michael in Costa Rica

Monteverde

2010-04-25T19:36:00.001-07:00

Since this was my last week-end for a while in Costa Rica and since we just got two new interns from OISE, I decided to visit Monteverde where the rain forest is. Naturally, when we got up this morning to go Zip lining, it was raining. In fact, the managers strongly suggested our three teachers buy raincoats for $8 each so they would not be miserable. They dutifully bought the rain coats as suggested, which guaranteed the sun would be out within minutes!

St Elena and Monteverde are not that far from Guanacaste but admittedly the roads are terrible, although I imagined worth based on what everyone was telling me previously. We made the route rather easily, I thought, after a leisurely three hour ride. When we reached the hotel around 6 pm, I was shocked that the two 25 year olds wanted to take a “power” nap and the other teacher, 50 years old, also went to sleep for a while. We had decided to see what the local dance club was like and I was really looking forward to seeing what Costa Ricans did in the discos since they love to dance so much. I was quite surprised when I went to wake everyone up about 9 that they were still sleeping and were simply too tired to go out. What is wrong with this picture when a 60 something outlasts a 20 something and 50 year old? They also took the zip line today and since I already did this a few months ago I opted to walk the few kilometers through the cloud forest and walked the whole circuit. When we were done, I was ready to go to a different park and walk again but they were “too tired”

Technology, by the way, is wonderful. I asked one of the interns, who is constantly on her phone/web thing who won the baseball game. She texted her boyfriend in Toronto who duly reported that the Blue Jays lost 6 -0 but asked her why her sudden interest in baseball. He said, you were never interested in baseball in Toronto and now that you are in Costa Rica why the sudden interest?

The cloud forest, by the way, was really spectacular. I loved all of the ferns and vegetation growing on the trees and the constant rain and humidity makes this fascinating to walk through. There were 8 suspension bridges that were really neat to look across and down into the forest. Had anyone more energy we could have visited coffee plantations, a frog pond, orchid garden, butterfly gardens and so on but the energy level was simply not there.

We did visit the Quaker school and I was amazed that kids were playing soccer on a Sunday, volunteers were repairing the roof of the building and teachers were preparing lessons. I guess the trick is to have a committed group of volunteers who have similar belief systems. The guy heading up the “buy the rainforest” campaign was also there and he explained that in Costa Rica, when you have a property, if you find uninhabited land you can mark out your homestead. Actually, one or our teacher's from California did that during the 1960’s and has really been self-sufficient for the past number of years.

I head home on Wednesday and don't imagine I will see that many forests around Toronto, but hopefully will get to see anyone who actually reads this blog. See you soon.

The Ugly American

2010-04-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

I am not going to tell you what Latin American country I am in in case this is picked up on some search engine and I would not want to embarrass anyone, but I will tell you that I now understand the expression the ugly American. I got an invitation from the American embassy to attend an opening of a joint United States /Latin American project. The invitation, by the way, came from the American Embassy, not from the Latin American joint venture. All of the principals spoke and said the usual, but what struck me like a bolt of lightning was the fact that the new American Ambassador spoke in English. Surely to God Obama could have found one campaign contributor who spoke Spanish! I found the fact that the Ambassador spoke in English condescending at best and insulting at worse. Even if she spoke Spanish, which she apparently did not, surely she could have put in some Spanish expressions.

The other issue was the poor job she did of speaking with a translator. I learned last year that when you speak with a translator, you give the whole idea first and then you stop and let the translator speak. She stopped, like I used to, after every phrase which could be two or three words. The translator has no hope when you do that other than botching up the translation.

Yesterday, by the way, I continued my road show and went to the town of Nicoya in the Nicoya peninsula, about two hours, mas o menos, from where I live. I went to a little restaurant for lunch and met the Chinese Costa Rican owner married to a German Costa Rican. When I asked the German when and why his family came here he told me that they had been living in Costa Rica for 80 years and control all of the cocoa export. I scared his wife when I asked” ni how ma” because she was embarrassed that she did not speak Chinese and moved away but how serendipitous that they were married to each other, the mixture of Chinese and Swiss living in Costa Rica and ending their family traditions because they did not have children.

I am coming home next week for the month of May to try and sell our school to Toronto high school kids. I think we have a great product since our school is on a 72 hectare farm and we tons of interesting outdoor interactive stuff. It would also benefit our 10 high school students to have some interaction with the outside world. We are getting two OISE students next week but hopefully I can generate a little more interaction than this!

Saved by the Nacion

2010-04-11T06:40:00.001-07:00

Saved by the Nacion. I knew I had the national paper in my car for something! I went to a park off the beaten track today to see birds and hopefully alligators! Palo Verde is twenty eight kilometers down a beaten road that made you wish you never started but frankly I kept driving because I wanted to take a boat ride and see the alligators and birds. When I got there I turned off the car and went inside to pay the guy. Unfortunately, I found out that because of the dry season there was no water to take a boat on! When I turned my car back on five minutes later all I heard was the sickening click, click, click of the battery. Then I did not even hear that! What was I going to do? It was about noon, the temperature was about 40 degrees and the money collector did not even have a car, let alone cables. I asked him when the next car might show up and he just shrugged his shoulders as if to say, maybe a few days!!!

Thankfully it was Saturday and I had the Nacion, the national newspaper of Costa Rica and lucky for me it was the Saturday edition which is huge with all of the advertisements and so on. I opened the hood, pried off the clamps from the battery and used the Nacion to clean the clamps with a little water supplied by the guy. I saw that battery was obviously leaking so I wanted to make sure all of the connections were clean. After working on the car for about 30 minutes I finally got it started… or was that a mirage brought on by the waves of heat?

What actually happened was that by some miracle some reporters from the Nacion came by ( I knew the newspaper played a role here and they even had cables, some beautiful tools and off to work they went. Somehow, a mechanic even showed up as they were working, believe it or not, and they finally got the car started.

Rather than go into the park, I travelled back to Liberia and went to the nearest gasoline station, in fact the only gasoline station, to turn off the car to see if it would start again. The good news is that it did start and I give credit to where credit is due…The Nction. The bad news is that I had a flat tire! I just happened to be parked in front of the tire guy who kind of mentioned I should look at the tire which just happened to be flat).

What is absolutely amazing is that the Rosetta Stone program I am working on just happened to be on flat tires this week so I was fabulous. I could negotiate with him to fix the tire, sell me a second hand tire and look at the battery ( discargado) but guess what, he did not have a second hand tire so I am left with my bald tire. I may even go new this week but not sure how to say this since it was not in the program.

The week that was

2010-03-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

I work in a small school and it seems every parent feels they should have a say in what we teach, how we do business, and even what our finances look like. I cannot imagine any other business where a client would actually have the nerve to ask to look at the books. Needless to say, this was another heavy week dealing with parents. Heck, the kids are great, as usual, but the parents can be a bit of a drag in a small school. Interestingly enough, I have been a principal in a school of a 1000 kids and had less interaction with parents. It seems that the smaller the school, the more the parents feel they are part owners.

It is also amazing just how tiring this can be, which shows how the emotions can control physical condition. To relax a bit, I drove up to Santa Rosa after our parent meeting which lasted all Saturday morning. Santa Rosa is the big historical spot in Costa Rica because it is where the famous 10 minute battle took place to beat Nicarauga and gain independence for this part of Guanacaste.If it is anything like the fiestas I have visited, it must have been quite a party.Walking down the Indian 'denundo' trail was actually quite relaxing as I saw the dried up river beds and trees literally growing out of rock.

Today I actually took my chair to the beach and read for a good part of the day. It was also very relaxing which should prepare me for next week, the week before I wing it home for Pesach. There are report cards, lots of meetings with parents ( as usual) and the the regular staffing issues. What a life in this paradise. Would I be happy sitting on the beach reading every day? Not sure, but it sure sounds enticing at this moment!

Rio Celeste

2010-03-13T19:35:00.001-08:00

Shaul is leaving tomorrow and I hope he had a good time. As a colleague told me early on, the neat thing about Costa Rica is not the monuments or the cities, but the great natural wonders. Last night, Rob and Rena took us to Playa Flamingo where their friend, a master chef, served us in style in a great hotel right on the beach. Wouldn’t you know it that there was also a casino on site where Shaul and I spent some pleasant hours after dinner…not quite enough to pay for the dinner, but enough to take a good bite out of it. Frankly, most of the Americans who live here tend to gravitate down to the Nicoya Peninsula and live on Playa Flamingo which they seem to ‘ooh and aah’ over because of the white sand or Tamarindo. I personally love Playa Hermosa where I live where the water and sand are great, I think, and it is always empty!

It was also great to show a new teacher some of Costa Rica. Since he has been here, he has only seen Playa Coco where he lives and has no idea about the real show here. Today we took him to Rio Celeste in Park Tenorio. About an hour or two from the school there are about five volcanoes and any one of them is great to see because it is always cooler up high, it is actually amazingly green as you can see from the pictures of the jungle and I continually see great new things every week. For example, I loved the huge waterfall l and this is the dry season) and the blue water from the sulfur. As we were climbing our way down we could hear the great rush of the waterfall and when we actually saw it, it was like Shangri La. I can’t wait to go back next week-end with a gang of teachers to see the rest of it. We did not get to the mud baths or the agua caliente, unfortunately.

What I did learn about myself this week is that I seem to have way more energy than many of my colleagues. I don’t seem to get hungry or tired, which begs the questions of why I am so overweight, but that is another question. As we were trekking through Park Tenorio I realized I only have a few years left to do this sort of stuff. I was grabbing tree roots coming out of the side of the hill just to not get killed as the path down was muddy, steep and slippery. I did make it in one piece, but it was not easy. Once my knees are completely shot it will be impossible to do what I did today, so I feel that from here on in I better see it all. Once the legs go, I will only be seeing these things on television or in book.

The Tail of the Fish

2010-03-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

I finally went fishing. I decided to take a day off school, or at least a morning and see what the big deal was about fishing. Shaul and I rented a boat and two sixteen year old captains and off we went, or so we thought. Before we headed out to open seas though, we had to stop to catch our bait. Shaul and I were handed the fancy rods and lures and the captain, like David in the Bible story, used a piece of string to reel in the fish. Didn’t Shaul and I feel stupid when he reeled in about five fish in ten minutes with a piece of string and Shaul and I got nothing with our fancy rods!
When we got to open water we were handed the rods and the bait and told that the fishing was not that good at this time of year. Now he tells us, after we forked over the $200? After about two hours of nothing, followed by more nothing, my rod caught on fire and I reeled in a twenty-five pound Jack, a fish in the yellow tail variety. What you have to do I learned, is let the fish run until it gets tired, then lower the rod and start to reel him in. After one more hour of tedium, we were actually coming in rather slowly and trolling, just in case we might catch something else. Suddenly, the rod bent over like an old man bending in the wind and the fight began. We pulled in a seventy-five pound rooster, but had to throw it back, the captains said since it was an endangered species. I think I must have worked at it for at least an hour, or so it seemed. I was amazed at how huge this fish was, but even more amazed to see the reverence the two boys who were our captains, showed to this fish. After taking out as much of the hooks and paraphernalia as they could, they stoked it gently a few times and one even bent over and kissed the fish, and then gently lowered it back in the water and watched it swim away. I really don’t know why the law says we have to throw it back, since I am quite confident it will be dead shortly anyway, from the exhaustion of fighting me or the gear stuck in its’ mouth. And they call this “sports fishing”
I have done a few different things from the norm this week since Shaul is visiting. I have won some money at two different casinos, eaten out in quite fancy restaurants every night and watched a huge forest fire near my house with the flames licking down the mountain like lava spewing out of a volcano. Needless to say, I was quite impressed. Everything around here is brown dry since we do not get a drop of rain for six months.
Now I am heading off to the school to feed supper to the staff. Thank God we caught something!

Tricks of the Trade

2010-03-07T05:25:00.000-08:00

Having been a principal for the past few years, I am gradually learning a few tricks of the trade ( admittedly, I am a slow learner) and I still have a long way to go but let me share a few tidbits. I had some parents come in Wednesday that wanted their son to be skipped a grade. For a variety of reasons, this was a non-starter so let me tell you what I did. I have an extremely small office on the west of the school and in the afternoon the temperature has to be well over 40 degrees centigrade. Frankly, it is even too hot for me and I love the heat. Since, I was coaching soccer after school, I put on my shorts and a t shirt, scheduled the meeting for the middle of the afternoon and did not put on the air conditioner.It was great! The guy was pulling out his handkerchief and wiping his brow every second and the wife was using examples of her kids work to fan herself. I asked her if she was menopausal. After a few minutes, she went storming out of the room which was, of course, the plan. When the father came back later in the day and was willing to reason with us, I did turn on the air conditioning ( which he did appreciate by the way.)

Another important lesson they never teach you in principal school is that when you hang up the phone on a parent, you have to be talking. This is easy. Just start to say something and press click. Who would believe you would hang up on yourself?

