The Mormons are Everywhere
One of the coolest things we did in Costa Rica was take a boat from the resort to the near by town of Coco Beach. The boat ride wasn’t the best part, the shopping wasn’t the best part, the coconut water wasn’t the best part. All those things were great, but the best part was the family who owned the boat.
If you are a tourist in Costa Rica, cab fair comes at a steep price. It makes prices in New York City look like a bargain. If you are a tourist in Costa Rica and are staying on the shore, I highly recommend taking a boat instead. It costs about the same, and the experience is easily a hundred times better. Plus, if you deal directly with a local, you know your money is going directly to support the people of Costa Rica.
There was a group of 11 of us who wanted to go shopping for local arts and crafts and other things that tourists like to indulge in while on vacation. Since Steve and I were up several hours before the rest of the group, we talked to the hotel about renting a cab and the guy told us it would cost more than a hundred dollars but that he knew a guy who could take us for sixty bucks. In Costa Rica, everyone “knows a guy.” This cab fair was not round trip either. Plus, we would have needed three cabs to get us there and back with how big our group was.
We took this information and hit the beach in search of a local with a boat. With in a matter of minutes, Steve and I were approached by Jose. Jose was dressed in a nice button up shirt, shorts and Chuck-like shoes. He asked if we were interested in a fishing or snorkeling tour. We told him that we just needed a ride to and from Coco Beach. He told us that for $30 a person, round trip, he would take us in his boat to Coco Beach and back. Steve then informed him that with such a large group, he should give us a discount, so Jose said $25 per person. We told Jose we would talk to our group and let him know what they say. As we were walking away from Jose, I told Steve that $25 was still too much because it costs him the same amount (darn near the same amount) to make a trip in his boat if it has two people in it or if it has 11 people in it. (This is how Steve and I handle negotiations – I give Steve the intelligent information needed to bargain with, and Steve handles the confrontation of presenting this knowledge to the person we are negotiating with.) So Steve talks to the rest of the group, and then goes back to Jose to tell him we’re in if he can do it for $20 per person. Jose agrees and says that he will call his son to bring the boat in, and we will be ready to go in an hour.
About an hour later Jose’s son pulls up in a nice blue boat and ushers us aboard. He MAY have been 16, but then again his father looked far too young to have a teenage son, so maybe the men in his family age well.
When we’re all settled in, he tells us in his warm Costa Rican accent, “This is very important. If there is trouble, the life vests are under the seats. The bathroom is in here. We will not be going fast. This is a nice slow ride. We may see turtles and dolphins, but we don’t know. We’ll be there in 20, 25 minutes.” And with that we left our American owned resort, and headed to the small tourist town of Coco Beach.
The boat ride was great. Warm. Breezy. Sunshiny. It was neat to see the coastline from the water, all the land formations, vegetation and evidence of human life marked by the other hotels and homes we passed. As promised, we arrived to Coco Beach within 25 minutes. Jose’s son pulled the boat up as far as he could and we all hopped out and headed for the shops and food. We stayed at Coco Beach until late afternoon when we had to meet up with our boat to return to the resort.
When we walked down to the beach, we saw Jose (in a different outfit) fishing with a few people. Steve went up to check in with him, and when he came back, he goes, “You’ll never guess what his T-shirt says. BYU Idaho!”
I responded as excitedly as I could in my hot sweaty pregnant lady state, “No way! Is he a member?”
Steve shook his head. “When I asked him where he got the shirt, he said it came from one of the stores here in Coco Beach.”
Renee, “No it didn’t. He was afraid to tell you that he was Mormon. Go ask him again, and tell him that you’re LDS so he’s comfortable.”
Steve, “I really think he just got it somewhere around here.”
After a few minutes, Steve shuffled back down the beach to hang out with Jose some more while we waited on his son. I thought about walking down the beach with him, but I was sore and wornout from hoofin’ it all over Coco Beach. Instead I sat on a rock and waited for him to return.
Steve returned and goes, “You were right.”
“I knew it!”
“At first he didn’t want to say anything. I could tell it made him a little uncomfortable, and it was hard since he speaks mostly Spanish and I only know some Spanish. Once he told me he was LDS, he kept telling me that he was Christian and not Catholic. I kept telling him, ME TOO. I should have had my temple recommend with me; he would have understood that better.”
“Aw. I told you he was just scared! He probably doesn’t have tourists approach him about his faith.”
As we saw Jose’s son drive up in the boat, we all walked down to the shore to meet him. Steve and I talked to Jose for a bit while we waited for the boat to come in. We talked to Jose about how we wanted to go to the temple in Costa Rica, but it was a long drive to San Jose from where we were. When the boat got closer, we saw that there were now two boys on the boat. The young man from earlier, and another boy about eleven or twelve years old. Jose told us in a very serious and very loving voice, ‘Those are my boys. I bought the boat to teach them to work. They work with me and learn everyday.” I heart Jose!
On the boat ride back, Steve talked with the two boys for awhile. Steve learned that they go to church with their mom every Sunday, but Jose doesn’t come most of the time. Steve couldn’t quite understand if it was because he was nonactive at the time or if it was because he needed to work on Sundays to keep up the boat business. Either way, you could feel the Spirit around him, especially when it came to his family.
I really wish we took a picture of Jose and his boys, so that I could share it with you. I love that family. I know we’re everywhere, but it was such a neat experience to come across members of the Church in a different country, and in the most unexpected way.
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That is a heart warming story. Did you ask him if a Mormon missionary was the reason for his belief? Too bad he feels it necessary to hide his light under a basket……so to speak.
We weren’t able to get into details because of the language barrier. Maybe he’s run into people who were not friendly about his faith in his past, I dunno.