Walking In Their Boots

Two years ago on April 30, Lori, Dustin, and I arrived at Centro Emanuel to start life a new in Paso Marcos.  Many things have changed since we first came to Paso Marcos. Today’s blog is about two bridges in our little part of the world and what they mean to our community.  The first bridge is for cars and trucks and the second bridge is for walking and motorcycles. 

Mode of Transportation for most Costa Ricans

The first bridge is in the town of Bajo Pacuare which crosses the Pacuare River and allows vehicles access to part of the indigenous reserve.  This bridge has been long in waiting and we hope it will greatly improve the infrastructure to this part of Costa Rica by permitting heavy construction vehicles to cross the river. 

The new bridge with the old "singing bridge" by its side.

The second bridge is even closer to home.  For the last 40 some years a cable and basket has bridged the two parts of Paso Marcos.  During Holy Week a new walking bridge was dedicated in our little town.  What a blessing this new bridge is to our community, thanks to help of Clinica Biblica in San Jose and Dr Murillo (Alekcey).

I am not much help when it comes to construction,

 but I can dig holes for the foundation!

The walking bridge nearing completion

This blog is titled "Walking in Their Boots".  Walking is the basic mode of transportation for the majority of the rural population.  I like to walk, it is a great way to see and greet our neighbors and get a small understanding of how life is for people in Costa Rica.  So I paid our water bill yesterday walking to the town of Bajo Pacuare.  I did cheat a little bit, I drove down to our work center and started my walk from there.

I walked over the new walking bridge and did not have to get wet crossing the river.  For most of the year the river is too high to even cross by foot.  The new bridge cut my travel time by more than half and it still took me over a hour and a half to pay the water bill.  Of course I enjoyed a little rain and got to see Costa Rica the way most people do around here, by foot.

Inaugaration Ceremony with Alekcey and Rodolfo

This was a short trip compared to the distances most people have to walk and I did this for fun.  Everybody else this is life.  Walk an hour or two to school and an hour or two back home.  Walk to work, work all day and walk home.  This sums up life here in Costa Rica.       

As the US is talking about the new IPAD, Paso Marcos and the surrounding communities are talking about their new bridges.