More seriously, the toughest job of being a principal is to ensure that teachers, students and parents become problem solvers in their own right. It is frankly easy to solve most problems immediately since I have the knowledge and resources to do it. The staff, money and curriculum are at my disposal so all I have to do is open my mouth to make something happen, but then what have the stakeholders learned? The hardest part of being a principal, it seems to be, is not give the quick solutions. For example, a teacher complained last week of other teachers coming late and screwing up the schedule of the school. I could and should talk to the teachers in question and make sure this does not happen again, but what would be solved, other than a quick fix which would happen again the next week or the next month. I have to figure out a way to get the teachers in question talking with each other and finding a solution to their own challenges, which, in the case of my school is easy because it is so small. We could quickly rearrange the timetable, take time from another part of the program and so on. Or, on a less creative side, simply have them talk to each other so it does not happen again.

Or... We have a really cute little four year old that is tearing the school up. He has absolutely no control. The other day, since the swimming teacher was away, I foolishly volunteered to take the kinder class. Things were really going smoothly, I thought, until this kid decided to take his life in his own hands and started to swim all over the pool or his interpretation of swimming. I grabbed his arms in a not too gentle way and told him that he had to do what he was told. When he shook his head no, I let go of his arms. When he resurfaced for air, I asked him the same question in English and again he shook his head no. I let go of his arms again with the same results. The third time, he came up shaking yes. I doubt very much whether he understood a word I said in English, but he did get the message that I wanted Si's and not no's. If only I can import a swimming pool into my office. It might solve two problems!

Cortes Waterfall

2010-02-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

I was talking with a guest in our restaurant at the school and he had a picture of a beautiful waterfalls on his computer. When I asked him where it was, he told me 21.2 kilometers from the school. ( obviously a military man in his former life). I could not believe it. I have been living here for six months and still don’t know about these things? The tourist infrastructure is non-existent. When I wrote the department of tourism a while back and asked them if they wanted me to officially blog for them, I did not even get an answer. That was after spending about an hour trying to get an e mail address. A headline in the Tico Times says:” Costa Rica, the new Florida.” I don’t think so. What people like about Florida so much is that it has all the amenities of Canada but not the potholes!

Anyway, back to the story.I drove south for exactly 21.2 kilometers and turned right as he said. There was simply a dirt road, no signs, no sounds, no flashing lights a la California. I drove exactly 500 meters up the road as he instructed, turned right as he told me and then a left another 300 meters up the road and got out of my car and followed a path to Shangra-la. Wouldn’t you think it would be prudent of the tourist authority to at least put up a few signs? What are they thinking? How about a little hut selling water at least? I certainly can’t figure it out. It was a great little spot as you can see from the pictures and no-one knows about this site!!!

Talking about potholes… Look at this. I was driving through Liberia with my Nissan Pathfinder, thank God, and fell into this pothole with the whole front of the car! If I had been driving a small rented car I would probably still be down this open sewer or in someone’s toilet. There was no sign, no cover , no nothing. As if on cue, about 10 guys came out from somewhere and literally lifted the car back on the road. I don’t know if they were expecting a tip but I was so thankful I got out I simply drove away after a few high fives! They also dig up and fix the potholes in the road all the time, especially when I am trying to get to school, but they do such a poor job of it that they are back the next week filling the same potholes. There must be some conspiracy to do it poorly.

School has been extremely busy for some reason. I thought after all the planning I would now be in retirement but parents keep asking questions, kids still are being kids and teachers need their constant reminders. As well, it keeps me off the streets, or in this case, out of the water! Have a nice week if you are reading this.

Finally- Hot Springs!

2010-02-21T06:31:00.001-08:00

I finally found the Agua Calientes I was looking for last August when I first arrived and now I understand why it was full of Ticos. It would be absolutely impossible to find if I did not understand and could speak Spanish.(ok, a little Spanish). I remember in my first week-end in Costa Rica. I got into the car and headed south from Liberia to Bagaces. I started to follow some signs for some hot springs but remember getting so wound around and lost it was impossible to find. I did find some little mud hole, mind you, and I was so turned off by it I never attempted to travel again to any hot springs, except for the fabulous hot springs I found in Arenal by the name of Baldi which happened to be right on the main road which was the only reason I found it. Today, I did get wound around like the other time, with the road obviously going nowhere, or somewhere I guess, but nowhere I was interested in going, but this time I could ask and actually understand the answer and in no time flat I was at "Thermal Mania."

Since my area, and I guess all of Costa Rica, is essentially surrounded by volcanoes, or better put, in the midst of volcanoes, there has to be hot springs everywhere. The geothermal activity in these areas is fantastic. There are these huge pipes coming from somewhere in the volcano, I presume, spewing forth steam, which is then turned into electricity in the generating plants. I would love to know how much energy is created by the volcanoes and if Costa Rica depends on any outside source for power? They even had wind mills in the area I was in today.

The actual hot springs were great. This time, it only cost $10 for the day and I had access to about 6 pools of varying degrees of heat, a water slide, swim up bar and so on. Not quite as posh as Baldi, but very serviceable and well appointed. There is even cabins on site with their own thermal waters, even though I did not get a chance to look inside. However, I do know where I am going to take my next visitors ( or to put it another way) my first visitor. We will go to this area around Miravelles and choose one of the big three hot springs in the area to relax in.

Although my school only has 80 kids, it has enough after school activities to keep a school of a 1000 kids happy. I played soccer on Thursday, baseball on Friday and tried to stay away from Club Explosion so I did not lose an eye. Kids were blowing up things all over the place. Next week I am going to try my hand at the swim club and hopefully camera club. I keep taking pictures of flowers, especially the bird of paradise, but would love to be able to take some pictures of birds. Not sure if I have the patience!

The Road Less Traveled

2010-02-14T12:37:00.001-08:00

Excuse me for not writing very much in the last month but without a computer and accoutrements, it was difficult. In addition, I was spending every waking hour planning for the school year which opened up last Monday. The boss and I have been spending our time writing the teacher and student manuals, talking about the strategic plan, timetabling, hiring teachers, organizing and reorganizing classes, buying materials, creating the evaluation software, preparing teaching workshops and so on. When you are the principal of a small school you have to do everything. In the past, I had no idea where the supplies came from. I just assumed they would be there!

Anyway, there is nothing more I can do. The ‘game’ is now in the hands of the teachers and I can sit back and watch it happen…sort of. The first day started off rather poorly mind you. We got a teacher all the way from Vietnam in 54 hours to start the school year with us and we could not even get him to school, a twenty minute bus ride! The bus went to get him, but since a teacher from last year was sick and they were on the same bus, the bus driver did not know what the new teacher looked liked. This is Costa Rica, of course, and people generally do not have phones so there I was at 8 am with two teachers missing. (school starts at 8 am.) Parents in Costa Rica infiltrate the school on the first day and take their kids to classes so there I was talking with parents and kids with no teacher to be found.

After I sorted out that problem, by personally getting the teacher, things started to go right and by Friday it actually appears as if things will go all right this year. Yesterday I even went with some students to el norte, just one hour from the school towards the border of Nicaragua. It was great. I travelled about thirty minutes north of Liberia, turned right on the first road and started driving east. After about fifteen minutes, the road, or anything resembling a road disappeared and I was travelling over potholes, huge rocks and through rivers, but did see great scenery which kept changing from pastoral farmland to hardwood trees, to ocean front vistas. I loved it as we made a circle from the east to the west and the whole thing probably took, in driving time, no more than two or three hours. Of course, no tourist ( of the legal kind) would ever travel these roads because the sexy spots in Costa Rica are the active volcanoes, the go go beaches like Coco or Jaco or even the other Hermosa but not where I went yesterday.

What I loved about it was the peacefulness of seeing cows grazing in the fields, real cowboys with real horses repairing fences and cutting crops and then seeing such change of scenery in minutes as we travelled from ‘Yafa” orange orchards for miles, it seemed, to volcanoes, beach vistas and old forest at Santa Rosa. There were lots of police checkpoints, probably stopping illegal immigration from Nicaragua but thankfully did not stop me because I did not have a passport with me which I think you are supposed to carry with you at all times. I am also sure they don’t do much of a job checking illegal immigrants either. After all, if they did, who would be working in Costa Rica?

Shopping in Costa Rica

2010-02-01T05:04:00.000-08:00

I’m Back! Let me tell you how I acquired all of my new ‘stuff’. My boss knows a wholesale computer place in San Jose where we picked up my first computer. As you remember, it could sing and dance but had no internal microphone or web camera. I returned it and we were promised another one in a week. My boss made multiple phone calls and everything seemed to be in order. You see, the problem is not getting a computer, especially if you are willing to spend $200 more than you would in Canada, but rather getting an English keyboard. A Spanish keyboard would be absolutely impossible because keys are in different place and some commands are different. Anyway, we were assured that there was an English keyboard in stock and I was a happy camper.

The following week, yesterday, I believe, we went to San Jose to get my computer. At 9 am, even though we had been promised a computer days before, they told us to come back at three. At three sharp, we were sitting in the office waiting for the computer at the wholesalers and wouldn’t you know it. The computer was not there. After sitting staring at each other for 30 minutes, we decided to shake things up a bit and walk to the back room where they finally decided to get their act in gear and show us a computer, but as you can guess, it did not have the requisite microphones and so on. Fair enough, is this the only one you have I asked. Just then, another guy came by and said, in fact, here is another one. It had everything I wanted and then some, but guess what, it was too small for me but at that point, 4:30 I was willing to spend the money just to get out of there! My boss asked after about fifteen minutes of more useless chatter, are you sure there is not another one somewhere? Thirty minutes later she came back to tell us that low and behold, there was a model computer ( a Toshiba Satellite) that she would be willing to sell for $650. Hallelujah! I’ll take it, I said. She told us to come back in an hour when they would have Windows installed on it. Forget it, I told them, we will take it as is and just burn the software and I will install myself! Forty-five minutes later she returned to say they did not have any software and we could download from the Internet. ( wrong actually) but I agreed. At 5:30 I told the lady I would pay an extra $50 if she would just give me the computer within the next 15 minutes and I would pay immediately. She did not get the extra $50!!!!

You think that is bad? Let me tell you about the phone! We got a phone, not really a big deal, but not a small deal either. We went to an Office Depot type of place and you look at the phones but they will not let you take them to the cash register. You have to go to the cash register, wait in line for a bit till you are recognized and then they ask the guys to bring you the phone. That takes another fifteen minutes at least ( which is why there is always a line at the cash register!) Once you get it, you have to go over everything again and then, if you are lucky, they may let you buy it.

You think you are pretty smart, right, and that would be the end of the story, but how wrong you would be. Once you have a telephone, you then have to go to ICE, the national communications carrier to get a phone number. After waiting in line for three days in a row, we found out that there is about a three month waiting list to get a number. Luckily, they let me use my old number.

The story does not end. I bought the same camera as I bought in Toronto three years ago, a nifty little Cannon ( for about one third more than I paid three years ago) and walked out of the store on air…that is until I got home. It is kind of hard to take pictures without a chip to insert which they made no effort to sell me when I bought the new camera and if truth be told probably did not even know it needed one. We bought it in the same place as the phone?!??

Want to hear more? Didn’t think so. So, you want to visit Costa Rica?

Honestly, the moral of the story is that I should never never never lose anything again, especially not here. I do have to tell you though that when I go out to my beach in the morning the water is so clear you can see the sand at the bottom and all the fish in between, you never need a towel, the days are perfect at about 30 degrees and the stars are brighter at night then I have ever seen. As long as you do not ever have to buy anything, Costa Rica is great!

Life without a computer

2010-01-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

Want to know what life is like without a computer? I am going to tell you, but please forgive me if I leave out question marks or make other grammatical mistakes. I simply cannot find an English keyboard around here and it is virtually impossible to get one in Costa Rica unless it is a special order. I returned the computer I bought last week because even though it could cook breakfast it did not have an internal microphone or video!

I remember when I taught at Thornlea,probably in the 70's and early 80's, Mike Lieberman gave us an hour lecture on what life was going to be like in the computer age. We sat sceptically then as he described e commerce, communication and telecommunication. Who knew how right he was going to be. Who could believe it? Thirty years later I can and do.

God knows who is using my computer now, but I hope some kid who didn't have one before. Maybe it will change his whole life as it has mine. It is hard to imagine not talking to people anywhere in the world whenever I want. What a pain.Even in Costa Rica, I use Skype to phone my boss because more often than not the cell phone does not work in my house anyway.

I also miss my girlfriend a great deal, but that is another issue. Rosetta Stone is no longer with me and I have to face this world without daily Spanish lessons. However, I am actually reading the paper everyday and trying to watch television in Spanish but that is very difficult because television here is exactly the same as it is in North America, because it is North American! As much as I would like to learn Spanish, I can't bring myself to watch these lousy programs.I am starting to watch American football because they are broadcast in Spanish, but quite frankly it is difficult to understand because of the specialized vocabulary.

Another interesting point, for me anyway, is that it is easier to read the equivalent of the Globe and Mail then the Sun, for example. I guess the Nacion is better written and there are more contextual clues than in the country 'rag' It is almost impossible for me to read and undersatnd apaper lik e the Inquirer. I would have thought it would be far easier but it is not.

