sins.”

Incidentally, the entire project was an overwhelming success. They fitted one of the rehabilitated penguins, called “Percy”, with a device that could be tracked via satellite – and released him a few hundred miles up the coastline… and Percy found his way back to Dassen Island.

May God bless your endeavors as you travel, and may you discover the one thing in this world worth living and dying for – Jesus Christ.

Your friend from South Africa
Frank Degenaar

Some of you will remember this happening in South Africa a while back... and a few of you I actually went to volunteer with! So it will bring back some pretty vivid memories. Now... the part about being at the right place at the right time: Myself and Edwin spoke with 4 people that day - first a trio of girls from Iceland sitting on a park bench. Edwin gave them the parable of the prodigal son as I translated from Spanish to English (with my then very limited vocabulary!). That´s a story and a testimony in itself... but let´s move on to the next person that we spoke to - a young guy from Germany. He was particularly resistant to us sharing anything with him, and so just before leaving I produced the tract that I had written up... and as soon as he saw the graphic of the penguin and the title, his face lit up, and he asked me, "Is that what happened to the penguins in South Africa?", by which he opened up a dialogue which lasted some time. We were soon to discover that he traveled to South Africa especially to volunteer in the penguin rescue operation - which means that both of us were almost definitely in the same huge warehouse at the same point in time. That blew my mind away, because God is able to meet people where they are at if we´re willing to take a step of faith.
He was eager to read the tract at the close of our conversation... and there he had it: the straight-forward message of the Gospel using vivid symbolism that he would no doubt have understood, since he got tons of first-hand experience.
We left it in God´s hands, who in the first place orchestrated this meeting, far from happenstance or mere coincidence. I know this because God is in the habit of answering prayer... and I know that as I sat down to write the tract, I asked Him to show me what to write.
God bless you!

University of Costa Rica Outreach

2007-08-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

In our Bible study this evening, when giving testimonies, I thought I´d try this approach: "I recently added 4 friends to my "Facebook "... at which everyone laughed, perhaps thinking it to be a joke... which was what was intended... though really not as superficial as everyone may have thought, since it alluded to people I had just met the previous week - and is the case, when God brings people together for a purpose, there is a lasting fellowship that surpasses the phrase, "All good things must come to an end."
As you may all know Ana and I live in an apartment which is part of a much bigger house - which is a campus ministry house that Scott has been in for the last 6 years. Besides the students that live here, which is a ministry in itself, Scott does a lot of outreach to the students on the campus of the University of Costa Rica, which is literally a stone´s-throw away.
Last week we had a group of 5 people come down from Minnesota for a week of outreach on campus, as we shared the love of Jesus Christ with whomever we encountered.
We had Pastor Johnathan, Ore, Cole, Angela and Jelani from Minnesota, as well as a handful of people who were able to make it from day to day.
I paired up with Ore, also known as the Nigerian fireball - so we were the "African team". Here you see us just before heading out to the campus, myself armed with my harmonica and Ore with a percussion instrument called a "Cabasa". In the midst of translating Ore´s testimony to Spanish for the students we chatted to, I found myself living the steps he took in accepting Jesus Christ as his Saviour. All of the fun was to be had engaging students in a discussion of where their spiritual lives were at, and sharing the beauty of what it means to follow Jesus Christ.
There were numerous testimonies amongst all in the group - of people we´d ministered to and lives that were impacted - but undoubtedly the most impacted are inevitably those, who as they share their faith, get to see God being as faithful as we know Him to be in meeting the needs of so many who are empty without Jesus.

In this photo, the people sitting on the couch behind me from left to right are: Cole, Carlos, Jelani, Ana, Ore and Wainer.
Cole had an impressive level of Spanish, and held his own when ministering to people on campus. Carlos and Weiner are students at the UCR and we see them most days at the campus house. Jelani has a passion for soccer, unlike any American I´ve ever met.

At the grill you´ll see Ana, Angela, Cole and Johnathan, who single-handedly cooked all the meat. On the Friday evening after a week of evangelism, we has a barbecue/Braai for the team and all who were invited during the week. Johnathan heads up the campus ministry in Minnesota, and was an inspiration to all of us here in Costa Rica, as he is quick to get to the heart of a matter and single out what God want´s to act upon in an individual´s life.

That evening Ana showed a hidden talent for playing the drums... it´s amazing what a little inspiration can do!

Ana also found her kindred-spirit in Angela - not only ministering on campus together, but perhaps more noticeably racking up an impressive assault of photos throughout the week.

