Jesus just left Santa Ana and he's bound for Belen (with apologies to ZZ Top)

Costa Rica is a small country wedged between the Atlantic and Pacific.  It boasts mountains, active volcanoes, and the worst traffic I've ever experienced.  It touts ecolodges (high end hotels without air conditioning), larges swaths of rainforest set aside for ecological preservation, and a university that helps the world to understand peace.  It also has dozens of buses belching whirling black clouds of exhaust, usually right into our face as we drive with windows down in the late afternoon.

My daughter Danielle snapped this photo, which sports not advertisements, but reminders of the unique religious nature of this country.  In the right hand corner of the picture of Jesus, "JESUS NOS VE."  Below, "Espero en Dios volver."

We like driving home behind these buses as reminder that Jesus will return and Jesus does hear our prayers.  We also joke that we might experience the miraculous, no traffic!

Costa Rica is mostly Catholic, and Catholicism is imbedded in the constitution as the state religion.  Public schools provide religious instruction, and freedom of religion is granted to those who practice different beliefs than Catholicism.

Costa Rica has thwarted attempts by individuals and other worldwide organizations to change its constitution.  Additionally, the Costa Rica constitution clearly defines life as beginning at the moment of conception.  There have also been challenges to this stance, with no success to the present.

Having said all this, many Costa Ricans who claim Catholicism as their faith do not actively participate, and there are many active evangelical Christian missionaries in the country.  The Mormon church has a reported 147 missionaries in the country, topping the list.

My challenge to you, pick Costa Rica or any other country and go.  No excuses, make it work, and you will never regret it.