Back to the computer. I guess I am used to instant communication with the world and without the comfort of that 'feeling' I am at a loss or at least feel like I am at a loss. When I had my computer and Internet connections, I really felt at 'home' wherever I was. When Sylvia and I were in South America, we use to call Daniel to ask where to eat dinner in Buenos Aires or Josh to say happy birthday. We were never out of touch with our children, the news, and anything else we wanted to be in touch with!

Needless to say, all of my workshops and materials were also on the computer which made my life easier. I have done so much professional development work over the past few years that all I have to do is press a few buttons and ala kazam, I have a workshop. Next week, I have a week of workshops and I will actually have to do quite a bit of work preparing them. I better publish this now because if I don't, who knows when I will have access to a computer again?

The run-a-way ferris wheel

2010-01-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

I proved yesterday that you could get sick on a Ferris wheel. I went to a fiesta in Santa Cruz yesterday, about an hour from where I live. A fiesta in a two week party where Costa Ricans dance, drink and then dance and drink some more. If time, they might ride horses, jump in the ring with the bull or take their kids to the games area. The equipment in the games area is so old you would think they were antique and could be seen in a museum. How harmful, I said to myself, would it be to go on this kid’s Ferris wheel for a few turns of the circle? Well I found out. When I got off I had to find a piece of grass to lie down on for an hour or so. The guy put me in, cranked the wheel to get the Ferris wheel moving (probably after years of neglect) and then went to sleep, literally. I was yelling for him to stop, but he was way too far gone. I bet I was on that sucker for thirty minutes before he woke up and not only was I going in this circle, but the seat I was in kept swinging back and forth.

And if you think that is bad, you should see the rodeo ring. I would love to show you a picture, but difficult to do without a camera. There was a huge ring in the middle of the town that was obviously put up for this occasion, by the same guys who are doing the drinking and the dancing I suppose. There had to be a thousand people in the stands, hundreds more underneath and you could literally see the ring tilting to one side. I could not even get in if I wanted to because it was literally packed to the rafters. Where was the department of health and safety or are they only concerned with yellow fever?

Actually people did seem to be having a lot of fun . I saw a parade with weird clowns that looked medieval, hundreds of horses that probably came in from all over Nicoya, old cars ( which they probably actually use on a daily basis), and guys throwing some kind of candy into the crowd.

I am going into San Jose tomorrow to hopefully get a new passport, camera, phone and computer. My boss did buy me a computer and my only requirements were to have a built in microphone and camera This computer practically cooks dinner, but does not have the above so I am getting a new one tomorrow.

By the way, if there is anyone reading this that can and wants to teach middle school math and science and is available right now, please let me know.

The End of the Trip-sort of

2010-01-14T21:20:00.001-08:00

I have been waiting to tell the last story of my South American adventure for a week, since I did not have my computer, but that is another story. I had to go home via Peru on my way to Costa Rica. The day I left, I got to the airport on time, actually in plenty of time, and the guy at the counter asked me if I had my yellow fever vaccination certificate. At that stage I switched from speaking Spanish to English and asked him if he could repeat what he just said. When he repeated it in English I just could not believe it. YELLOW FEVER? What is that? Some disease we talked about in public school? I also told him that I was a Canadian, had been to Costa Rica many times over the past few months and to let me handle the problem. He replied that I had to go to the medical office and get a vaccine. He told me that even if I was Canadian, travelling from Peru, Bolivia and so on the government of Costa Rica insisted on the certificate.

When I asked the doctor about this she said she would be pleased to give me the vaccine but I would then be in detention in Peru for ten days and not able to travel ( presumably because I could very well get yellow fever from the vaccination). I told her to hold off, went back to the desk and pleaded with the guy to let me on the plane and deal with the situation in Costa Rica. He then phoned his boss and without saying a word gave me my seat on the plane. I am not sure whether he discovered he was in error, or the airline decided to honour the ticket and let me worry about the consequences or what but I did not ask. I was afraid he might change his mind. When I got to Costa Rica, I did notice there was a big triangle on the screen and a warning that I might have something but the guy didn’t ask me any questions, didn’t say a word, and just let me through.

In the meantime, I might add, there was a woman in front of me in the line that was seriously sick, had to sit on her bags as we waited in line because she could hardly stand up and could barely make it to the ticket counter. She had no problem getting on the plane, apparently because she did not have yellow fever, I guess.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. On my way to the bus station to go up north, I had my usual suitcase and my briefcase, one of which I left in the taxi on my way to the bus. The one I left just happened to have my computer in it, my camera, my telephone ( which did not work or I would have immediately phoned the taxi), my passport and international driver’s license. Do you know what a pain in the neck it is to replace all of these things? I am finding out. And I thought being quarantined for ten days would have been a hassle!

Toronto the Good

2010-01-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you how great Toronto is. The more I travel around the world, the better Toronto looks. The other day in Buenos Aires I was really shocked when the cab driver leaned over and locked Sylvia’s door. The same thing happened to me the week before in Lima where I was looking through my pictures in the front seat of the cab and the cabbie told me to put the camera away because we were going through a bad part of town. My landlady in Costa Rica always yells at me because I refuse to put the bar in place after I lock the glass patio doors. She insists I will lose this computer one day, even though the patio is literally ten feet off the ground and any thief would need a ladder to climb up to it.

I really can’t think of any place in Toronto I would be afraid to travel, night or day. I know Jane and Finch has a bad reputation but teaching at York I was in that area all the time without a problem. I can’t imagine any tourist book saying not to go to a particular area of Toronto because it was dangerous but here it happens all the time. Whenever I want to go to a particular museum or point of interest someone in South America is always telling me it is in a dangerous part of town or you have to pass through a dangerous part of town to get there. There is a cemetery in Lima, apparently, very similar to Recoleta and when I asked what the best time to visit was I was told that it was in an ‘ugly’ part of town. Which parts of Toronto are ugly? I know, I know, it is all ugly but is there one area uglier than most?

In Asia, I can’t remember being told all the time not to go to a particular area because it was dangerous. This was because I did not speak the languages very well or there aren’t any areas where you take your life in your hands or maybe I just forget, but certainly in South American I hear the phrase ‘peligroso’ or dangerous all of the time, no matter what country I am in.

Another great thing about Toronto is we are all treated equally. In Thailand, for example, there is a published price for ‘foreigners’ and a published price for natives. The discrimination is clear. No attempt at hiding it. In South and Central America try to negotiate for a cab ride or a new car. When you do it as a foreigner you get one price. Just try to get an indigenous friend to ask for the same service and you will see what a price difference there is. There seems to be an acceptance that if you are a foreigner you just owe them! On the other hand, being a foreigner is a double edged sword, especially in Asia with its’ colonial mentality. If you are old, white, and have grey hair, and continue to speak only English, you are treated like a god. If you are old, white and a woman, you are not quite a god, but certainly treated better than the native population. If you are white, you get points but if you are in any dark in any of the countries I have visited, you are treated ‘differently’ read second class. That is why Thai woman cover up in 90 degree heat. They do not want to get dark. That is the stigma of the underclass. The same is true in South America where it is also known to be hot.

Talking about women, I know Toronto women have a long way to go in terms of equity or even equality, but compared to the rest of the world, women are singing. In the countries I have visited women are just expected to serve their brothers, husbands and fathers yet do not even have the same burial rights. If you do not have boys, you will not even have anyone to pray for you in places like Vietnam. In Toronto, in my opinion, women can be accepted as womanly and yet still be respected in courts, business circles and places like education. South American woman and Asian women cannot make the same claim from my observation. We must be at least fifty years ahead in this regard.

Man, what am I thinking. I was just about to post without even mentioning the infrastructure where everything works, where you are infuriated if the plumber or electrician can't come the same day, where the roads are a pleasure to drive on, where the schools actually work and don't need security procedures that would put the airports to shame. Wow, unbelievable.And I won't even bother to talk about cleanliness or quality of food or merhandise or service.

Wow, Toronto the good doesn’t sound so bad from afar!

Buenos Aires in a Week

2010-01-04T04:02:00.001-08:00

Now that we have been to a few highlights of the city, I think I can further comment on Buenos Aires. First of all, everyone smokes. That appears to be a given and for Torontonians, it is sort of shocking to see people smoke in restaurants, bars, everywhere in fact. Another thing that is amazing is that there seems to be a whole underclass of people that pick garbage day and night. They schlep around huge barrels and go through the garbage of stores and houses picking through the ‘good’ stuff, whatever that is, throw it into their trundle and wander off to their next treasure. We see it everywhere and I presume they are doing us all a great favour by recycling.

Most things happen at night, it seems. We took a bus ( no easy feat) because you have to tell the bus driver where you are going so he can determine the fare and the drivers do not react that well when we tell them we are just on for the ride and do not have a specific destination. Anyway, after we have to pay through the nose, about fifty cents, we drive through the streets and it seems as if nothing is open. Last night, we dropped into a restaurant at the unheard of hour of seven and when we came out at nine and started to walk on the street it was literally a different street. All the restaurants were open, stores, supermarkets and so on. It seems there are two classes of citizens of Buenos Aires, those who work in the restaurants and those that eat in them. You must have spent the whole Daniel in the coffee houses or restaurants reading the paper! By the way Daniel, the cafeteria at the Melba was a great disappointment, although the art gallery was fine and had an Andy Warhol exhibition. Isn’t it great how a Czech immigrant can call himself Mr. America. What a country!

Of course, the city seems to live on music. We went to a tango show at the Tortonni and even though we had tickets, had to stand outside for an hour for the privilege of getting in. When we finally did get in we were so thankful that even though we had last row seats we did not complain. However, it did not seem to stop the other visitors from complaining. I have no idea how the workers in these various establishments take all of the abuse of foreigners or how they can be so inefficient, but life seems to go on.

The cemetery at Recoleta was fascinating as it seems to show how the Argentineans venerate their dead. As you can see from the pictures of the cemetery, each seems to have their own separate mausoleum that are buried deep into the ground and in one mausoleum there were 17 bodies of male descendants. No idea what happens to the females, but I suppose they end up in their husbands families’ tombs. Eva Peron seemed to still cause quite a stir amongst the Bolivians and Columbians who visit her grave on a daily basis and leave flowers. Not sure what the Argentineans think. General Peron is buried elsewhere by the way. What I found amazing was that this is still a working cemetery and in a few hours we saw two separate funerals. I have no idea how the grieving families must have felt to entomb their loved ones with so many tourists in tow. By the way, as you look into the tomb, you can actually see the casket rotting away. The whole experience is quite amazing really.

I guess it rains every Monday in Buenos Aires because last Monday it rained all day and it is pouring again. We were going to go to the delta at Tigre today but I guess we will put that off and stay indoors.

By the way, don’t believe guide books. Our guidebook says not to trust taxi drivers, but that is simply not the case. They have been fantastic in writing instructions, listening to our lousy Spanish and giving us all kinds of great recommendations. They seldom charge us full fare, yet in the guidebooks they are all trying to cheat you. It is nice to be able to make one’s own judgement on things.

Taxis, trains and Portenos

2010-01-01T06:03:00.000-08:00

A few words about Buenos Aires. As we look around the city, we both feel we could be home in Toronto. The people look exactly the same and it is frankly difficult to determine the visitors from the inmates. Yesterday I stared and stared at people thinking these must be the tourists, but when they opened their mouth a rush of Spanish came out. The reason is simple; we have the same European roots, even the same timing of immigration waves. There is a huge Italian population just as there is in Toronto that came at about the same time but turned left instead of right and ended up in Buenos Aires instead of Toronto . There is also a huge Jewish population that hangs out in the district of Once that also came during the same timeperiods as Toronto Jews and frankly look the same. I am sure that if I dug a bit Iwould probably discover they are the same. So, when you look around you might think you are in Paris if you look at the buildings or New York if you look at the people shopping but it definitely has a Toronto feel to it which is why Torontonians like it so much I suppose.

When I asked some Brazilians why they liked it, thinking they would say because of its’ vibrancy, nightlife and so on, they surprised me when they said they came here to relax. It is “low key” they told me and they could just enjoy the meals and the music. Wow, what must Rio be like? The restaurants, by the way, do not even open until 8 pm and it is not uncommon for Portenos to start eating at about 10 pm.

I am surprised at how casually people dress for New Year’s Eve. We went down to Puerto Madera last night and just sat on a bench watching people go to their parties. The girls were wearing the fancy dresses and shoes you have already seen in the pictures and the guys were wearing jeans and a T shirt. There seems to be something totally unfair about this state of affairs, but I guess the women are dressing more for each other than the men, I suppose. At midnight last night, you would think we were in the blitz, and those people that were in the London blitz must hate December 31. Rockets were going up all over the city. There did not appear to be a central place for fireworks but everyone had their own and they used them!
They do speak Spanish here, of course, but we have a mutual misunderstanding of each other. In other Latin American countries, "ll" sounds like a "y" sound but here "ll" sounds like a "sh "sound. It is amazing how many ll words you hear when you are asking for directions. They do not understand me and I do not understand them. The taxi driver last nightactually said he did not understand a word I said… Needless to say, he did not get a tip from me. Actually, no-one gets a tip from me because I do not think it is the custom here.

