The day after Fun Day

We had a great day yesterday... but it was a long one! We were up at 5:30 am and we didn't stop all day. Unfortunately, I missed the fishing contest as I was busy serving fresh lemonade, fresh apples and bananas to our hikers. We had offered our trails for the hike and our neighbour, Roberto, and his brother, Thomas, volunteered to be the tour guides.

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This is the first official first hikers group of 2013... we might have started a new tradition.

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Here, the kids are playing a traditional Costa Rican game.

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Kevin and I introduced the game of 'horseshoes'. It was slow going at first, but as soon as this man threw the shoe and got a ringer, well everyone wanted a try. We decided for the purpose of this event, 4 people would each pay 20 cents and each person would get a chance to throw a horseshoe. The one closest to the post would win half the money collected. The game lasted well over 2 hours with over 200 tries!

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A crowd started to form... a lot of laughter... a lot of cheering, too.

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Oh, and fierce competition to say the least...

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The women of our community worked for many days chopping, prepping and cooking... and yesterday, they were diligently serving the food, mostly typical Costa Rican dishes, behind the counter.

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Of course, Bingo is one of the big draws at any fundraiser.... and they come in droves. I really appreciate the humility in using used Bingo cards and corn to mark the numbers. It does the trick.

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This is Róger. He's one of my English students. It was nice to see him and see him support our little 'pueblo'.

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Albarito cooking up a storm. He makes a mean hamburger... I should know, I had two!

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The Bingo caller... surrounded by all the great prizes, which were donated by generous people from Rio Blanco, Copey, Santa Maria and even San Jose. These people don't have much so when they pay $2 per Bingo card and win a microwave oven... it's well worth it.. and most people win something... of course, not all big prizes, but still all worth much more than $2. Kevin and I also managed a 50/50 lottery as well as 'guess how many stones in the jar' game, which they had never heard of before. The winner of the 50/50 won $24... not bad considering it only cost him $1 for a ticket.

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Adriana and Cindy taking a 'little' break and overseeing the produce stall is going well. These two ladies basically organized and shouldered most of the work and responsibility. They deserve huge kudos!

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Well, this says it all, really... people everywhere... and there were more outside under the tarps. No booze... all generations enjoying time together... good wholesome fun.

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Albarito and Cindy... the driving force of our community... and really good friends, too. (In the background to the left of Albarito is my English student, Roger. To the right of Cindy, from left to right are: Brian (Martin's oldest son), his wife Diana, Roberto (Adriana's husband) and a little boy whom I don't know.

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Kids playing together on Cindy's front lawn... imagine that, no computer, no iPod, no iPhone... just good ol' fashion fun.

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