Hey, Buddy. Can you lend me a claw?!?

We were heading home while after spending the day in field service and saw this poor guy trying to cross the road. He was moving so slowly that we were sure he would've ended up as "road kill." So I parked in front of him while directing traffic around him (or her - never did ask). The 3 claws on each hand are razor sharp and powerful. (Click on the photo to see a larger view) And, yes, those are some sort of insect that he was infested with. They were crawing in and out of his coarse hair. Maybe he was trying to escape them. Poor thing!

I found a large stick on the side of the road, put in under his claw and he immediately latched on for the ride to the nearby forest. One there, he began his climb.

Sloths (there are 3 toed and 2 toed varieties) only come down out of the trees about twice a week to care for "personal business". I don't know what this one had in mind, but he was a little lost. They are amazing creatures! Watching them move is like watching a movie in slow motion.

Esther's New Wardrobe

We were curious as to What Eve might've looked like before she was given animal skins to wear. Here in Costa Rica, leaves the size of people and small cars are not that hard to find. We picked this one up off the side of the road while out in service one morning.

Thief in the Night...Busted!

Keep on the watch for you do not know at what hour he's coming! Your looking at our back door to our little house. (The back deck was never finished, leaving a 3ft. drop out the back door. We had been mysterously missing kitchen utensils (Butcher knife one day, a glass lid to a frying pan a few days later, etc...) We had guests staying and thought they had accidently thrown them away. A week or so later, I fell asleep on the living room couch only to wake up at about 2:30 a.m. I heard strangely faint noises in the kitchen which was seperated from the living room by a breakfeast bar. I lifted my head in time to see one of Esther's cutting boards floating through the security bars on the window. Then I saw a man's head appear and realized what was happening. I yelled HEY! deeply and loudly to scare him. It worked. I yelled, hey, he reacted with a frightened "OY!!!"

I ran to the back window to see him running away. Notice he had everything nicely arranged...The ladder he brought, the piece of wood he borrowed from a nearby junk pile and set it up against the wall so he didn't have to descend the ladder each time he grabbed an item. Very ingenious! In his fright, he drop the second cutting board (you see it on the ground) and left the tools of the trade. I dispatched the ladder with a machete the next morning after taking this photo and had the landlord remove the junk. No problems since.

Sportsfishing at its finest!

I caught a fish this BIG! Costa Rica is popular among other things for its Sportfishing. However, these guys have taken it to a whole new level. Read on...

These youngsters caught my eye as I was waiting for Esther to finish an R.V. one morning. They kept throwing something under the little drainage ditch/tiny creek. So my curiousity got the best of me as I went down to check out what was happening. Turns out they were digging up worms, baiting the tiny hooks any throwing the lines under the road into what amounted to not much more than miniature fishing hole. They all caught what I'll call "kitty-fish;" because as any professional fisherman can see, they're too small to be called full-grown "cat-fish." (Spanish: "Barbo" also meaning: whiskers or beard) I was thorougly impressed. Although I can't begin to imagine them finding a microscope to begin the cleaning & gutting process...

Waterfalls near Pejibaye, Costa Rica's Southern Zone

Marvelous place to eat luch while preaching in the rurals!

Waterfalls, (Spanish: Cataratas) a cute little rancho (palm covered eating area) and beautiful manicured, colorful, natural surroundings make this little pitstop worth the decent down the mountain to get there. Free to visitors, just clean up when you're done.

Where'd the road go????

The first rule about backing up in Costa Rica.....DON'T!

The other side is in the exact same predicament. Both rear wheels completely in the ditch. Oops! <:-0

Talking away to brothers in the back seat when I saw the sisters up the road we'd just passed. Wanting to dutifully check on them, I put the car in reverse and found a mountain and a ditch at the very same time. BOOM! And that was all she wrote.

My 4x4 wasn't working, so I couldn't begin to pull myself out of this mess. Fortunately it was a "gira" (preaching tour) so there were lot's of brothers and a couple of other 4x4's available. A couple of brothers went knocking on doors and eventually found a tow line that was half rotten as well as broken and tied together several times. With the help of another 4x4 pulling and 6 more guys pushing, I got out. Whew! I've been stuck so many times now I'm beginning to lose count. Been dug out, pulled out by a tractor and towed out by at least 2 other 4x4's. What an adventure!