Poas Volcano

The second part of the family paseo (outting) was to one of the volcanoes here in Costa Rica--Poas.  This was the first time that I had ever seen a volcano and the kids were pretty excited.  Poas is an active volcano, with it's last eruption in 2009.  This is not a firey red lava type of volcano, it is more a geyser type volcano.  It was really pretty, but the down side was the smell of rotten eggs there.  The sulfur content in the volcano is really high and has a pretty strong smell, but still absolutely beautiful and breathtaking!

All of the different parts of the volcano that you can see

That is how high we were 2,574 meters

a panoramic of the volcano

Yep, we are above the clouds!

One of the few pictures we have of us in Costa Rica!

Buddy and the crater

Emme and the crater

The kiddos looking cute

Family pic

The walking path to the lagoon

The trees were all twisted like something out of Harry Potter--very cool!

The lagoon- nothing lives in the water because the sulfur content turns the water to poison.

The kids got to feed the squirrels--I think that was their favorite part of the day!

Overall, we had a great day and got out of the city to see some of what Costa Rica has to offer.  I wish we could do this every weekend and see a different part of Costa Rica every time--but, just being able to experience everything we have thus far has been such a blessing!

In Him,
The Crawfords

Doka Coffee Plantation

A couple months ago, we were able to go on a paseo (outting) as a family to Doka Coffee Plantation.  It is one of two big and famous tour plantations.  It was a really neat trip and we learned a lot about the coffee, how it is produced, and why we love it so much!

Here is the Doka history and information in their website:
   Doka Estate
(I mean, why should I tell you when you can read all about it)

If you are ever in San Jose, I suggest you put this on your list of things to do, especially if you like coffee!

Here are some of the pictures of the plantation and the coffee process, ENJOY!

Learning about the coffee bean

Couldn't believe they were paying attention so well!

Beautiful and exotic plants on the plantation

Beautiful hydrangeas--my favorite

They had a nice butterfly garden that Emme loved--of course!

Bananas at your service

THE COFFEE PROCESS-BY STATIONS

The big machine that sorts all of the coffee

Peeling the skin off of the bean--it goes through 4 or 5 different machines to do this

Here is the machine that has the different parts.

Station 3 was the washing/rinsing...somehow I missed the pictures of the big tubs...(you can see them on the upper far left of the picture above)

Station 4: Used during the rainy season

This is the huge dryer for the coffee beans

They take advantage of the traditional way of drying coffee beans (one of the only that still uses this process)

These are rows of beans being dried--high quality are the yellow beans

These two men work the area all day-putting them in lines, piles, etc--ALL DAY!

These are the low quality beans--still good, but cheaper

 Emme trying her hand at drying the beans

Station 5: lots of storage of beans

MMMMMM...coffee

Kids got to feel, smell and play in the beans

a full bag of beans

Whew! What a long day--want some coffee!!??

Why yes...thanks for offering!

smell the coffee

Different varieties of coffee--cool!

The coffee plant Bruce talked the tour guide into giving him

 Bruce was able to talk the tour guide into giving him a 4 month coffee plant.  They normally don't do that, and they don't sell the coffee plants--must have been the beard!  Now this plant is teaching him patience, because it will take up to 4 years before this plant will produce any coffee!

gooz-fra-bah...... we will see how it goes!

Overall, it was a really great trip and some really good coffee.  They also had free samples of chocolate covered coffee beans that Emme found and started eating like mad!  She also found the free samples of coffee--and of course, the Tica that she is becoming, had to make herself a cup!  Lord help us! :)

Check out the other half of the paseo- Volcan Poas- on the next blog!

In HIM,
The Crawfords

Our First Car Ride

Thanks to some wonderful supporters, we were able to buy our first car here in Costa Rica.  It isn't pretty, and it has it's problems, but it gets us from A to B (sometimes barely...)

We are so blessed and thankful beyond measure.  It has been such a blessing, not only to us, but also to other people who need a ride here or to pick up some groceries there.  We have also been able to use it to go out to the Project several times for church and other gatherings.  It saves us about $12-$16 in taxi fare each time we drive our own car.

Here are a few pictures of our first car ride....

1964 "bocho" VW beetle

They were so excited to have sit in their car seats again--seriously!

So cute!

Such a happy family in our little car!

Since we have gotten our car, we realize that we do not have valid drivers licenses--so therefore we will not be driving until we receive our full cedulas (residency).  We have been waiting since October, so it should be soon (normally 6-8 months), so please pray that we receive word about the cedulas soon.

We have also been praying about trading this car in for a newer, more dependable car--in all honesty, I love the 1964 beetle, and Bruce was so excited to get one, but I am not a big fan of driving this car in Costa Rica.  If we were in Kentucky--I would be like, "BRING IT ON", but driving here is A LOT different than in Kentucky.  So, unfortunately, I think I have talked my husband into trading for a newer, more dependable car.  I wish we could keep both, so he could always have his beetle, and he could work on it as he has always dreamed--but really, how could we justify having 2 cars....

Guess we will save the beetle for when we retire!

Please join us in prayer about a car, dependable, cost effective, ease in selling and buying (as that is a whole other process in itself, that I am not looking forward to), and receiving our cedulas.

Thank you for you prayers, support and thoughts!

We love you all!

In HIM,
The Crawfords

Emme's Christmas Program

In December, Emme decided to do something that I thought she would never do--she decided to put herself in the Christmas Program at the local church.  The Christmas Program was all in Spanish and it was going to be in front of the whole church.

Knowing Emme's history of classic stage fright, this was HUGE!  Not to mention that we had to help her practice and all of her lines were in Spanish!

Here are some pictures and a short video of her performance.  We were so proud of her....and now we have to try to keep up with her in Spanish and her social life!

Her hair...so pretty!

I was so proud of how I did her hair

Then they put a hat on it :(

Waiting with her Sunday School class and teacher

Waiting to perform--my she looks much bigger than all those Ticos
 

I had videos to upload, but for some reason, they won't:(

Oh well, she did a great job and we are SO proud of her doing it all in Spanish!

In HIM,
The Crawfords