For me, our fellowship and time spent together in a brief 10 days is summed up in a song, (which comes directly from a Bible verse) which goes, "Though we are many, we are one body, we are one Body in Christ"... and in Spanish, "Aun siendo muchos, Somos en Cristo, un solo cuerpo de amor"... and in "Yoruba", a language spoken in Nigeria, which Ore helped me add into the song, "Wo bi ase poto, ara kan la wa, ara kan la wa inu Jesu."

Medical Trip to Buenos Aires, Costa Rica

2007-07-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

A number of weeks back on yet another medical trip - this time to a Southern part of Costa Rica, and with only 16 pre-med students - we found ourselves in a town called "Buenos Aires"... and held clinics in a nearby village called "Terraba" - an indigenous community where a number of the older people still speak their mother tongue apart from Spanish.
We held the clinics in a school classroom for two days after having gone house-to-house on the first day, inviting people from the surrounding community to come in for check-ups and any other conditions that required a Doctor´s attention.

Most memorable of the entire trip, was a "patient"... a 93-year-old gentleman by the name of "Serafín" (Seraphim in English) who came to have a check-up upon invitation... and as it turns out, he´s a lot healthier than men scores of years his junior. All of his vital signs were checked and there was nothing amiss, including a blood test we did to check his blood-sugar levels.
A number of years back he was diagnosed as having diabetes, and his blood-sugar levels were hitting the roof... not theses days!
To all of us it was evident that the real purpose of his visit was to share his deep faith in God´s ability to heal and the power of prayer as a Christian. He had an infectious enthusiasm and energy, as he kept punctuating his testimonies with fervent "hallelujahs!"
As our small group of four students were interviewing him, and I was translating back and forth from English to Spanish and Spanish to English... I found myself being the link in relaying his testimony... one that so many people sorely need to hear.
He still goes out every day to work in the fields, using a "machete" amongst other things - knocking stripes off the younger men. He repeated time and again how prayer and more prayer is what gives him strength every day.
He gave us a number of testimonies, initiating a dialogue with the question, "Have you ever seen a person raised from the dead?", to which no one could give an affirmative. He then went on to tell us of how he had laid hands on a young boy who had died, and prayed for God to bring him back to life, which happened just as it did in the Old and New Testament. He also gave us an account of how he had laid hands on a woman´s stomach to pray for God to heal a giant cancerous tumor that had grown... and when the woman went back to the hospital to have further exams done, they found her in perfect health, which was a confirmation of what was already obviously visible.
Serafín talked of how he wanted God to give him decades more of life, so that he could share God´s word and continue to preach. In every breath he gave God the preeminence that He deserves.
There was absolutely no room to doubt his testimony as we listened to this most humble man, who had an excellent level of health at his age to back his words, where all too often people would dismiss these accounts as mere "stories" - as a stretch of the imagination.
A verse from the Bible comes to mind, where Jesus, speaking to Thomas said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
You come away from such testimonies not awed by the man himself, but rather the faithfulness of God in answering the prayers - no matter how tall the order may seem - of those who come to Him in faith.
I was only able to spend 4 days on this trip as the group headed on to Panama (I wasn´t able to get a visa on short notice), taking Ana away from me. I must say that it was difficult being away from one another for the first time since we got married. Originally I was to travel back to the capital, San José, by bus - which would have taken the whole day. As it turned out, a doctor and her daughter who had volunteered to come on the trip needed to head back to the capital as well, and they had a private 6-seater charter plane ready to pick them up early in the morning... and of course they invited me along.
I got a chance to see the incredible landscapes of Costa Rica... stretching from the Pacific Coast all the way inland to volcanoes, mountain peaks and meandering rivers. It was incredible being able to see it all from the air... especially the layout of the Capital, where we´re so used to seeing parts of the smaller picture traveling by bus.
Now I didn´t have my camera with me to take any photos, since of course I had to leave it with Ana to take photos in Panama (you can see some of those on her blog)... so, I found a picture on Google Images which closest resembles the kind of plane we went in. Amazing huh?
I arrived home in record speed, only to be left reflecting on a conversation I had had almost 9 years ago with a South African lady who had been a missionary in France: She was telling of how God always has the best of adventures for us, and surprises waiting around each corner. She told me of a trip by airplane (upon invitation) that she took in a similar situation to mine, being able to see the mountains and lakes from the air. I was awed by God´s gift to her, at the time thinking inwardly, "Wow!!"... and then my train of thought was broken as I realized that God had done exactly the same for me. It made me think of how we often need to take a pause and take stock of the blessings God has lavished upon us. All too often we take our immediate situations for granted... we may even enjoy them somewhat, but when we put everything into perspective it really is incredible.
God bless you all.

