Due to us being the first STINT team to go to El Salvador, things weren't really set up perfectly for our mid-year vacation and retreat, so we had to plan both of them. Our vacation was in mid-January for which we decided to go Costa Rica. That was a ton of fun, so relaxing for us and a great time to recharge before getting back into the full swing of things on campus. We stayed just outside of Jaco on the Pacific side of the country in a couple bungalows right by the beach. Lauren led the charge in finding our lodging because she was quite driven to be somewhere where surf was plentiful.

Surfer at the beach in front of our bungalows

We spent most days there laying by the pool, body-surfing in the water, or just sitting on our porch and reading. It was sooo laid back. It was also way more humid and overall more hot than El Salvador, so it left you not really wanting to move around much, which was especially good for people like me that often have a hard time stopping themselves from moving. After watching spectacular sunsets (props to God), we barbecued for dinner, which was sooo nice for us guys who hadn't had the chance to express our grill skills before then on STINT. We bonded well over grilling steak, chicken, burgers and veggies.




However, excitement was something that was not lacking on our vacation. Throughout the week we saw big floppy things flying a few feet out of the water, soon to be identified by Lauren as stingrays, right after she claimed seeing one leap a clean 10 feet out of water. Well, Trev and Brandon and I were out body-surfing one day when one really big wave came which Trev and I were awaiting to dive under; however, we were immediately deterred by the sight of maybe 8 to 10 stingrays suspended in the face of our wave like paintings on a wall. We looked at each other in complete astonishment and started swimming away from the wave though we knew this would just leave us tumbling in its white wash. We made it away fine, along with Brandon who was probably even closer to them than us but hadn't seen them.

Injuries were also part of our trip. A bunch of us were out throwing the frisbee around in the really shallow ocean water when we decided it would be fun to make some diving catches. Well, this was fun for a while, but I think I got a little too confident in the 1 foot of water's ability to break my fall, and lo and behold, I ended up with a separated shoulder. Really painful, and I've still probably got a few weeks to go before I'm fully recovered. I haven't been able to run or anything.

Beach at Manuel Antonio national park

My favorite day of the vacation was when we made it out to Manuel Antonio Park, possibly Costa Rica's most beautiful national park. We took a bus -- which we nearly missed -- for $4 and 2 hours down the coast to get there, and then we strolled through some tropical rainforest, checking out some sloths, lizards, birds and monkeys, and finally arriving at an absolutely gorgeous secluded beach. There we snorkeled, laid out and explored. So amazing. God is a good artist and maker.

Sloth chillin in the trees