Taxi drivers are generally a riot. We were going downtown with one yesterday during the day and when we were going through Once I asked him what he thought of Jews just to get a feel if there was any anti-Semitism. He just put out a kepa and started laughing. (I guess you had to be there.) Another cab driver with Italian blood ( you now by the hand gestures) told us how much he liked pizza and wine and how he was really going to enjoy his pizza in the family December 31 party. If it wasn’t for the Spanish, which sounds more like Italian and we were just watching his hands, face and eyebrows, we could have been in Rome, ( especially the way he drove). When I asked him, by the way, what he thought of Moslems when we passed a huge mosque, he just shrugged his shoulders, but not in a good way.

Today we are going to head out to a sleeping city, I presume. It is 11 am but I suppose most Portenos will be bed and the stores closed. If Sylvia’s knees hold out we will do a lot of walking today. Happy New Year!

Buenos Aires, the city that never sleeps!

2009-12-29T12:27:00.001-08:00

Buenos Aires, the city that never sleeps. We went to a restaurant last night, the Cabrera at 8 pm when it opened, and there was already a waiting line and would not buy that we had made reservations. At first blush, I thought it was a ploy to get a groundswell of customers and build up the hype but guess what, it was real. When we came back 30 minutes later every seat in the house was full and this was a Monday night! After dinner, we decided to go dancing or at least see what these tango halls were all about, so at 10 we went to an Armenian, of all things, milonga and you know what? It was crowded with dancers and it was not even about to begin, really. There was a lesson until 11 pm, then free dancing till about one, then a show with singers and dancers. I suppose people get home about three begging the question of whether they go to work or not the next day, and if they do go to work at what time?

We just took a walk yesterday down Sante Fe Avenue and Sylvia dropped in to buy a bathing suit. The guy just happened to be a Sephardic Jew from Lebanon who has been living here for fourteen years. He says there are no Jews left in Lebanon or anywhere else in the Middle East, quickly putting a lie to any Arab propaganda about how Jews are being treated in the Middle East. Of course, in Israel there are Arabs in the Knesset, Arabs that have jobs and of course, Arabs that are Israeli citizens. Wouldn’t it be nice to say that Jews were treated the same anywhere in the Middle East as Arabs are treated in Israel. Sadly this is not the case because there are no Jews left in any Arab country, at least who would openly call themselves Jews.

Talking about politics, whenever there is any political gathering, it all happens at Plaza de Mayo. Of course, no-one knew what I was talking about when I said Playa de Mayo because it is pronounced Majo but we eventually found it and true to form, there were various groups of people protesting a variety of things from the War in the Falklands to lost soldiers. On Thursdays, mothers and grandmothers from the dirty war of the l980’s still come out to protest their lost children. I was amazed to see how a protest developed. I watched one group get off the bus, get their drums pounding away until a reporter told them to keep quiet so she could do the proverbial interview, then they all disappeared immediately after the interview. A media event par excellence. They have it down to a science.
All around the Plaza de Mayo, by the way, are buildings in a variety of styles from colonial to modern, including the balcony where Eva Peron did her shtick in the pink building. There was a neo classical church, a colonial city hall, and some modern buildings that house government employees.

To-day we did the shopping thing in the Pacifico Mall which was unbelievable in its ornateness. One would think we were in the Vatican or somewhere. Sylvia was fascinated with the shoe selection and when we went out to the walking street, Avenue Florida, we must have entered into dozens of shoe stores, or so it seemed. The downtown was teeming with people which we were certainly not used to seeing in Chile, even in Santiago. We are just going to go to sleep now for a few hours so we can wake up later and tango away the night!

Wine Tasting in Chile

2009-12-24T12:38:00.001-08:00

Even though Chile is long and skinny, it does not take long to find unbelievable contrasts. Yesterday morning we were saying good-bye to the beach at Vina del Mar and a few hours later we were deep into the wine district just south of Santiago. It is unbelievable for me to be surrounded by mountains. Because I now live in Costa Rica on one of the best beaches in the region, I guess beaches are old hat to me but to see the mountains for the first time is really inspiring. Today is the third day of summer and there is still snow at the top even though I am not sure you could get to them even if you wanted to.

We did visit the famous hot springs hotel in the area called Termas de Cauquenes but I was not impressed. Having seen the hot springs at Arenal where there are so many pools with different temperatures this one was rather dingy. As you can see in the pictures, they are a million rooms with literally a little bathtub in each. How dreary, even for Charles Darwin who apparently visited this place and probably saw exactly the same things I saw since I do not think they have upgraded very much in the last few (hundred) years.

The vinyards, on the other hand, were really nice. Even though we have been to the great vinyards of the world, like Niagara-on-the-Lake, to say nothing of France or California, I do not remember seeing them surrounded by mountains and flowers. Interestingly enough, the woman told us that the roses gave an indication of possible plague when they start to die which gives the agronomists a head start on eradicating the problem before it gets started on the grapes. There is one growing season and the grapes are harvested from March to May. Even though we are obviously in Chile, I it doesn’t seem to strike me as “this is Chile”. We were in a mall yesterday and it could have been anywhere in the world, unfortunately. The same stores, the same boring faces of kids hired to sell the merchandise and the worst of all the same Christmas carols sung in English! Yuk. Am I in Toronto or Rancagua a name I cannot even pronounce.

It is Christmas Eve and Sylvia and I are just going out to explore the little town near our hotel. I know there will be nothing to do, but who knows, maybe we will fall into a church or two.

Museums of Vina del Mar

2009-12-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

Vina del Mar is just a few minutes north of Valparaiso but actually miles away in terms of feel. It is all flat and centres around the sea. I suppose rich people from Santiago come here to spend the summer or week-ends away from hot Santiago. The water looks beautiful, as you saw from yesterday’s pictures, but it is so damn cold and dangerous no-one in their right mind would ever swim here. In fact, they hardly play on the beach from what I can see. Vina I guess is more for sitting in your expensive summer home, eating in fancy restaurants and/or walking and taking in the beautiful scenery.

The galleries were actually fabulous. We learned about Easter Island at the Museo de Arqueologia. What I learned was, as usual, the colonizers came and destroyed the civilization that existed there already. Inside the gallery, as I looked at the silverwork and ceramics of the Mapuche Indians, I could see they were also quite advanced before the Incas who extended their influence all the way down to Chile. When I asked a guy who seemed quite knowledgeable why the Incas died away so quickly he responded that the Spanish killed their leader and there was no leadership to take his place i.e. no middle management. Sounds like a reasonable sort of statement. Have no idea whether it is true or not.

Another museum we went to was the Alvares-Vergaras mansion. They came to Chile from Spain and created their home in neo-Gothic style. Why would they do this, I asked myself, when there was so much more they could have done to fit into the scenery of Vina and then it occured to me that we all create and value what we know. As I looked at their pictures in the home from a hundred years ago, the guy was wearing a waistcoat, smoking a cigar and generally could have been anywhere in Europe. Who would want to wear a three piece suit in 80 degree weather? I guess the answer is that if this was your idea of beauty, why not? It is all you know. Obviously one's values, opinion of beauty, and way of looking at the world are formed from your surroundings as you grow up. It is clearly difficult to break away from the mold.

The Museo de Bellas Artes also had a fabulous building and magnificent gardens. We had lunch at Jerusalem restaurant, believe it or not, and almost fell into this park. Tomorrow we are off to another part of Chile, but the feel I get for Valparaiso is the same feeling I got in Greece as we lived high in the hills surrounding one of the Greek islands as you can see form this picture. The feeling I get in Vina is a European spa town in some place in Germany, even though I have never actually visited a spa town in Germany!

Chile

2009-12-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

After I just finished paying the $130 ‘reciprocal’ entry visa to Chile, I went outside to be jostled by a million cab drivers. The going rate into town was $30 but one driver shouted $20. Guess what, I took him. He then asked me whether I had any pesos, or whatever the currency is here, and I said no. He said he wanted pesos and directed me over the atm. The machine said 200,000 and I asked him how much money that was in American currency. He told me 100 dollars. How brilliant of him. It turns out that it was 400 dollars but of course with this incorrect information my calculations were dead wrong. When we got to the hotel he asked for 40,000 which I assumed was 20 dollars but turns out was 80. The guy should be working on Wall Street! Thinking the guy was doing me a favour, I asked him to pick Sylvia up the next morning and stand there with a sign and so on. Guess what, Sylvia went straight for the bus and he had to drive out to the airport to wait for a fare that never happened.

I was quite impressed with Santiago as I was driving in. You can actually see the mountains surrounding the city. Lima was also in a valley but it was so smoggy you would never know there were mountains surrounding the city and could seldom see them. Here they are crystal clear. Last night I went to a street as wide as University avenue with dozens of restaurants that were actually quite nice. I really like the feel of Santiago.

We then rented a car and drove to Valparaiso, about two hours from the capital and the centre of tourism for the natives of Santiago as well as the world because this is where all of the cruise ships dock. Before the Panama Canal, Valapairso was the key route from Europe to the Pacific and it is still a working port. As we took a little boat around the port today, I saw a huge ocean liner from the Holland American Line, about four war ships, container vessels and oil ships. It was really great.

We also went for a little ride to Vina del Mar, an upper class resort area with a huge casino, a wide expanse of Pacific Ocean and loads of hotels and parks. In fact, we drove through and headed north for about an hour and saw sea lions, pelicans, all kinds of birds and great rock formations. The seafood restaurant we stopped at was great and Sylvia loved the cool ocean breeze, even though I was a little on the cool side. Apparently, it is quite cool on the coast but gets warmer as you head inland into the Andes mountains and Argentina.

We are now staying in a great hotel in one of the labyrinth of streets winding its way through one of the forty hills Valparaiso is founded on. We can never find the hotel, but when we do it is worth the drive to Acton. It has a great balcony overlooking the city, it is right in the tourist area and there is no air conditioning, a wonderful bonus for me! Driving a gear shift though, is not a bonus, that is for sure, as the hills are as steep as I remember the Greek islands to be.

Tomorrow, we stay in town and check out all of the museums that were closed today ( Monday) but I think we will walk. It is simply too hard to find the hotel and hopefully a taxi will have better luck.

Lima's Parks and nightlife

2009-12-16T22:35:00.001-08:00

It is now one in the morning and this place just seems to be waking up. I took a bus tour of Lima by night and walking home from Park Kennedy was quite the experience. There are nightclubs, bars and restaurants which people literally fill to the door; that is on a Thursday night! It was like the middle of the day in Toronto on Yonge Street. They must sleep some time during the day because they sure don’t sleep at night!

The highlight of the night for me was what should have been called "Parque de Fuentes" or Park of Fountains but instead was called something like Reservas Park. A few years ago the government redid the whole park and put in dozens of fountains. Some small, one shooting 80 meters in the air, a few you walked through or played in, but one, which gave the musical fountain in the Melbourne casino a real run for its money. There was obviously the great music and dancing waters, but there was also the three dimensional images popping out of the water. In fact, in sort of gave the history of Peru in pictures which made me feel guilty for not visiting Cusco. I will simply have to come again, that’s all!

I met two childhood friends on the bus; one who moved to Miami thirty years ago and one that still lived here. We were talking about the differences between American and Peruvian culture and they came up with a few. The American one told me that in the States all she did was work to make a living and she says that when she calls her Peruvian friends here they always seem to have time to talk, have coffee and go out. Secondly, you could see the difference between the two women. The Americanized one had no lipstick, her hair was a mess and so on and her Peruvian friend was immaculately dressed, hair coiffed and was wearing beautiful clothes. Basically, they both said that in Peru you work to live and in the States you live to work. These are my words and not theirs, but pretty good, eh.

There are something like forty boroughs or districts in Lima and from what I can see, they are all full of parks with fountains, walkways, birds and wonderful statues. Lima is a Unesco city and certainly not as pretty as Cartegena, but the parks are really special. There are loads of people just sitting feeding the birds. Lima must also be pretty wealthy, especially where I tend to hang out ,because there are copious women dressed in white pushing old people around in strollers. Interestingly enough, I made eye contact with about a ninety year old woman in a stroller and she seemed desperate to talk. God it must be awful to be cooped up in your house the whole day with no-one to talk to.

The week just flew past, it seems. Tomorrow, I want to visit the Japanese cultural centre and see if I can figure out why there are so many Asians here ( in fact, I visited Chinatown during the day) and then perhaps the art gallery which has a spectacular building I did see to-night. However, if I don’t go to bed now, I probably won’t see anything because I will be sleeping all day!

Musuems in Lima

2009-12-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

I learned a lot about history today but you know what the best part of the day was ? Taking the public bus home . I ended up in El Centro where the congress is located and I knew I could never get a taxi at rush hour. If they don’t want to take you they just say no and drive off! After asking about a million people, someone finally pushed me on the right bus going to Miraflores. Remember Josh when they pushed us both off and on the bus trying to find the big market in Bangkok years ago? Anyway, back to the story. After sitting in the bus for an hour and being serenaded by a musician, vendors selling gum and so on, I decided that I did my Lima deed and got off the bus to the safety of a cab. I did it, I know I can do it and who knows, maybe will again!

