Sunday, Jan. 29 (Day 7) Santa Cruz, CR

Our 1st Sunday was filled with a high & a low: going to church the high; going without water for the day the low. Isn't this exactly the 3rd world experience we wanted? No, actually we envisioned observing the 3rd world from the comfort of our air-conditioned, water-plenty world.

We got up about 7am, left just after 8am & made it to the chapel in Santa Cruz about 8:45. We first met the Bishop's wife, Angela Spaulding. She & her husband have lived here before, now back for a 2nd time, kids grown, serving faithfully: she's the Primary President with about 8-10 children total. We next met Kristin & Jeremy Thelin who moved here last August with their 4 kids & plan to stay 2 years. There is a youth overnight activity next Friday night in Playa Conchal: the boys sleep at the Spauldings & the girls sleep at the Thelins. Sydney, Carley & Avery are excited to go. We'll give you a full update next weekend!


 

Kyra & Cannon (closest to camera) with 2 Thelin
 boys to his left, coloring in Primary

Stacia with Angela Spaulding

Stacia chatting with Kristin Thelin

papaya & passion fruit smoothie

 We got back to the beach house & still no running water since the morning. Paul visited with the guard/maintenance man across the street at the fancy Iguana Villas & said the water tank in Paraiso 2 miles up the road was being repaired. We thought about calling our new friends at church to crash at their place!









After a leftover lunch (with a funky-tasting tropical fruit smoothie that Paul had all to himself), some down time & a few naps, we rushed down at 5:30 to watch the sunset at our nearby Playa Blanca.


Playa Blanca

beach selfie, not so flattering

a more flattering silhouette

Sydney & Carley & the sunset over the Pacific

Paul spent about 2 hours cleaning & disinfecting the 2 toilets with dish cleaning cream trying to subdue the increasing mal odor. Luckily, the yard hose was still dribbling water & he could collect enough to pour into the toilets to flush the contents. We filled every container we could find with the hose water, just in case the water shortage continued for days.

Not luxury living, but a great life experience! The picture, of course, is AFTER all was clean! The water did come back on that evening & Sydney's surprised reaction was worth it, "water!" In our comfort-complete world, we seldom get the chance to appreciate the simple essentials such as running water to drink, wash our hands, clean the dishes & not often mentioned, flush our waste!