Costa Rica Vacation

Who’s to blame for my life? Who’s at fault…my parents…the government…fate…God…me? If I trace the time line from December 5, 1960 to November 9, 2009, life begins to really take on an absurd, chaotic, quality. As if there is no linearity whatsoever, but rather a series of meandering and intersecting paths, evidence of countless lurches and retreats, the res...

The Spanish Conquistadors that arrived to Costa Rica’s shores in the early 1500’s did quite a bit of damage to the people and their land.  Have they returned in the form of the Spanish hotel chain, Riu?  The company recently opened a mega-hotel of 701 rooms in Guanacaste, but not without controversy.  First there were the hundreds of workers that had to be treated for various illnes...

I have alluded in the past to my affinity for “musica ranchera,” which is a Mexican form that I would equate to country music back in the U.S. It is beer-drinking music for the broken-hearted, or for those who just want to get drunk. Last night we all (meaning, me and the rest of the mafioso Colombiano, plus Pablo), piled into the car and headed towards the mountains of Escazu to a lit...

“Ay dios mio” is a familiar refrain you hear in Costa Rica. The expression is equivalent to “oh my god” in English. My girlfriend is not Costa Rican, but Colombian….from Medellín, no doubt. They have many words that sound very foreign to someone accustomed to hearing (and trying to speak) Costa Rican-style Spanish. In moments of exasperation, I never hear her utter t...

I am a fan of Colombian artist Fernando Botero. I have a few Botero’s hanging in my living room….well, Botero prints, that is. You see I cannot afford a real Botero. I read something in Barack Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, the other day that got me thinking about Boteros in the living room. It came from Chapter 2, the one aptly entitled, Opportunity. In this illuminating ...

I have a gripe with the “gripe porcina” (or “swine flu” as you “northerners” call it). And that is, what’s the big deal? People have been getting all types of flu since the dawning of civilization. Why is this one suddenly become so infamously popular. This microscopic bug is more well-known world-wide than Michael Jackson. And now we have the constant bic...

Audacious is defined by Websters as “intrepidly daring,” among other less flattering ways. Oh, and by the way, “intrepid” is defined as” characterized by resolute fearlessness, fortitude, and endurance.” I am currently reading Barack Obama’s bestseller, The Audacity of Hope. What a peculiar title. Why would “hope” ever be considered audacious? ...

I truly enjoy writing. Talking is another thing. I am just not that fond of it. When I have something to say, I say it. When I don’t, I stay quiet. Of course, all the foregoing applies when I am sane and sober, which is around 80% of the time. As for the other 20%? I really don’t know who that guy is. Why is it that people these days just can’t shut up? Every event of life has to ...

One of the hallmarks of any working constitutional government is the separation of powers, that is, executive, legislative and judicial powers, into three autonomous branches.  One cannot be “beholding” to another or the whole idea is just a “house of cards.”  That seems to be the case in Nicaragua.  Consider the recent case whereby the Supreme Court (the

We have a curious little insect here in Costa Rica that we call the “leaf cutter ant.” One day I was doing a canopy tour with a couple of buddies from South Carolina. Out in the jungle we came across a line of leaf cutter ants. The ants are curious because each one will be carrying a freshly cut piece of green jungle leaf of some variety. As the tourists gazed at the marching ants, Jim...

That’s what the consensus was of those attending the First Annual Eco- and Sustainable Tourism Conference at the Hotel Herradura when it came to the role of Costa Rica in sustainable tourism.  Specifically, Bruce Poon Tip, founder and Executive Director of GAP Adventures, a worldwide adventure tourism company, told La Nación that Costa Rica is “out in front” of all others when ...

Life, it seems at times, is about conflict. I have been reading through the book of Genesis lately and wondering just where, when and how the conflict that now engulfs and threatens the world, received its initial spark. My life certainly has not been immune from conflict. Some people seem to relish in it. Not me. I have never been one to seek it out. But you don’t have to with conflict, it ...

November 4, 1991, a date that I will never forget. You came into the world that day, a little bruised and battered from the trip. I remember spending hours watching you under the bright lights. You were number two to arrive and I remember fearing whether our luck had run short too quickly. But everything turned out more than well. And here we are eighteen years later. I have always admired your ki...

Lately I am reading the book by Robin Sharma entitled, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. It has me thinking about what I am doing and why. I have always been a driven person, but for a long time what was driving me was the idea of having things….like a Ferrari. The most I was ever able to achieve was a Jeep Grand Cherokee on lease, but you get the idea. No but really, the book has me thinking a...

Someone in my company read one of my posts the other day and commented, “hey boss, that one was a bit politically incorrect, wasn’t it?” After firing him, I responded, “well, I hope so.” There is speech that is downright degrading, demeaning and despicable. That kind of speech is not aimed at intellectual stimulation, but rather to foment someone’s hateful ideas...

I was watching a movie last night entitled Sin Nombre. It is a movie about a family trying to make it from somewhere (I believe) in Central America, perhaps El Salvador, to the U.S. Their lives, especially that of the teenage daughter, Sayra, become intertwined with a member of the street gang, Salvatruchas, who joins their trek while fleeing from gang members seeking revenge for his murder of the ...

I wrote the other day in my other blog, Tiquicia, about an incident involving a tica periodista (female Costa Rican news reporter) who had an incident with the police during a U2 concert in Florida. In the post I recalled what I felt was an analogous incident involving my ex-girlfriend with the Immigration authorities in Charlotte, North Carolina. Low and behold, it seems that someone associated w...

Just got back from spending three days in the beautiful colonial city of Granada, Nicaragua. I have visited the city many times and always enjoy my time there. This time I discovered that in addition to the rustic colonial architecture, the historical significance (Granada was founded by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1524), the great food, arts and crafts and vibrant nightlife, Granada also ...

Things are actually pretty rosey these days. I am all moved in to my new home. While I did experience a bit of “trepidation” about the move initially, now I’m really loving it. And I got orange and mango trees in my backyard! What is really great is that my office is now separate from the house, even though both are part of the same property. That really helps with the commute, a...

I often update readers on books that I have read, or am in the process of reading. Recently I have been reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. You might remember from statistics class that an “outlier” is a statistical observation that is markedly different in value or position from others in a random sample. In the book, Gladwell’s outliers are those who have achieved wh...

According to an article that appeared in La Nación that details a study done by scientific researchers at the University of Costa Rica, Universidad Nacional and Universidad de Ciencias Médicas.  The researches first began studying the monkeys in 2001 and since then have studied 1,000 individuals.  The research reveals that in estimation there are 104,000 monkeys in Costa Rica of the four speci...

I’m old enough to remember those old Timex commercials. You know the ones featuring various “torture tests” that proved that the Timex could “take a licking and keep on ticking.” I was thinking this morning that, you know, Costa Rica has a similar quality. Since I have been living here I have seen Costa Rica’s resiliency proven time and time again. First there w...

Just six kilometers from where their scenic little pueblo was washed away by the torrential landslides provoked by the earthquake of January 8, 2009, former residents of CInchona are building a new, model community.  The “new Cinchona” will be populated by the 80 families that lost their homes, many their loved ones, and for the past year have been completely displaced and dispersed ...