Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

I was recently invited to officiate a wedding in a beautiful resort north of where we live. I set the directions in WAZE and dutifully followed its robotic instructions. About an hour into the journey, I realized WAZE was taking me on the most direct route. But it was not the easiest driving route...at all.  

Costa Rica does not have freeways like in the US. Most of the highways are two-lane. Some seem like they’re effectively one-lane. As the crow flies, I was “only” traveling about 75 miles. But it took me well over four hours.

I had to pass through several mountainous areas with hairpin turns and narrow one-lane bridges. If you have ever been on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland, you can picture my adventure. Up and down, turn left, turn right, slow down, speed up, slow down. Repeat.

At one point, I arrived at what looked like the entrance to a substantial (and less curvy) highway. I was encouraged that the road ahead might be an easier drive. However, there was a chain across the entrance to the onramp and a man in a shack off to the side. I stopped to inquire how I could enter the blissfully straight highway that seemed to lay before me.

The man in the shack informed me that the highway ended about 100 meters ahead. It was a project that had remained idle for over 25 years. It was the “new road” that was never finished.

The man informed me that WAZE and Google Maps show the highway as complete, so people pass by all day long looking for “the road that should be here.”  The man’s job was to point wayfarers like me to a dirt road that went for about five miles to connect with another very curvy road that would eventually lead me to my destination.    

The “silver lining” (I kept telling myself) was that I was seeing some amazing countryside. And it was spectacular! Also, I was not in any rush. I had planned the trip to give me a few hours of cushion for any eventualities that might come up…such as Mr. Toad’s WAZE route.

Eventually, I arrived at the wedding venue. It was a resort at the foot of Arenal, the most iconic volcano in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has 61 dormant volcanoes and 6 that are active.

Arenal is an active volcano with a perfect cone-shape…making it one of the most popular tourist locations in the country. The wedding venue was a breath-taking overlook facing the volcano. Nine days out of ten, Arenal is shrouded in clouds. But on the morning of the wedding, the iconically shaped cone was majestically visible.

The wedding was as gorgeous as the venue. The bride and groom were radiant. The family and friends who gathered were joyous. It was a picture-perfect moment in every sense.

And it was all in Spanish….and that put me through the ringer. But after the ceremony, the bride commented that my Spanish was better than she imagined (that was good) and that she could tell I was from Chile (that was even better)!

I drove back home that afternoon thankful to be serving King Jesus in such an amazing country. The roads in Costa Rica are not like the freeways “back home.” But the adventure never gets old.