Final days...

As the final days of this amazing trip is coming to a close, I have a few things to say that really stood out to me.  I will talk about them in cronological order as not to confuse you.  Firstly, I would like to begin with a minute quote from a rather profound and interesting person that we stayed with in our first days in El Salvador.  "God is a mystery." I found that to be extremely profound to me, as it put me in a new light.  As with the many other things that Sister Peggy said to us.  I don't want to sound like a hippy in any way shape or form, but I really digged all of the stuff that she said.  Another thing that I say throughout these days and through some of Sister Peggy's stories, was the strong sense of community that the people had for each other.  In the small town of Suchitoto, El Salvador, everyone seemed to know each other.  Considering all that they have been through together (El Salvadorian Civil War) It must have given those involved some sense of togetherness.  I can see now, how hardships can rip people apart, in more ways than one, but it can also bring people together. These people practically had nothing compared to us with our i-pods and tvs.  And to tell you the truth, I really don't think that we are as happy and cheerful as them.  The people here relish at the opportunity to commune with outsiders.  Afer seeing all that I have seen in this country and all of the things that I have seen in other countries, I thought for a long time.  I mean a really long time.  When we left Suchitoto to the beach of Costa del Sol, I practically spent 4 to 6 hours just staring out at the ocean, thinking.  Yes, I have no life, but it seriously was a relly good time to think about things.  I had about 100 too many thoughts to put into this blog, but I will just say something that I though about.  High society is what I believe is the reason of unrest.  If I go further into this, it would make this blog really, really long, and I think that this blog is long enough already.  Also, the fact that I don't really want to sound more and more like a hippy.        Now moving on to less profound and more fun things that have happened to us during this trip. Well, to start it off, I will begin by saying that you should never, ever, ever eat some of the natural Costa Rican peppers whole.  I don't have any experience in that, you can ask Ben about that, but I had a nibble, and it hurt.  It hurt like a word I would rather not say.  I had that pepper in a farm and hotel/resort that was called Finca Luna Nueva.  It was the most amazing and large garden farm I had ever seen.  Everything in that farm had a use other than food.  Well, okay, maybe not everything, but most things.  I tried things that I never would have had anywhere else.  Now that I think about it, I didn't know in the past what Miracle Fruit looked like.  Oh, and if you don't know, Miracle Fruit makes things that are supposed to taste sour taste sweet.  It works! It is a miracle!  I know that this seems like it is kind of jumping straight from the plant kingdom into the animal kingdom, but I saw a sloth!  It looked like a pile of cloth before I saw it move, but it was a sloth!  I even saw a Poison Dart Frog!  Interesting fact, the frog only gets its poison from the food it eats. So if you feed it food that isn't poisonous, then it won't be poisonous. That place was full of surprises, including spiders.  I hate spiders.      Something that was actually rather recent, fun, and interesting was the host stays.  I did some cool things with my host, who happens to be called Olger, pronounced Olher, not Olger.  We kind of bonded in a way, over the four days  I stayed with him.  It was an odd bond, but a bond none the less.  Now, I definetely did not live in the laps of luxury, but I lived in simple comfort.  But,  all good things come to an end, as we had to leave them today.  I wasn't overly emotional about, but I was a little sad that I was leaving.  I tried to think about how he might come here next year and I will see him then and show him how ugly and amazing America can be, but eh.  When you leave someone who you think of as a friend, you always feel some kind of sadness.  But, life moves on.      If you actually read all of that, then thank you.  If you skipped to the end (probably most of you) and read the ending, then shame on you!  I will leave off with what I say will be some short words that will actually end up being rather long.  See, that sentence alone was really long! Moving on, I will end saying this.  Goodbye, live long and prosper, and may the end of this blog lead you to some other new beginning. - Jay Marshall