What language do they speak in heaven?

Finnish, because it takes an eternity to learn.

(A joke I’ve heard no less than 20 times this week.)

Things are going alright here. The cowboy outreach team from Wyoming arrived yesterday and are out doing cowboy things today. One of their jobs is to break in a horse down the road that just got castrated on Saturday. Everyone went to watch and it was quite the community event. In lieu of sedatives, they tie a rope to each of the horse’s legs and four guys stand and pull in all directions while vet (aka ‘guy with the knife’.. highly dubious he is actually a vet) does the cutting. A rather bloody event, to say the least.

Last week after putting in long hours on the sex ed power points, we went to present at a Catholic high school. They were really receptive, asked great questions, and loved a little educational joke we played; we told them it was a tradition in Ina’s country of Finland to shake hands with everyone in the room. Unbeknownst to them, Ina, Vivi, and I had gold glitter on our hands, so after we shook everyone’s else’s hands, it was spread everywhere. We used it as an example of how fast and easily STDs spread, and the kids were making jokes long after the presentation ended about having ‘manos infectados’. We did another presentation at a community centre that afternoon; thanks to a less-than-stellar social worker who organized it, we had only a few people show up, but one of them was a woman whose cousin had HIV, so we got some good information from her on how that’s handled here. Friday we were supposed to do several presentations at a private school in Nicoya, but they were flaky and post-poned at the last minute. It has been much easier to work with the public schools here, who are pretty desperate for outside input and information, and are often up for having us present 20 minutes after we call!

Today we are using the hallowed wi-fi router and quiet base building to create another presentation on drug use and one on parental communication about sex. There is a lot of research and mundane computer work involved but it’s rewarding to produce a finished product and know how used and useful it can be here.

Tragically, it seems mosquito season started today. Ina and I went on a run this morning and got eaten alive while we were running.  Maybe this says something about our speed, but it seemed like everywhere you stood you were in a grey cloud of them. Mosquitoes + heat = new levels of mental stamina.

A few photos from lately.

After-dark bug infestations.
This is a table outside we usually dry dishes on.

Julia, Robin, and Isabel, at baby Oliver's dedication party. 

At the dedication, a farmer brought over a baby iguana,
which instantly bonded with Diego. 

Ina competed in a 24 kilometre bike race yesterday!
She and Julia stopped by the base for water on the way to the finish line.
They were at the back of the pack so that's a big police truck in the background, waiting for them.