The museum of gold was really special. I learned about the history of pre-Columbian native peoples and how advanced they were. What was interesting about the museum for me was not the gold so much as how great the Egyptian influence was which you could see in the mummies, the headdresses and so on. Clearly the Egyptians were first, I presume, but how did their influence make it to South America? Obviously it was before movies and Internet. Clearly either the Egyptians or Peruvians were traders and met each other. The Inca Empire, though huge( from Panama in the north to the northern parts of Argentina and down into Chile only lasted for about 100 years). Hell, even the Inquisition lasted longer than that, an amazing 500 or so years. How is it possible that the McCarthy Era in the United States lasted but a few years but it took the age of Enlightenment to put a halt to the Inquisition? My guide in the Museum of the Inquisition, who spoke great English, told me that the reason the Jews were the victims was that they had all the money in Spain and were lending out money at exorbitant rates. When I tried to have a discussion with him, he did stick to his guns. Bigotry rears its’ ugly head again.

The market on the way to the museum was huge. There had to be at least five huge buildings with just shoes, and then five buildings with clothes and so on. I didn’t bother exploring the market very much because I was in a hurry to get to the Inquisition museum before it closed. Perhaps, when I go to visit Congress tomorrow I will stroll through the market. If anyone wants something, send me an e mail to-night.
I felt right at home at the Congress for Peru. I did not get in because it was five in the afternoon, but I certainly recognized all of the characters! Outside the building, the drivers were dressed in suits talking to each other and waiting for their charge. There was the poor guy washing the cars without respite. Cameramen and other officials went through the special pass gate and had to present their papers before they got in. There were the executive assistants to the politians wearing suits, earpieces and scurrying around to make sure they pleased their masters. The politicians, with the gray hair and fancy suits were trying to get out as quickly as they could and I wondered how strange they felt wearing a suit, especially if they came from the Andes or Amazon or far north!
And then there was the guy beside me on the bus wearing a fantastic suit, was a government lawyer, and when I asked him where my hotel was, took out his fancy gadget and mapped it out. Daniel, the guy had a Nokia phone with all of the stuff on it.
I could have been on Parliament hill, except for the guy playing the wind instrument and the guitar on the bus!

New York of the south!

2009-12-13T21:35:00.001-08:00

Miraflores means" see the flowers "and if you look at my pictures you will see why. It is located right on the Pacific Ocean and even though Lima is at sea level and is very dry, I presume the flora and fauna get some humidity from the sea. When I went for my Sunday walk today all over the Miraflores, the Pacific certainly looks nothing like the Pacific I know at Hermosa. The water looks cold and the playa seems very rocky. As I looked down I saw lots people surfing wearing wet suits. Certainly not what you would see in Costa Rica at Tamarindo for example. A wet suit we be so unnecessary in our warm water!

Just came back from the casino, by the way. Every time I sit at a two dollar table ( Jaco and here) I win, although not usually so lucky at the five dollar table. Last night, I met an Australian guy who imports used slot machines from Australia and rents them to all of the casinos in Lima. Apparently they make fifteen dollars a day and he rents them for five. In Vegas, he said, each slot machine table makes about $150 a day for the casino.

I do find the people in Lima to be terrifically friendly from the taxi drivers to people on the street. Here people actually smile at you. I am convinced that the people in Costa Rica are quite shy and will only smile or approach you if you speak first. Otherwise, there is never even a hint of a smile to a gringo like myself.
Found a beautiful coffee shop today and for the first time had a cup of coffee. I started by saying in Spanish a little coffee and lots of milk and sugar and then changed my mind and ordered hot chocolate but when the waitress starting asking if I wanted a layer of hot chocolate on top of the coffee it got way too complicated so I just drank the coffee, read (or pretended to read a Spanish paper) and watched the Sunday morning crowd, similar to Yorkville Avenue I would suppose.

Then I went across the street to visit the Huaca Pucllana. A huaca is a religious site and it is so interesting to see these ruins in the middle of this very affluent suburb. As in the Mexican pyramids, sacrifices were made (usually women between 18 and twenty five, along with a few precious pots and seeds for fruits and vegetables. What is amazing is that I sort of understand these sacrifices to the Gods of the sun and moon. How is it that different that Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son ( except he didn’t and they did). They have the bodies to prove it, as they were discovered in l981.

I went for supper on Pizzas street where the footballers were celebrating their team victory with loud songs and cheering that must have gone on for hours with the ever present police ready to do their jobs if things got out of hand. I wonder what team they were cheering for today? I did want to go to the big game just to get a feel for South American soccer but everyone I asked if I could get a ticket just told me to watch it on TV…a lot safer and quieter they said, having missed the point entirely. And truth be told, I was so caught up in the burial grounds that I forgot about the game anyway.

OK, ready for bed and hope to see the gold museum that Reg suggested when he found out I was in Lima. If I end up going to Cuzco I will have to leave Lima on Tuesday and I am not sure I want to do that just yet. Having way too much fun. It is like the New York of the south

Life at the top!

2009-12-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

Now that I am of vacation I am finally getting a chance to breathe and reflect on my experiences opening a new school Even though there are only something like 67 kids in the school, they all have parents which is what maked this year interesting, to say the least.

As a principal of a big school, like the American School of Bangkok, it was just a question of “keeping the ship afloat” The school mission and vision, norms of student behavior and teacher expectations were all established. It was really a piece of cake and probably the easiest job in the whole education endeavour. Running a small school, however is really time consuming and challenging. I typically came to school thirty minutes before anyone else, put my computer on the desk and never opened it till about three p.m.because I am not in my office.

Think about it…when a three year old spits at a teacher, who is going to discipline the kid, or for that matter, decide if he should go on that same day field trip? It was kind of funny putting him in a chair about ten sizes too big for him and telling him in English that his behavior was inappropriate. Of course, I kept asking him if he understood what I was saying and he kept nodding yes, I’m sure not understanding a word! At the end, I picked him up, hugged him, and took him back to class. Who is there to organize the graduation assembly last week and figure out what to do when the first girl comes up to get her piece of paper and simply stands there? Who has to walk them across the stage holding their hand? On the other hand, who has to deal with the teenage boy who says something totally inappropriate to the only girl in the class who speaks so little English? And who do you think has to speak with the irate mother?

What saves me half the time is that I try to speak in Spanish and it is hard to be irate when the idiot opposite you is trying to placate you in your mother tongue and you have no idea what that idiot is saying. It kind of levels the playing field in a big hurry. There will be a minority of parents that complain about any program, any activity, or anything frankly. I would love to go into details here, but knowing this is the Internet, for sure it would get back to them and cause needless embarrassment, even though they are really quite funny.

When you are at an established school, God willing, there is a vision and mission and hopefully a strategic plan. When you are at a small school, you have to create all that and then sell it to the community, teachers and owners. In my particular cases, the owners are really enlightened and they sell me on their vision. In fact, because they have not been programmed by forty years of teaching, they generally ask me why we can’t do something, as opposed to why we can. For example why can’t parents be involved in graduation and sign the certificates as well as present them to their child? Excellent question, actually, if we are really working with the parents to educate their kid. The hard part of all of this is selling it to the teachers, actually, not the owners who continually challenge me.

Luckily, we have an expert branding guy who is just in Costa Rica for a year writing a book and his child is in our school. He gave us all a lesson in how to brand our product and we are taking his advice seriously. I got a business course on marketing 101 from this guy which I really appreciate. You know, it is too bad I am not a lot younger and could actually do something with all of this information that I have in my head. As I have said many times, retirement is just wasted on us older guys. Guys like Joshua and Daniel should retire now and work later, when they have something to offer in terms of life experience although I know they are making a wonderful contribution to their chosen fields now.

The real question is, now that I have learned so much about the running of a school, where do I go next? Who wants a senior hanging around? Hopefully there will be a lot of golf, because I sure did not have any time to play this year!

My birthday in Lima

2009-12-12T14:56:00.001-08:00

Well, so far I have had two birthday parties and it is only 6 pm on the 12th. Last night, as soon as I arrived I went for my usual walk to the main street near my hotel and the inevitable happened. I had dinner with two guys Josh’s age who worked for the Bank of Nova Scotia. At about midnight, they asked me whether I wanted to go to a fiesta where they were meeting their friends. As usual, I said yes and ended up about 1 am on a Friday night at a tremendously large restaurant called three Marias where there were hundreds of people eating, drinking and dancing. What I found amazing was most of them, including my hosts, were going to work the next day, but it seems they eat really late in Lima and stay up really late, no matter what time they have to be at work. I guess it is like New York, although I can’t imagine Americans staying up till about three in the morning if they have to work at 8.

Today I slept in ( what a surprise) and then went downtown (el Centro) to see the presidential palace, cathedral and so on. A group of university girls approached me with a camera and asked me to pronounce a list of s words, z words and sh words and they taped me, presumably so the class can hear how these words are supposed to be pronounced. Can you imagine a group of 21 year olds killing the English language because of me?

Then another bunch of university kids accosted me and when I told them it was compleanos they insisted on singing for me! Two fiestas for one birthday.

I had my ups and downs, as usual, with my Spanish. Last night, driving in from the airport I spoke the whole way with a cab driver without problem. Today, I asked my cab driver a question in Spanish as he was returning me to my hotel and he apologized for not understanding me by saying; “sorry, I don’t speak English”

To-night I am going to go and have supper and see what happens. Whatever transpires, it will be an adventure, guaranteed!

Costa Rican field trip

2009-12-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

I have taken many field trips over the years but none like I took today with our middle school kids to Playa Nacascolo in the Papagayo Peninsula. There are a few trips that do stand out but they all involve cold and ice. I remember one trip to Ottawa where it was so cold we had to use the underground tunnels at the university of Ottawa so we did not freeze. In spite of that, the kids tied bedsheets together and climbed out their dorm windows to enjoy the midnight air while I sat supervising the empty hallways!

There was also the trip to Montreal I remember so clearly for a few reasons. One, we had a kid go to the hospital with an attack of appendicitis and to top off these festivities had a bus accident on the way home. Lots of trips and lots of memories such as the student who asked at the Buddhist temple whether he could have an apple which was part of an offering and then proceeded to eat it!

My field trip today however, will remain memorable as my first Costa Rican field trip. Most of the trips I remember, whether to going to museums, art galleries or overnight trips involved a lot of cold and a lot of snow for some reason. Why I couldn’t organize trips for the summer I will never know. ( Oh Ya, no school)

We are just about to start our summer break in Costa Rica so, as a last hurray, took our middle school kids to the beach. As you can see from the pictures, this is what a field trip should be like. Kids in their bathing suites, sun shining, playing volleyball in the water, playing on the beach or walking through the woods looking at toucans and dozens of other birds I do not know the names of to say nothing of iguanas and howler monkeys. Remember how scared I was Josh when I first heard the monkeys that sound like gorillas?

I am a little red and sore, but it sure beats shivering in the snow!

Huacas Fiesta

2009-11-29T06:57:00.000-08:00

At this time of year, the beginning of summer ( the end of the rainy season), Costa Ricans apparently have all kinds of festivals. What they mean by this, apparently, is that they set up a makeshift bullring, bring in Brahmin bulls from their farms, and get drunk. That is about it!

Last night I went to my first (and probably my last, fiesta) but I can now say I went. As you can see from the pictures, Costa Rica imported Brahmin bulls from India centuries ago because of the big hump in their backs and their ability to retain water during the dry season. Since I live in a farm community, I assume the guys do not see each other that often so when they have an opportunity for a party they make the most of. The bull ring last night, I think, is probably more or less permanent, but I have seen many being constructed in public parks.

What appeared to be happening is that the bulls get their electric shock and jump out of the gate with their rider. The rider lasts a few seconds on their back and then is unceremoniously thrown off the bull, always violently and then is carried off, sometimes by a stretcher, while ten drunks run around the ring encouraging the bull to chase them so that the fallen rider does not get gored to death. Then four cowboys come out with their horses and lasso the bull from every possible angle so that the bull eventually gives us, falls down and is pulled by its’ tail back into the stall, probably not heard from again until next year at this time. Then a bunch of drunks jump into the ring for the next round of shenanigans.

Great fun eh? Since I knew I was going to be early, I took a drive down to Santa Cruz, the provincial capital and I discovered a REAL town. There was actually a street of stores, the main roads were paved with brick cobblestones and they had TWO parks. Almost all of Costa Rican towns only have one park! I can’t wait to go back and explore. This town actually had a name signposted, a couple of hotels almost on the main street and people. Since today is Sunday they probably pull in the sidewalks like every other town but perhaps next Saturday I will go.

Even my beach seems to be getting quite busy now. Yesterday morning there were at least ten people on the beach, about five from San Jose and five tourists from the other end of the beach where there is big hotel. I normally never get to that end of the beach because I swim for a bit and then get out and walk back to “my” area. Now, because of winter, there are actually waves and it is difficult to swim so I end up walking along the beach. I am discovering hotels and restaurants and all kinds of “neat” stuff. Maybe today I will go and play golf. A little too late for the Sunday morning tournament but not to late for a regular game. The problem is that I have to take an electric card and it sort of takes the fun out of it for me. Ah well!