Costa Rica-Nicaragua ISL Medical Trip May/June

2007-06-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, myself and Ana went for an interview at an organization called ISL (International Service Learning), hoping to work with them as translators... and you can imagine our excitement when we were both thrown into the deep end a week later as assistant team leaders on a two-week trip to Nicaragua - with a large group of 27 medical students from Wake Forest University, North Carolina. The way it works is that the medical or pre-med students come down to Central America to learn a little more about tropical diseases... and so we have local doctors, dentists and translators to help the learning process, as well as providing free medical services in the various towns and villages we visit.
First things first, myself and Ana had to pick the group up from the international airport in Costa Rica - grouping everyone together whilst waiting for 3 different flights.
After spending the next day doing clinic work at a Nicaraguan immigrant community in Costa Rica close to the capital, we bundled into a bus heading for "La Fortuna", a town at the base of Volcano "Arenal", arriving in the evening... I´ll let the pictures do the talking from this point on...

The next day was a day of recreation... a taste of the Costa Rican interior before heading off to Nicaragua. We visited a waterfall, which doesn´t look all that impressive from the photos, but I doubt that anyone would be able to swim against the powerful current to get to the center of where it pours over a rock face, plummeting into the middle of a pool below... not even an olympic swimmer (no one was able to get within 10 meters of the epicenter). Together with trying to swim to the center of the waterfall and climbing down to the waterfall itself... and up again, we had our excercise cut out for us.

Later on in the evening we shifted down a gear and lazed about at a hot springs resort, where natural underground water streams heated by the lava system within the volcano are channelled into pools dotted around the expansive resort (Volcano Arenal is still very much active). It was a rainy evening which cooled things down in this otherwise hot and humid region... so the steamy hot springs were a heaven-send. The higher up the pools, the hotter they were... and likewise, the lower down you went, the cooler it was... so we could choose from luke-warm to scalding hot (from 35-65 degrees Celsius)... and whether you wanted to be under cover or open-air.

The following day was almost an entire day of travel by land and river as we headed off to the border of CR and Nicaragua at "Los Chiles" to cross over into Nicaragua by ferry on "Rio Frio" (a smaller river which flows into Lake Nicaragua) from which point on we would be travelling by river for the days to come. Here we passed through Costa Rican Immigration.

The first 45 minutes on "Rio Frio" to get to "San Carlos" on Lake Nicaragua " set the mood for the next couple of days of river travel... we saw tons of wildlife including Howler monkeys, White-face monkeys, kingfishers, very large caimans (type of alligator) and turtles. If I hadn´t know any better, I might have thought I was on the Amazon River, from what I imagine it to be like. Not a bad way of spending the day travelling!
If you take a look at the map I pasted above, you´ll see a town on Lake Nicaragua called "San Carlos"... which was our departure to "El Castillo" after going through the Nicaraguan Immigration.

Three hours later we arrived at the fort town of "El Castillo", which is a town that grew up around the fort which was built in 1675 by the Spanish - to protect the waterways (and Granada) from "English Pirates". You can actually travel all the way by boat from the Caribbean town of "San Juan del Norte" up the river... cross Lake Nicaragua, and coming to a town called "Rivas" clear accross the other side of the lake, you´re only 20km from the Pacific Ocean. They say that it would have been easier to build a canal here rather than Panama had it not been for instability in Nicargua at the time. We were able to visit the fort one late afternoon, which has some pretty spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and river.

The town itself is pretty tranquil, and was our base for the next three days for clinics that we held in surrounding villages. The hotel we stayed in was right on the water, and just over the balcony of the adjoining restaurant, you can see caimans and turtles in the water below by their dozens.

On the river in El Castillo, there is a sense of retreat from the rest of the world, mid-way between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Nicaragua.
I won´t lie and tell you that time seems to stand still here... but there´s a lot less of being conscious of it.

On the first day of clinic, we split up into two groups of students, and I went with one group to a tiny village called "La Juana"... After a short ferry ride down the river, we had to hike in with our supplies wearing black gum-boots because of the mud at the beginning of the rainy season... it was truly an obstacle course - the least path of resistance being to climb through barbed wire fences rather than simply pass through the seemingly easier gates. We had to jump muddy pools, hop over streams and cross over an embankment - choosing whether we were going to inch our way over a wider, uneven, fallen tree trunk, or a flat but much narrower beam... not so easy with rubber boots on!

