An Afternoon Trip

Thank you to everyone who has left comments or e-mailed me and offered prayers and encouragement regarding my Mother.  It means so very much to me and to all my family.  My mother continues in a delicate and critical condition at this time, and while we have seen some minor improvements in the past few days, there is still a long way to go.

Today, thanks to the generosity of the Uncle of one of my co-workers in Arizona, who lives near here, I was able to get away for the afternoon into the mountains.

First we stopped for a look at his lovely mountain home and gardens with enormous hedges of hydrangea and fuchsias.


It is the dry season here, so I understand that it isn't as green and lush as it is during the rainy season, but it is still lovely!  And though it is "dry" it was a misty afternoon ~ just not raining as it does in the rainy season!


We took a walk down into the forest ~ everything covered with many varieties of moss and fern.  Those steps are steep and the rope handrail a complete necessity!


The view into the forest is amazing ~ so green and lush.


Every horizontal surface turns into a garden for a host of other plants, even if it's just a tree limb growing across the path.


Lower on the mountainsides, there are fields of coffee, some with a natural bio-diverse shade cover of native trees, some with artificial covers  ~ tents that cover entire hillsides and others such as these where the coffee is allowed to enjoy the full sunlight.  It was a lovely break.

It has been so heartening to find unexpected new friends in a country far from home during a time of trouble.  God has been so good to us.