The pair of shoes

2009-11-22T13:43:00.001-08:00

I keep writing about this every month or so and sadly, I keep adding to my examples .I went for a walk in Liberia last night and I actually saw people, if you can believe it. I asked one girl with a little baby where the barber was and we started talking. She asked if I would do her a favour ( we had just met one minute earlier). When I asked her what, she asked that I buy her baby some shoes. I told her that her baby could not even walk yet so she but her baby down sans shoes to show me her 6 month old baby could stand and wobble a bit.
I went on to ask her about her husband or boyfriend and she told me when the baby was born her boyfriend disappeared. She is living with her mother who thankfully has a job. I asked her how old she was and she said nineteen. When will this cycle end? The waitress in our restaurant as well as the chef are pregnant at the moment and they do not have a husband or boyfriend. When I asked if they would consider putting the baby up for adoption they looked at me as if I was crazy. I have witnessed this for three years now and for some crazy reason it still shocks me. I did buy the shoes but sure wish I could have done more.I did not find the barber!
When I went to the Unesco headquarters In New York they would not even speak to me and told me to write a letter. I know education, in the broadest sense is the answer.
The good news, to change the subject, is that I played golf today in Sardinal, close to where I live. I got on the course for $25 because of my Toronto connection and the fact that the pro’s father teaches with me. Josh, I have a sore right wrist by the way. What should I do? I know, I know, don’t play golf.
So, I won’t. Today I spent the day on the beach, or at least an hour and spoke with a San Jose couple with four dogs, three kids and an orthopedic doctor husband. He told me, by the way Josh, that chiropractors were not doctors. When I told him you spent eight years in university he conceded you could be called a doctor. Anyway, here is the good news. I bet I spent one hour talking with them and for sure butchering the language, but you know what, we spoke about kids, jobs, long distance running, where I could buy beach chairs etc. My girlfriend, Rosetta Stone, has really helped me improve. I believe my vocabulary to be quite good and if I could only speak properly I might even have a real conversation with someone. As it is, I can converse for an hour. In Thailand, it was more like 30 minutes so maybe there is hope!!
One more week of school and then off to South America to learn but another accent.

Unexplored Costa Rica

2009-11-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

Off the beaten track, and I mean beaten. You have to either have four wheel drive car so that you are up high or a hole in your head (or both) if you dare take a dirt road off the main thoroughfare. Even the main roads in Costa Rica are broken and full of pot holes and everyone who takes these roads I know are loco. Anyway, since I am already certified crazy, I decided to take the monkey trail or conga trail I believe it is called, from near my house to over the mountains to the beaches. If you want to take a long way around it is actually quite easy, but I was just fascinated by this dirt road seemingly going off into nowhere that I see every day but never dared venture on.
Yesterday, I discovered a little zoo and botanical garden as well as a brand new multimillion dollar hotel without one sign to let you know it was there and today I discovered horseback riding or more accurately a bunch of cowboys driving their horses on the road at the risk of a horse breaking an ankle, deserted beaches , soccer games galore in the small towns that do not even have a sign with their name, on my way to Protero on the coast and back through Filadelfia. (No this is not a spelling mistake.)
Now picture about one thousand toilets flushing at the same time. I am sitting here writing this blog and it sounds like my roof is about to collapse with thousands of toilets flushing upstairs and a tidal wave are pouring in and crashing to the shore. Do you know what it is? Is it the world coming to an end that the New York cabbie told us about or something else? I just ran outside to see what it is and wouldn’t you know it, there is a school of howler monkeys in the trees contiguous to my house. I was wondering where they went since I used to hear them every morning but for some reason stopped a few months ago. I guess they were off to greener pastures, but they are back! Sorry about that Michael. Not sure how much sleep you are going to get. There are about a dozen monkeys from babies to bamboons, it seems but the only one making the big noise is the father who is clearly the father if you know what I mean!
I just went for a swim and they are still here. At some point they will disappear only to return tomorrow, when I am at school I hope. Apparently, if you bother them they throw their feces at you which can’t be a good thing.
Anyway, have a look at the pictures and let me know whether you think going on these ‘adventures’ is worth risking my life for to say nothing of the $20 in gas I put in when I can walk out my front door ( and only door) and see a school of howler monkeys right here.

Stand up and deliver...or not?

2009-11-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

Imagine a school where the kids don’t come to school half the time. At any given moment, half of the school could be out in placements as interns and the other half of the time they would be in classes working on material that is meaningful for them? I visited just such a school today in the Bronx. (it cost me $30 by cab to get there and only $2.25 to return by train, but I had to walk miles to find a booth where I could buy a $2.25 ticket. Obviously a conspiracy by the cab companies to get fares!). Anyway back to the story.

It was the only such school in New York State until this year and the school is located within a larger school on the top floor. To get into the school, by the way, I had to walk through more security than the airport and ultimately had to empty my pockets because the machines were ringing so loudly. I also had to go back because I forget (or did not know) that I had to sign in. No wonder so many American kids are taking home schooling. It certainly felt more like a jail than a school and in fact I found that part very disturbing. When a fight broke out in the cafeteria at lunch time, 25 ‘peace’ officers were called to the scene I was told, even though I was eating my lunch peacefully upstairs.

I think the school I visited is doing well. When the school had 4000 students before it was transferred to a number of smaller schools, the drop-out rate was 75%. Now, apparently, 88% of the kids graduate in the small school I visited today and more credit to them since many are from broken families, all are of some ethnic minority and are disadvantaged in some way. I was very impressed with these statistics and even though many do fail, probably more would and did fail in a stand up and deliver type of classroom.

What I saw was a very good understanding on the part of the students about what they were doing and why. Even though they were all working individually they were able to articulate what their learning goals were, the due dates for assignments which they established themselves and what the performance criteria were that they were going to be graded on. They were all working on what they considered important at the time, whether it was mathematics, primary source material in history or the importance of their own ethnic minority in founding New York. In addition, they all had to do a major assignment for the internship site they were doing which got them to reflect on their own learning. I won't bore you with an analysis of what worked and what could be improved in the school but the important story for me is not what was successful about this school or what was not successful, but rather the fact that we can and should be creating a wide variety of schools for different kinds of kids and should not be restricted in our own thinking to what we grew up with ourselves. I do have the opportunity in my present job to do some wonderfully creative things and hopefully will since we do have a brand new school we can take anywhere our imaginations will allow us.

Speaking Spanish in New York

2009-11-09T20:09:00.001-08:00

It’s amazing that I had to come all the way to New York to speak Spanish. I speak English at school all day and when I go home at night I speak Spanish with my girlfriend - Rosetta Stone. In New York, every second person speaks Spanish, including our new cousin by marriage Ariel. I was amazed last night that I could actually converse with a few Spaniards from Spain in their native tongue. I felt great…last night but today I just got home from having my shoes shined by a Spanish women and did not understand a word she was saying. When this happens to me in Central America, the people are usually from Nicarauga so I asked her where she was from; ( a donde esta vive?) she responded Queens! How embarrassing. At least I got my shoes shined. I have been waiting two months for this shine since the only time I ever got them shined was in Saigon which is a bit too far to travel from Playa Hermosa.

We just had a great time in New York. The wedding was great, as one would expect from the Shapiro’s. They really know how to throw a party. New York itself has absolutely everything to offer and then some. The people are incredibly and unfailingly friendly. You will never encounter a sour face or a harsh word. I kind of think it is because of the size of the city, but I am not sure about that hypothesis since many large cities do not seem to have the same openness about them. Everyone speaks to you, smiles and will walk way out of their way to take you where you want to go. No-one ever says don’t walk there…it is dangerous , which I am told all the time in Costa Rica. In fact, when I wanted to walk down to the docks to-night to see the new ship built out of the ruins of 9-11, I asked a doorman if it was safe to walk down 50th and he just looked at me as if I was crazy.
On another note, Daniel has this great deal with his company that provides complimentary passes for certain museums so we just spent some time, between the shoe shine and the hotel, going into the Natural Science Museum to learn about dinosaurs and space, it seems. If that is not your cup of tea, you can go next store to the Arts Centre, the Julliard School of Music or anyone else for that matter. As I said, New York has everything, even crazy cabbies, one of whom who told us Christ was returning October 25, 2010 so we should be prepared. I asked him how he got this date and why he was so sure of it, and he told me he got it from the radio so it must be true.
I wish I had the nerve to take pictures of people because New York brings out the fashionistas, the sloths and every day New Yorkers who come in all sizes and colours, but do dress in a very amazing way. I am struck both by the diversity as well as the nerve of some of them to wear what they do. Even though it is Monday and Broadway is dark, I think I will go out now anyway and see if I can get some tickets for something to-night. I will take my camera down to Times Square where I get the half price tickets and see if I can take some pictures of people.
Sorry, I am back, did some some amazing outfits but far too shy to take the pictures. It seems, by the way, no matter where you walk, there is some benefit happening or a movie or television show being made or some “event” New York should call itself the event city.

Tomorrow I am off to a school which I am sure I will find interesting. If I do, you will hear about it!

Rincon de la Vieja

2009-11-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

As my teacher friend told me the first week of school: " You can forget about visiting towns and cities, once you have seen one you have seen them all. They all have the town square, the church and some ancillary buildings." The reason you come to Costa Rica, he told me before he went to jail, was to experience nature and I am discovering how right he was...is.

I had a great week-end just exploring around where I live. On Saturday I visited the beaches near me, Playa Panama and Playa Ocotel and now I know why my beach ( Hermosa) is so great. These other beaches were somewhat rocky, small, and not long. The more I use Playa Hermosa the greater I like it because there are no rocks, few waves and even some tourists to talk to these days.

To-day (Sunday), I went with a few teacher friends to the Vieja volcano and within a few square kilometers we must have walked through three or four different eco systems. Unlike New Zealand, the she-she place for hiking where they even have paved walkways and toilets, this was real hiking but the fascinating thing is we actually started at a rainforest, saw waterfalls which will be dry in a few weeks and then splutering mud holes and other natural wonders totally different in nature then what we just went through. Have a look at the pictures and I think you will be amazed at all of the different things we saw on this three hour walk.

It is so amazing to believe that with a few square kilometers there are so many natural landforms and micro weather systems. I loved the mud pools with the spluttering eruptions so if you look at the pictures you can see the movie of the mud erupting. I was considering going a little closer but my friends wisely suggested I do it on my own time. They weren't crazy about the possibility of sending my body home and all of the forms they would have to sign. Remember Josh, when you almost put your hand in one of these fumorales in New Zealand?

This week should be busy as usual with staff and parent meetings, marketing and branding meetings and the usual 'teaching stuff.' I am looking forward to Friday when I am flying to New York via El Salvador for a family wedding and seeing my own family. Can't wait.

Today was not my day to die!

2009-10-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Today was not my day to die. I wanted to give Jaco a try, the closest beach town to San Jose. Most of the Josephinos go there because it is only a hour from San Jose. I assumed it was going to be like Pattaya, the closest beach town to Bangkok, filled with noisy bars and restaurants, a great beach for surfing and lots of people wandering around buying junk from stores. ( But I get ahead of myself).

I really had no idea how to get there and could really use a GPS.( Daniel) Costa Rica is not the best with signs and I knew at some point I had to turn off and head to the coast. For some strange reason, when I got near to Esparza, I decided to pull off the road and ask. I went to a soda ( a cheap restaurant) and asked where I should turn. I was about 30 seconds or a minute. When I went back to my car, about 100 meters in the distance there was obviously a huge accident and cars were backed up to where I was standing. Had I not gone into the restaurant for directions that ambulance that eventually came hurtling down the highway could have been coming for me. Amazing how life ( or death is). In a flash, our whole life can change depending on instant decisions we make, in my case for no particular reason.

Interestingly enough, when I did get to the intersection where the car accident was, I had no idea where or if to turn. I pulled into another stop area and asked two guys who told me to follow them. They took me down winding isolated roads and because I hear so many terrible things about theft and so on, I assumed they were taking me down some country lane to rob me. I was even figuring out in my mind how I could avoid getting the credit cards stolen and was considering hiding them in the car. Suddenly, like a mirage in the middle of a desert, a four lane highway appeared miraculously. Believe me, this does not happen in Costa Rica, ever. The main highway running through the country is a two lane twisted road that meanders through the countryside in a leisurely annoying way because it is always full of trucks and slow moving horses, cows crossing the road and bicycles etc.

When I got to Jaco and picked a dumpy cheap hotel, there were signs all over my room that the hotel was not responsible for contents left in the room. The owner told me to take a cab if I came back after midnight and so on. I hate these innuendoes and clearly it dampens my enthusiasm for Costa Rica.

