We had a later morning today, although the theology students woke everyone up around 6:30 singing and playing guitar. Of course, there are certainly worse ways to wake up. Around 8:15 we had empañadas for breakfast. There was a gap time of about and hour and a half between breakfast and our departure time, so we pittled around the diocesan house until then. Our missionary, Eduardo Monzon met us here to spend the day with us.
At ten, the bishop took us (Jeff, Eduardo, Ryan and me) to one final site on the southside of San Jose, which is known as the low-income, high-crime area. The church was called All Saints Church. We were introduced to the rector and his wife who showed us around the property and told us a bit about its history. St. John's in Charlotte, NC has a long history with the church. They helped to build the whole thing- sanctuary, parish hall and rectory. Now they come back each year to host VBS for the children in the neighborhood. The bishop made the point that companion relationship does not have to be only construction work. Sharing in Christian Education and fellowship is just as important in expanding and living in Christain community.
They also showed us some things the parish is doing to help support the low-income members, especially the women. A group of women purify water, bake bread and make facial moisturizer to sell in the city. The money helps them to give back to the church as well as support themselves. It was a lot of fun seeing all the things they make.
After we took a few pictures, we headed to downtown San Jose to visit the National Museum. We got to see some beautiful butterflies as well as some of the history of Costa Rica. Eduardo explained some of the things in the museum that we couldn't read in Spanish. There was also a great exhibit on Haiti with some emotional pieces of photography.
Directly in front of the museum is a small marketplace with Central American goods. I bought a couple things, but was too hungry to spend much time there. It was around 2 when we finally caught a cab to get lunch. Bishop Monterroso recommended a Peruvian restaurant called Manchu Picchu, so we decided to give it a try. He specifically recommended an appetizer called ceviche which is raw seafood- shrimp, fish, octopus and squid- soaked in a lemon juice for a long time. Apparently the acid from the lemon juice partially cooks the seafood. I'm not too adventurous with food but I did try the shrimp which just tasted like boiled shrimp. I was more into the hot sauce that you dip it in than the food itself. The rest of the meal was pretty normal.
From there, Eduardo left us to go home and we headed back to the diocesan house for some rest. However, before we completely settled in we made a quick walk over to a small store for Jeff to get a banana. He has been talking about bananas the whole time we've been here, haha. I think he was mildly disappointed to find that the bananas taste the same as they do back home. I took the opportunity to grab a tea and twix. Since we've gotten back, Jeff has begun to work on a presentation to share with the outreach committee. If I'm not mistaken he is doing it all on his cell phone, which seems time consuming and impressive to me.
Something is smelling really good downstairs and it sounds like a party is about to begin, so don't mind me as I wander down to join in. We have a very early morning, heading out at 5:30 to catch our 8am flight back to the states. I can't wait to show everyone the pictures and share all that we have learned.
See ya tomorrow!
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