LAB: Gathering Scattered Israel

"And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."

- D&C 133:37

Uros Islands

Our road trip brought us to the city of Puno, right on the border with Bolivia. We took a boat ride to the village of Uros, which is a series of floating reed islands. Each island has a few families living on it and it not under the jurisdiction of the local government. The people are self governed and each island has a president. If a family or individual abuses some aspect of the island, they can be punished by having their portion of the island cut off.

Floating Islands

The islands are made of the dirt base formed by reeds growing in the lake. The saw I'm holding was used to cut large chunks out of the reeds, which are tied together, to form the island. 

Gathering Scattered Israel

One of the islands has a family who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They sang a him for us and shared their testimony of Jesus Christ. They don't have a church building to worship in, but I will forever remember their faith.

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is the highest elevation navigable body of water. 

Dos Vacas Pequeñas

Well, it's time for me to temporarily say goodbye to Peru. It was a wonderful week and I loved learning so much about the country's history and culture. The picture above shows two small bulls; these bulls represent prosperity, protection, and good luck. They are placed on the top of finished houses, often times with a cross, and serve as protectors. 

French M&Ms

I bought these M$Ms as an international business artifact. They have 7 languages on the packaging including Egyptian, French, Spanish, English, and I think Dutch. Operated by the US based Mars company, manufactured in France, and imported to Peru.

Templo San Jose, Costa Rica

Hydrangeas

Hortifruti Distribution Center

We visited the Walmart distribution center and headquarters for Mexico and Central America. Walmart has received a healthy amount of bad press about its business practices and how it sources its products. While there were several challenging manual labor jobs in their processing plant, it was surprising to see Walmart carry out its mission. They perform, I would assume, the most thorough food safety and production process in Central America. They really are trying to improve the standard of living in the countries they serve in.

Deloitte Costa Rica

We stopped by the Deloitte Costa Rica office, but no one was expecting us. It was a short visit and somewhat disappointing, but perhaps I'll give them a second chance someday. Deloitte is the largest accounting/consulting firm in the world btw.

The Adventure Begins

We started our tour around Costa Rica. I apologize in advance, there are going to be a lot of pictures of flowers. What can I say? Costa Rica has a lot of plants 🤷‍♂️🪴.

Stopping For Lunch

Costa Rica is the most developed country in Central America and maybe all of Latin America. It has a 99% literacy rate, derives 99% of its electricity from renewable resources, and has 20% of its land set aside as publicly owned national parks.

A Different Type of the Bird of Paradise Flower

Arbol Ceiba / Kapok Tree

Baldi Hot Springs

The encapsulation of "Pura Vida". Pura vida is Costa Rica's way of saying aloha; it means all things good, fun, and relaxing. This place was pretty epic. Their fastest slide goes up to 27 miles per hour and it absolutely wrecked me 😓😂.

Pool Bar

We swam up to this bar to order some drinks. The legal drinking age in most Latin American countries is 18 🍸.

Arenal Volcano

This stratovolcano is 7,000 years old and 1,633 meters tall. It hasn't spewed lava since 2006.