When I came back today, at Canes there was a school band competition in the town bull ring. I loved it and would have stayed till the end but my computer was in the car and twice, when people have come to visit me at home, brought their computers into the house with them rather than leave them outside in the car. If it was just the car, I would have left it but I did not want to lose the computer a.k.a. had it stolen so I did not leave until the end even though I dearly wanted to because I loved every minute of it, but if I did stay until the end you might not be reading this now. In other words, I am letting my fears dictate my actions which seems ridiculous but I do only have one computer!

Jaco...not worth writing about!

Tamarindo

2009-10-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

As I keep saying, I am living in a sleepy little coastal suburb (of what I do not know) called Playa Hermosa. It is just a bedroom community and it has nothing but the ocean and big beautiful houses on the hills surrounding the bay. What I am discovering, however, is that about one hour away in all directions there is really neat stuff.

Last week my school played a basketball game at a school at Brasilito beach and the area looked great so I reconnoitered yesterday to have a better look. Tamarindo is the main beach around there so that is where I started. I bought a bathing suit, finally (since my one bathing suit is basically falling apart) and went out to the waves. The beach is white, I think and the surf, according to the guidebooks, is apparently good. There were a gaggle of surfers, some fancy hotels and big waves, although not really that big I didn’t think. I was taking pictures and one tough looking guy came up to me and asked me or more like told me to let him take my picture. The way he looked I was actually afraid he was going to run away with the camera but I let him take the picture anyone. I didn’t feel I had much choice. After he took the picture and made the contact, he said: So, do you want some shit?” It reminded me of Montezuma when I saw a guy with a long beard ask Josh if he wanted some drugs. When I said no he was pleasant enough and even gave me my camera back which I felt was a bonus.

After I got the bathing suit and took the requisite pictures I went to what is purportedly the best beach in Costa Rica, according to the Lonely Planet…Playa Conchal because it has white sand. Big deal. I think I will stay put on my beach and look at the fish, swim, and just relax in the water. There are even more people here these days. I guess I arrived at the lowest of the low in terms of tourists and now more and more people are coming from 'el norte.' Yesterday morning, I even walked down to one end of the beach where I never go because there are rocks and just peered into the water and saw fish swim around the rocks. Wow, I might even buy goggles today and do it more seriously.

They seem to be enforcing a maritime law here which basically states the beach has to be clear of any man made structures by a certain number of feet. A few weeks ago, the hotel across the street where I enter the beach had to destroy a decorative boat because it was too close to the beach. (It was miles away, it seemed). This was really too bad because I used to leave my shoes there and a towel, when I used to think I needed a towel before I realized I am “instant dried” and it was a handy landmark to find my stuff. Now the boat is no longer there and yesterday morning I noticed that the two restaurants that were there disappeared. (I really did not notice, but someone told me and then I noticed!)They were unostentatious little family run operations that probably barely made a living. What are these guys doing now I wonder? There is no employment down here and hotels are laying off workers by the dozens. The other day I picked up a hitchhiker at my beach going back to town. He was a painter, he told me, and he needed money. I offered him all the change in the well of the car, but he seemed to be offended and told me he needed a job. He apparently came to the beach as a worker or maybe camped out all night waiting in line, I imagine, for a job at one of the few places that is hiring. His number did not come up unfortunately.

From a selfish point of view, least I understood him and he was speaking Spanish.

Volcano Arenal

2009-10-11T16:19:00.001-07:00

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming” didn’t quite happen last night. I know you loved Arenal when you were there, Josh, and I kind of remember you had a picture of red lava come down the mountain. All I have is about three pictures of blackness even though I did see the lava by some miracle as the clouds cleared about 11 pm but I could not get a picture of it. It was too far away or I had no idea about the camera setting or both. Mike and Sue, you are going to love Arenal. It is one of the few active volcanoes left in the world and if you are lucky you will not be killed viewing it. Costa Rica does not have a lot of tourist towns, but La Fortuna is certainly one of them. As you approach, there are signs for hot springs, cable rides, bicycles for rent, fishing, kayaking and so on. La Fortune is right on a huge Lake and the town seems to survive on tourist business.

I was lucky in that a teacher at my school has parents who own a hotel in Fortuna who are extremely generous, so after the end of the soccer game (about 11 pm), they took me to a lookout point to see Arenal blow. Red Lava flows 24 hours a day but you can only see it some of the time (when the view is not obstructed by rain and/or clouds.) They took me down some long bumpy road which I am quite used to by now, but it never makes it any easier. Why can’t they just pave some of these roads? Especially to Arenal which is probably about the biggest tourist attraction in Costa Rica, I would imagine. It is about three hours from my house and I had to drive through about three different eco systems to get there.

As you leave my area ( beach) you get to broad rolling farmlands which are actually quite peaceful and relaxing. By some miracle, the roads are great, there are cattle feeding peacefully in the fields and we could be in Haliburton if you are willing to stretch your imagination a bit and ignore the tell tale signs of Costa Rica i.e. real cowboys riding horses along the way, a few signs in Spanish and the typical little towns with the church and town square in the middle which all look identical. Even the five or six stores seem to be the same.

On the way to Arenal, you begin to climb into the mountains until you see the Lake which seems to stretch for miles and probably does. The weather gets colder, the clouds appear and the vegetation just keeps getting greener and greener as you get near Fortuna. (Be careful, by the way, if you are coming to visit). There are at least two Fortunas as there are two of most town names in Costa Rica)
I was really taken aback by the huge ferns, the vibrant colours of the plants and the spectacular scenery. It was especially pretty with the drops of rain on the huge leaves. When I got to Fortuna, I immediately took a “gliding” experience on top of the trees. I remember doing something like this is Northland Australia, but we must have been in a cable car because I do not thing I would do the cable thing again because I kept getting twisted around. I almost took the Tarzan swing but when the first girl let out a whopping scream I quietly walked down the stairs and met the group at the bottom.
That night, I went to the hot springs which was a fantastic spot. I had an ‘American’ imitation meal…if I have one more ‘tipica’ Costa Rican meal I think I will throw up! There were about 15 pools ranging in degrees from about body temperature to 150% Fahrenheit in a variety of settings from swimming pools the size of a football field to romantic little hideaways for two people to a large Mayan waterfall which was spectacular. It was definitely worth the money.
A great adventure. I guess tourist towns are not so bad after all!

Express Hostages

2009-10-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

I am so lucky to have been born in the western world. My seatmate on the plane from the Dominican Republic was a businessman from El Salvador who was telling me about express hostage taking. It seems they have taken hostage taking to new levels in El Salvador. They take you hostage and make you visit the bank machine on a daily basis to take out your maximum. When your bank account is empty, they let you go. So, kidnapping takes many forms in El Salvador, express or regular where you end up getting shot if you family does not pay!
He went on to describe the areas of the city he would never drive or walk in and the first question he asked me was how secure Canada was. At first, I did not understand the question. How secure? Was he talking about terrorists? That is when he started to explain to me about his country and the problems they were having.

When I think about it, I might be naïve, but I travel and walk anywhere in Toronto day or night and have no fear of people breaking into my house. Now I am not naïve enough to believe bad things will not happen to me, but I believe they are the exception rather than the rule. It seems in El Salvador they are the rule. When I asked him why, his hypothesis included the break up of the family ( when I asked him what the biggest export was of El Salvador he said people) so when he talked about the break up of the family he talked about parents leaving their children with grandparents or other care givers as they go and find work other countries.. He talked about the lack of education, the impossibility of the poor to ever become the middle class because of all of the government road blocks and the gang effect. For example, if you were to open a small business in town, you would have to pay off the Mafia or you would be killed or your store burned down.

In the Dominican, I had my first pedicure and manicure on the beach. When the women finished, she handed me her card which showed her as the owner of a beauty salon in Santo Domingo. I asked her what she was doing in Puerto Plata and she told me it was impossible to run a business in Santo Domingo because the thugs run you out of town! The same story I heard from my seat mate. In other words, you have to pay the bank for the loan, the thugs so you do not get beaten up and finally you may have some money left over to buy some product to sell. If you are lucky, you may even make a little bit of money but as to changing economic classes, not a chance!

Frankly, it is the same situation in Costa Rica. When I left the house one day after eating breakfast on the balcony, I shut the door but forgot to put the bar on the sliding door. My landlords gave me hell and asked if I wanted to be robbed? Apparently theft in Costa Rica is basically one of opportunity. If they see an opportunity like an open door they will take it, according to my boss. Tell that to the bulky phys ed teacher that works in the gym at night. Apparently, three armed robbers came into the gym, pointed two guns at him, one at his head and one at his chest, tied him up and took all of the TV’s etc. in the gym. It took him a half an hour to get out of the rope they tied him in. So much for crimes of opportunity!

I am writing this on the plane to Costa Rica and clearly the story is the same here as in the Dominican. Children unable to get an education, the poor getting poorer and the divide between rich and poor growing with greater disparity between the north and south or the developed world and the developing world and obviously increasing violence. Hardly a surprise.

Clearly the problems we face are complex and far be it for me to suggest solutions to problems so monumental they are almost absurd. In my own simple way, I know we have to eliminate poverty and one of the surest ways of doing this is to make sure everyone gets a free education! Have you heard this from me before?
Clearly living in the world we are living in the 'south' is not sustenable. By the way, I never heard anyone in Thailand or anywhere in Asia tell me not to walk in certain areas and so on. Was it because I did not understand the language or is there a whole different culture and dynamic in Asia? A great thesis topic for some sociologist.

Dominican Republic in a Week!

2009-10-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

O.K. Let’s see. What did I do this week in the Dominican Republic. If I was a Christian, I touched the hand of God, but since I am Jewish, I touched the hand of Jesus Christ as you can see. I went to the top of the mountain overlooking Puerto Plata and stood where they had a statute of Christ replicating Brazil…sort of. It is always cloudy at the top and looking over the city through the clouds was mysterious and exciting when the mist separated for a few seconds. You had to be fast with your camera.

On the way down the moutain, there was a jam up of cars in front of what looked like a restaurant with blaring music. I went inside and there were multiple pools of water from the mountain with people inside. I assumed the water would be hot but was shocked to discover the water was cold. There was also a bullpen where dozens of people were just getting prepared for a cock fight. I know the big fight is to-night where there is serious drinking, dancing and betting on the cocks. I wonder if they eat the loser?

I also went to a number of beaches from Costambar to Sosua and I must admit the beaches were far more to my liking (and my ideal of a perfect beach) then Costa Rica, at least where I am. The beaches had white fluffy sand fringed with palm trees, the water seemed to be denser and just held my body in its waves and the colour was a beautiful azur. I could just float forever it seems in these waters.

I also visited very many schools and like all schools in this part of the world, check that, like all schools the world over, the emphasis is on rote learning, memorization, teacher centred work and kids engaged in pleasing the teacher. While I know all of this is ‘wrong’ it seemed to have worked for us, but did it? Was it our formal education that got us where we are now, wherever that is, or was it our informal education through working with our children that made us into the learners we are today? In other words, did we learn in spite of our education?

I did see literally hundreds of school aged children in Puerto Plata not going to school and I know there are a couple of reasons for that. One is that if they are from the campo there is literally more emphasis on helping the family on the farm then going to school, but in the city the problem is the registration of the children at the school. If you are an unwed mother, registering your child at school seems to be virtually impossible. I would really love to get one of the Dominican baseball players to donate a pile of money to help me set up a free school where there would be no questions asked about who could learn. I was in a sort of a bar the other night, you know, the usual blaring music and copious amount s of beer and it reminded me of Sam’s Restaurant in Stouffvile. In Stouffville, there are all the hockey players who came from the area and who have signed pictures on the wall. Here all of the Dominican players from Big Papi on down have their signed pictures. The problem is they are still in El Norte and I would not get a chance to speak with them. If they were here, I am sure I could get a generous donation from them. Apparently they are well known and well respected and do come and drink with the ‘locals’ By the way, there is one university in Dominican Republic that is public and apparently, like in everything else here you have to know someone to get in. The private universities are exorbitantly expensive so if you are relatively wealthy you can go to Cuba to study.

In a few minutes, I am going to drive to Santiago and look around, The next few hours will be interesting, since I did not book a flight from San Jose to Liberia since I am arriving late and depending on how long it takes me to get my baggage I may miss the plane so maybe another night in San Jose and then the bus? Everyone tells me not to take the bus because things get stolen.

Poverty Sucks

2009-10-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

To continue with the theme that poverty sucks, let me be more specific. These two kids were hanging around the hotel day and night so I asked if there was a holiday in the Dominican. Their mother, the cook, told me that she could not afford to send her kids to school. There was no holiday. Her husband is dead and she does not have the proper papers to send them to the local school because they need documentation which she does have .Even if she did have the appropriate paperwork, she told me, it would still cost money.

She makes 30 pesos an hour, which is less than a dollar so she probably makes about $40 a month. The cost of semi private school is $50 a month, and she has to pay for rent because they live off the premises, food when she is not working and clothes. Education is not an option. And this is from a working person. Imagine how many kids are not getting an education because their parents have no money and no job.

Since I am here alone and wanted to explore, I spent a lot of time with the kids and took them to the beach, for an ice cream etc. Believe me, when we ate, they did not leave a scrap of food on the plate. I know these kids are ultra intelligent, well mannered and polite, but do not have a hope in hell of getting anywhere in life because of their poverty. If they cannot read or write (which they cannot), how could they possibly get a decent job, thus continuing the cycle of poverty. I realize once again how important school is.