We arrived, drenched in sweat after the 40-miute hike, to set up our make-shift pharmacy (also equipped for urine analysis) under an available shed... arranged some chairs into circles for interviewing patients... and attended the small crowd of people gathered from the surrounding vacinity. How the clinics work is as follows... the medical students are split into groups of about 3 - and with the help of a translator they interview a patient, filling in a patient-history form... testing vital signs and trying to diagnose what the patient has. Meanwhile two doctors circulate amongst the groups, each in turn presenting their patient´s case... the doctor then goes on to verify the diagnosis... and step-by-step teaches the students about certain tropical diseases that crop up... thereafter prescribing the medication... and off the patient goes to the pharmacy... Pretty cool!

On the way back to catch the ferry, myself and Ana were offered to jump on the mules carrying the medical supplies... for about 2 kilometers. I had my little herd-boy friend help me with my stubborn mule at one point...

The first Sunday in El Castillo we got to go on yet another hike... through a tropical rainforest, using the same rubber boots... but this time a relaxed walk. We got to see a semi-tame ocelot which accompanied us for a short stretch of our walk... leaf cutter ants... tons of frogs including poison strawberry frogs (really tiny - only about a cm long), spider monkeys, butterflies... and a "walking tree", which can actually move a few meters a year by eliminating roots on one side and moving toward the sunnier areas by growing new roots in that direction, slowly but surely.

Back to work on Monday, once again we kitted up with our grubby rubber boots, getting ready for yet another muddy trek, but this time on horse-back... and the group I coordinated went to a little rural village called, "El Gavilan". Amongst other things, we got to see two cases of "Leishmaniasis", also known as mountain leprosy, which made the students´day. Here you´ll see one of the staff... Doctor Eduardo Solis, looking back while riding his horse.

Our last morning in El Castillo before heading out, both myself and Ana took the following sunrise photos as the sun came up over the misty river. We used one of these as a screensaver on our computer.

A 3-hour trip on "Rio San Juan" back to San Carlos on Lake Nicaragua was just a warm-up for the 12-hour ferry trip that we were about to embark on, which would take us to the island of Ometepe, which is made up of two volcanoes: "Concepción" and "Maderas". The name "Ometepe" means "two mounts" in the original indian dialect once spoken here. We all bought some simple nylon hammocks before boarding the ferry, and as you see in one of the photos... we hung up over 27 of them, all criss-crossing one another, some poles hosting a couple of layers just to squeeze all of us in. Not too bad I might add. It was pretty comfy until some bigger waves rocked the ferry out in the middle of the choppy lake. We arrived at out hotel for the night at about 2am in the morning. A loooong day of water travel by river and lake.

We spent 3 days on the island of Ometepe, splitting the group up into two and doing clinics and house clinics in various parts of the island, home to about 35000 people. There was a lot of work and coordinating to do, but always a few moments to kick back and relax.

I even managed to play my harmonica on our last clinic day to entertain some of the kids in the patients waiting room. I was also able to preach a little and encourage the older patients with some scriptures from the Bible.

We stayed in the dormitories of an Orphanage (CICRIN), which has 33 orphans, and on our last night, they prepared a fiesta for us with a piñata, a dance and some ice-cream...

Our final morning on the island of Ometepe was the earliest we had to wake up the whole trip... we had to be at the dock ready to leave the island on the ferry to the mainland at 6:15am. This photo was taken from the ferry looking back at Volcano "Maderas".

Once on the mainland we passed through Rivas on our way to the colonial town of Granada, which you can see in the last map that I pasted above. Near to Granada, most students went on a zipline canopy tour on Mombacho Volcano, while Ana did the hike around the crater rim. For myself and most of the students, the canopy tour was the highlite of our trip on the activity side. For those of you who´ve been on one, you´ll know that although it´s not as adrenaline-pumping as bungee-jumping, it comes pretty darn close! We had 13 platforms or ziplines on this tour, which was actually just below a cloud forest zone, over a coffee plantation.

They had a butterfly farm here too, so the students that went along including myself ran around trying to see who could take the closest close-up photos.

Our final two nights were spent in the coastal town of "San Juan del Sur" on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua (which you´ll see in my previous entry). We spent a full day and two nights relaxing, rented a four-wheeler for the 2nd time and spent some time on the beach... a fitting way to end a trip that was an incredible organizational challenge with coordinating over 33 people... as well as endless inventory counts of medical supplies. The trip was truly a blessing, since it´s always nice to get out and do a bit of travelling... and to be able to work with my wife Ana at the same time. God knows how to bless us with the desires of our hearts!

