Stranded on a deserted island...

Puntarenas...on a really scary and unsafe bridge...lol you can't see how scared I was at this point

We stopped at a farm with a bunch of these beautiful birds...

Being dramatic while dramatically stranded on a deserted island...

My "grandma" let me try on her traditional Costa Rican dress...

At the melon finca with Kim and the family

Learning to make those homemade tortillas...obviously I she didn't like my form :)

Well...this weekend, Kim and I had the unique opportunity to go with my family to the "puro campo" (pure country) with my family. My Tico family's extended family lives on a farm in the northern part of Costa Rica...they invited us to come along...so we went. It was great. We took a promise to only speak in Spanish the whole weekend...even to each other- which actually went really smoothly. God has helped me so much with Spanish...thank you Jesus! But a lot of crazy things happened. Basically...we were in the hard core country. Like they get up at the crack of dawn to milk cows for a living, chickens run through the yard, they cook everything from scratch on a fogon (cooking fire), and there is nothing around for miles. It was great. Kim and I learned how to make homemade tortillas and empenadas from the grandma who is 78 who raised 12 children, still cooks for half of them, does laundry by hand, etc. You get the picture. I learned so much about culture and family this weekend. It was amazing. We rode horses, went to two beaches, went to a melon factory and got stranded on a random island. lol funny part. So we are going to the gulf of Nicoya to fish for shrimp and stuff. We get about 50 minutes out from port and we hear a strange noise from the engine and it just dies. Clearly broken, we float for a while. The "captain" is using all of these mechanical terms that we obviously don't know...but one doesn't have to be fluent in a language to understand that you are stranded in the ocean with a malfunctioning motor. Finally another boat comes and brings us to this rather large island that is unihabited. This is all true. We get out and stretch our legs...look for life (Gilligian's Island anyone?) and find none. Kim and I explored the shore, and then we all settled in to sit there for almost two hours. LOL thankfully we had tuna sandwiches and water. Finally another boat came and rescued us and we got dragged back to port for two hours. The funniest part was that our "rescuers" were other fishermen that pretty much looked like someone from "King of Thieves." They cover their bodies and heads and faces with towels and clothing, so only their eyes are showing to prevent getting burnt. Creepy. It was crazy and rather hysterical. lol ridiculous. So we finally got back, bought some shrimp and went home. Thankfully we were safe. Besides that, the rest was just doing normal life down on the farm. It was so fun. One of the most entertaining things is that when you are in a new culture...you might understand what people are saying...but you truly have no idea what is going on. We don't realize how much in our culture/language goes unsaid. So, if I go to my grandma's, I know a little bit of what to expect (how long we'll be there, what we'll do, what I need to bring). But here, we have no idea. All they tell us is that we are going to grandma's. So most of the time we have no idea how long we'll be there, what we'll do or what we need to bring. Just try to imagine our ridiculousness the whole weekend. It was entertaining. :)