Life gives you surprises, and surprises give you life

Quite a few people have told us to skip over San Jose, Costa Rica. We are so thankful that we did not take their advice.

After settling down and grabbing a bite to eat we decided to find an Internet Cafe. We planned to do some heavy duty work: Tessa was going to transfer all of her photos to a zip drive and we were going to strategize as to our next move. An hour and a half into the night, however, we realized that this plan was not working out: her photos and videos were not transfering quite as smoothly as we had imagined. Luckily, we were in the company of three amiable, and extremely passionate, Colombian computer animation specialists and we were able to enlist their support. Even with their assistance, the photo project was still quite an undertaking. Eventually, one of the Colombians and Alisa decided to make a quick run to the nearby grocery store to get a few treats. We knew that we were now in for the long haul.

While the photos were transfering we continued to chat. Soon our friends were pulling out their guitars, harmonicas, and boasting their deep-throated singing voices. We sang to the likes of Johnny Cash, Louis Armstrong, Buddy Guy, and various well-known Spanish artists (like Mana and Juanes). At one point, Andres, an up-and -international photographer, looks at us and asks if he can photograph us. Tessa and I look at each other, bewildered...I don´t think we are quite the modeling types. Nevertheless, we oblige and moments later bright lights are flashing in our faces. We are told to be serious. Look at the camera. Face this way and that. Alex came to hold our hands for moral support.

The rest is history. We will let the pictures speak for themselves (hint: there was a lot of professional editing involved).

Juan David, Andres, and Alex, we are eternally grateful.