Trip to "San Juan del Sur", Nicaragua

2007-05-12T00:21:00.000-07:00

Having been in Costa Rica for almost 5 months, and having made several exits from and entries to Costa Rica for visa purposes, finally myself and Ana were able to take a breather and set aside a few days of pure destressing, recreational tourism...as part of our monthly border run! So, what to do with the requirement of leaving Costa Rica for 72 hours... and a little money to splash out on?
Ana had previously done her homework on places we could possibly visit, and having come across a blogspot with a bit of info about a trip to "San Juan del Sur" on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, we unanimously decided that this would be our safe-haven for 3 days.
Leaving on a 6am TICABUS, and after a six-hour trip, we arrived at the border of "Peñas Blancas"... and after two hours of border stuff we were on our way again. I call it "border stuff" here for want of a better description... and for the sake of uncomplicated euphemism - since almost always, there is some unexpected surprise, whether it be entertaining or inconvenient.
30 minutes from the border we came to a town called "Rivas" right on Lake Nicaragua.

After getting a taxi driver to take us to San Juan Del Sur for $10 (180 cordobas) ... once on our way, we passed signboards with the distance to our destination, starting at 20km... 18km... and not having been aware of the layout and relation of the towns to one another distance-wise, we realized that what we were paying for the taxi was a pittance, especially when about half of the road was paved, and the other half... well, unpaved. And so we went, from paved patches to bumpy dirt patches, and after the taxi driver started a friendly banter, I knew I would give him more money than agreed on upon arrival. Needless to say that was the best value for money for any service we paid for the whole trip, as I later learned from the driver who brought us back on our return to Rivas - it costs about $5 for the petrol for each one-way trip... so the profit on one of those trips would be $5 maximum, not to mention the wear and tear on the already beat-up old model Mercedes Benz. By the way, that is the going rate for trips to San Juan del Sur, and Ana forbade me to pay the taxi driver more than the agreed price on our return ride a few days later.
Upon arrival and after taking a squiz at 4 different hotels we quickly found a hotel room one block from the beach for $20 a night - which had cable TV, a double bed with clean sheets, a fan and a private shower, which was a basic set-up, but perfect for us since we wouldn´t be spending a lot of time indoors when there was surf and sunshine just around the corner. We opted for a cheaper hotel room so that we could spend what we saved on our budget on better dining and tours.
Dumping our luggage in the hotel room, we raced to the beach to have a long-awaited lunch at one of the many restaurants hugging the beach-front.

Just 3 wooden steps take you from the restaurant under thatched roof to the beach sand.

For the whole of our stay, I had to quench an insatiable thirst with all kinds of fresh natural fruit juices, some of which I still remember the taste - but the names of which - not even so much as on the tip of my tongue. Here in Central America they are experts at making juice out of just about any fruit, many of which have no name in English since they are only found locally. You´ll never guess the shape and size of the original fruit as you sit and contemplate the contents of your glass, unless you´d seen it before.

Our first sunset in this tranquil little fishing town...

...with a little practice you can get both heads in with a semi-straight horizon.

There´s something about sunsets that make you want to jump for joy...

Our first night out to dinner. They had delicious pastas and seafood dishes on the menu.

The beginning of our first full day, in search for breakfast and photo ops.

The verticals and horizontals not so straight... not sure whether it was me or the shop, but the colours are rich.

We found a very relaxing café called "El Gato Negro" where we had breakfast every morning... and lunch once.

We got a little laxadasical after a big breakfast and browsed through some of the books.

They have a large selection of books that you can either buy or sit and read.

More fruit juice just before heading out

Sunset once again... Just sitting in the same spot you can click away and get dramatically different photos as the quality of the light changes rapidly.

Looking at the display screen of the camera instead of through the viewfinder, one tends to balance shape and form rather than the horizon... which is a lesson in retrospect.

A few of the fishing boats and sport fishing vessels anchored out in the bay.

I love these soft, rich golden tones... and especially my wife, a willing model.

Darker and richer skies. It´s a little difficult deciding on where to put the horizon in a photo when you also have strong lines in the shore-line and little breakers.

I must give credit to Ana for some o f th ese photos, since I can´t remember which ones either of us took.

The next day we hired a 4-wheeler for 5 hours and headed up the coast, around the peninsula to "Playa Madera"...

I wish we could have stuck around here for the sunset, since the horizon cleared up later on to reveal a spectacular sunset once again, but it was about to get dark and we needed at least 30 minutes on our return trip.

We agreed that we would come back to this beach when we returned to San Juan del Sur again (in the near future!). The quality of the sand and colour of the water were fantastic... a little less volcanic sediment than usual, which reminded me of the sand in Durban

Back at San Juan del Sur after a dusty ride, it was great to take a quick bathe.

Awwww! Do we have to return the 4-wheeler? One last pic.

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we decided to get up early on our last morning to take a walk on the beach before heading back to Rivas to catch the TICABUS back to Costa Rica.