Location 9.9325° N, 84.0800° W...and Feeling Fine

Today is the day!  The CRSMT26 team met at DFW Terminal D first thing in the morning, and our intrepid leader Denise (not pictured-was the photog) got us checked in as a group and we proceeded to take the Skylink halfway around the airport to our actual gate.  (International travel does have its quirks, you know).

Once we settled in at C11, team members took shifts heading off to various foodie-type places while others watched the bags, and before you know it, were were Passports-Out and getting our pictures taken as we we boarded to leave the USA.

The only real drama on the flight was when Your Blogger managed to play "Hide the Biscuit" with his cellphone, which remained AWOL for the entire flight, not to be found until the plane was empty...somehow I dropped it behind the bags in the overhead bins. The team leadership was especially glad that I did not manage to do something similar with my passport!

Having landed in San Jose, all the passports were stamped, the luggage re-aquired, the contact from HOPE International was met, and we headed to the hotel.  After a late lunch and short rest, we head out to a local ice cream establishment called 'Pops', because apparently it is a FBC Mission Team tradition to get local ice cream on every mission trip. (This is what is known as a VERY GOOD TRADITION)  With flavors like "Brownie Dynamite", "Red Fruit Cheesecake", and "Dulce de Leche".... we could hardly go wrong!

So, you, dear reader, might ask... why is the title of this post what it is?  Because those are the coordinates of San Jose, and because it is so close to the equator it is almost evenly day and night here... it gets dark quick.  But it is a higher elevation, and, for at least tonight, it was cool, and breezy, and being out on the porch at Pops was cool and beautiful and reminded me of summer nights in Maine... and I am in Central America.  How cool is that?  And the team had a great time of fellowship, living "la vida desde la baranda y la patio", and it was... 100%... Pura Vida.

¡Hasta mañana!  (See you tomorrow)

In grace and peace,
Rob