In my school, the kids are obviously the children of the wealthy or middle class. They will get the best education possible, will meet the right people and proceed with their lives in an orderly (read paid job). I have decided that I have no choice but to help. For those who say you can’t save the world, I agree. But I can make a dramatic difference in the lives of these two kids for the cost of a cup of coffee a day or a pack of cigarettes and since I don’t smoke or drink, I am probably saving money! I know this sounds like one of those cheesy television commericals to help children in Africa.

I did visit a number of schools over the past few days and while not the same standard as I am used to, the kids at least come out of the school with a basic education ( meaning they can read and write). Imagine going through life not being able to read and write. It amazes me that these kids are so well adjusted.

To continue this theme, just for a bit, I realize that this situation is replicated the world over millions of times. What I would really like to do on a personal level is work for some United Nations Agency like Unesco to put pressure on world governments to create free education for all. Other than food, education is the critical missing piece and relatively simple to solve. We have an abundance of teachers in the north with a dearth of jobs and an abundance of jobs in the south with a dearth of teachers. As an aside, which is not really an aside, the receptionist at the hotel, who has teaching credentials, is obviously not working as a teacher. When I asked her what she was doing as a receptionist when she should be teaching in a school, she said you had to know someone to get a job as a teacher. I continually heard the same thing from our Filipino teachers in Asia who were teaching in Myanmar.

What is the solution for the big picture in world education? Any ideas?

Dominican Republic

2009-09-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

What could be bad about a country that has baseball as its national sport? There are stadiums everywhere and when you pass dirt fields there are kids playing all the time. As a bonus, there are lots of casinos, beautiful beaches and golf! As I was driving from Santiago, in the north, I drove up to the coast and saw these absolutely lush green hills or mountains that were so much greener than Costa Rica for some reason. I might also add that the roads were paved, unlike Costa Rica and when we had about ten yards of unpaved road, cars slowed down as if there was a dead body in the middle of the street. In Cosa Rica, all the roads are like that ten yards and cars just fly everywhere kicking gravel and rocks every which way.

For some inexplicable reason, my school has a week off so I went to the Dominican Republic via Panama. I think I saw the canal from the air but I will check it out the next time I have a long week-end in a few weeks from now, but at the moment, I am enjoying the life. Pura Vida, but for the wrong country.

Last night on the malecon, there was a huge meringue party with thousands of people, music so loud it could probably be heard in outer space and all kinds of hawkers selling their candy floss and drinks. Thousands of us stood in lines waiting for the security guard to check us for weapons, I guess. When it was my turn to get frisked, the security guard just rolled his eyes and waved me through. There are some advantages, I guess, to being old.

When I went to find a parking spot, I had to go about ten blocks away from the beach to get a spot, and as usual discovered something amazing. A barrio in downtown Puerto Plata where the people actually lived. There was literally one room shacks attached in one long block with open doors and people sitting on their stoops. The music was blaring, kids were running around all over the place and when I went to get a drink in a small shop it was packed with people tighter than sardines with two guys playing drums on the floor with some kind of make shift drums, others dancing on the spot and others buying stuff and carrying out their business.. They were making their own fiesta in the local corner store. When I see life like this, it makes me pause, as I have often said and re- evaluate my North American life with the big house, quiet neighbourhood and more ‘stuff’ in the house that is probably worth more than these Dominicans will make in their lifetimes. Are they happy? Who knows…but from the look of it, they seemed to be having a mean old time!

Poverty does suck and I know that, but in that poverty one can make the most of it. I do realize that workers in the hotel I am staying out probably make a few hundred dollars a month if that and work stupendously long hours . I also realize it destroys family life as the young men are scared off by responsibility and often leave their wives or girlfriends when they get pregnant leaving a nation of single mothers, which can’t be a good thing. Living on subsistence wages obviously is not a good thing and I do not want to romantize it, but I did witness people making the best of a bad situation. There were tens of thousands of people at the free concert, hundreds sitting in the town square with the church all lit up, hundreds more inside the church at some kind of prayer meeting that seemed to be really rocking and hundreds of others parading along the malecon or sea walk. Of course, driving home I also saw a fight break out in a dingy bar with dozens of people watching. Don’t know where all this leads in my blog or reflection but will write more over the course of the week.

Naturally I did visit schools, met the superintendent of all the schools in the area and will write about that in a few days. I will tell you though, that even though she was my age and not a beauty, she would not let me take a picture of her with her glasses on. I guess vanity has no age limit!

San Jose

2009-09-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

I remember the last time I lived in a little town ( Fallbrook) it felt so good to drive into Los Angeles and feel the logjam of cars, hear the horns honk and actually see people. I had the same experience Friday as we drove into San Jose and I could see the lights of the city on the far hill as we got involved in a traffic jam and saw what appeared to be thousands of people just walking along the street. What a rush!

I live in a town that does not even have a rush minute. It is just me, the monkeys and the water! By the way, there is just one highway going from the north of Costa Rica to the south and it is two lane with solid yellow lines along the whole corridor. This does not seem to stop cars from passing at will as the stronger motor cars pass on curves, up hills and so on.

By good luck, I picked a hotel called La Castilla which is right in the heart of the Amon barrio, a great location ten minutes from downtown and set amidst coffee baron plantation homes of the last century. As I walked around yesterday morning I can’t tell you how great it felt to see, feel and watch a normal town do its’ Saturday thing, I was attracted to loud drum beats coming from Park Espana and when I went to investigate I saw a school band playing. School bands, as I have mentioned before, are not like bands we know up north. They are marching bands with the little kids hitting the xylophone thingy, the big boys at the back banging the drums and various other instruments in the middle. There must have been sixty kids and as the band leader marched her way up and down the rows leading her kids to separate like the Red Sea or come together. It was actually fantastic to watch as I can appreciate how hard she must have worked to get them to that stage.

Across the road, there just happened to be a yoga week-end affair with booths set up selling yoga classes, clothes and so on. I could not care less about yoga ( although I should), but I was really keen on seeing so many people and I sat and listened to a comedian do his routine. I even sort of understood what was going on. I sat beside a little kid and when I got up my pants were soaked, probably by his spilt ice cream or something equally horrible.

I even got to go inside a number of casinos and felt the adrenilin pump of watching blackjack. San Jose, in the downtown corridor, is a very elegant city. I love the feel of it .The elegant homes, the beautiful parks, the national monuments, the broad square of the Plaza de la Cultura.

To-day I go back and you know what, can’t wait to hear the monkeys again. They sure beat the noise of the buses driving past my room and making my bed shake.

Costan Rican Independence Day

2009-09-15T15:27:00.001-07:00

July 4 it is not, but who can compete with the Americans and their fireworks! Independence day in Guancaste is a rather quiet affair. It starts with a torch lit parade and flame being carried from Gautamala in the north to Panama in the south since they all central American countries received their independence from Spain at the same time. We had some runners from school take turns running with the torch which carries on a long tradition. Kids at schools all over Costa Rica make their special baskets to carry their personal torches and proudly carry it to their parties the night before independence. In fact, since it is the rainy season, we were very lucky not to have any rain so the kids were able to light their candles and parade around outside the school.

On the morning of the 15th, there are school drum bands in every small town with the usual festivities of candy floss, jumping on a trampoline and lots of fun, all served in a very low key way. Everyone for miles around line the roads as they watch the parades or ride their bicycles and sound their horn. One never hears a horn in Costa Rica unless it is the 15th of September and then the country stops at 6 pm to sing the National Hymn.

When I mentioned to a colleague the whole thing was rather underwhelming, he pointed to a shack by the side of the road and said, what do you expect? they would rather spend their money on more important things like food!

The Arribada

2009-09-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

Try to imagine 500,000 turtles on a beach about one kilometer long and 500 meters wide. Now try to imagine avoiding the turtle females as they come ashore to lay their 100-120 eggs each as they crawl over stones, rocks and anything else to find 'their' spot to lay their eggs. Quite something, right? Now add the darkness, as it was high tide, a little rain and a few hundred tourists.

These Olive Ridley sea turtles, as you can see from the pictures weigh about 100 pounds and are about 30 inches long. Apparently, according to our guide person, the male sperm is stored within the female throughout the breeding season, almost like a sperm bank, and somehow the female chooses the strongest sperm to fertilize the eggs. As usual, the males have very little to do with it and just continue to do their thing in the ocean as the females swim ashore ( where they were born), lay their eggs, and then return to the sea ( probably exhausted). Apparently the females do this each month for a few months during the rainy season at quatre moon and then not again for years.

The whole process reminded me of the Penguin movie that was so popular last year, as well as the seal hunt. The residents of Ostional, on the Nicoya Peninsula come out the next morning, again as you can see from the pictures, and pick the eggs. They put them in these huge bags and ship them off throughout Costa Rica, where they apparently get good prices for it. My school colleagues were aghast at this and felt that they were destroying the future of the turtle. The residents explained that they only take about one percent of the eggs and with the revenue, improve the facilties along the beach and so on.

It was a fascinating trip and I would love to write more about the turtles but I am simply too exhausted and have to go to sleep. I woke up at 5 am yesterday to drive there, stayed up half the night in the rain to see them ( some chance) in the dark and then woke up at 5 am again to see the last of the them either go to the sea or the see latecomers arrive. I would love to go again in about 45 days when the babies hatch and make their mad dash to the sea trying to avoid the vultures, crows, dogs and other animals just waiting for a delicious treat.

After my nap, I am going to school to see our kids run the torch being sent all around Costa Rica for independence day on Tuesday. Tomorrow, we are going to have all kinds of festivities at the school which I will tell you about or show you Tuesday.

Golfing as only a President can!

2009-09-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

Now I know what it feels like to be the president of the United States. I was playing golf today with the general manager and the wife of the Four Seasons Golf Club in Costa Rica and we had the course to ourselves. If I wanted to play this course without an invitation, it would have probably been a few hundred dollars, if I was allowed to play, and the only way you get a chance to play is if you own property on the Papagayo Peninsula or you are a guest of the resort. There was no one in front of us and on-one behind us, excluding the guy with the wet towels every three holes and the drink and sandwich person at our own disposal.

The course itself is breath-taking…literally. I was coming down a fairly major road for Costa Rica and all of a sudden you come upon Palm trees, an ocean view right of the movies and then a guard house. Luckily, they already knew my name and ushered me in. Unfortunately, there were no signs or directions to the golf course and you can believe I got lost. When I was miles away, an employee with a clipboard welcomed me to the resort by name and gave me directions to the clubhouse. Another wiser employee jumped into the car with me and took me. There were no signs and no directions, part of the appeal I would imagine.

I was welcomed at the course and unfortunately forgot my shoes. When I told my friends, they asked me what size my feet were and in moments I seemed to be wearing a brand new pair of golf shoes. When we finished, the golf course manager came up and greeted me by name. When the Four Seasons welcomes its guests they take the word welcome to brand new heights.
The course itself has about fourteen water holes I believe and the views were out of this world. I take golf quite seriously and if someone else were taking pictures every second I know I would be annoyed. You either want to play golf or take pictures I would probably say. My hosts probably felt that way but were too kind to say anything as the camera kept clicking away every time they swung a club. I know Michael that it is better to have people in the picture to get a better perspective of things. You see, I do listen to you!

Luckily I played well and at one point had a birdie and four pars in a row. Unfortunately I also got an eight on one hole (because monkeys were throwing things at me and I was rushing to just get out of there) and a seven on the other hole. ( I can’t think of a good excuse for that one!) It is really a great feeling to tee up the ball and look down a fairway with the ocean in front of you, animals of all sorts surrounding you and the sound of gorillas coming from the forest at the sides. The “gorillas” as Josh knows, are nothing more than howler monkeys, although I did see white faced monkeys in the trees on one hole. I was going to look for my ball on that hole, but did not want to get abused again by the monkeys or inadvertently meet a Boa Constrictor. Even I am not that crazy!

If anyone cares, I hit a 91 but did much better when I played the course again by myself for another 18!

I am finally getting it!

2009-08-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

I think I am finally getting it. Slow down, slow down, slow down!!!! I live in the bedroom community of Playa Hermosa. Unlike other bedroom communities like Richmond Hill, there are no stores, no libraries, no theatres and certainly no malls. There is one beach and lots of big houses overlooking the ocean. That’s it! If there was a main street, I could shoot a canon down it and not hit anyone.

In fact, it does not even meet my conception of a beach, except thinking of it in terms of Plato’s “beachness” . In other words, when I think of ‘beach’ I think of Cancun or Veradero with white hot sand, big waves , and the movie movie”10” with the star jumping on the burning sand. This sand is darkish, hardpacked and not ‘pretty’. However, now that I have my head around it, it is even better because it is not hot, you can walk or run on it and the water is great to swim in. I have to buy myself a mask so I can see who I am swimming with…not the people, because there aren’t any, but the fish.

It is Sunday afternoon and I just came back from the beach having written this before I went out. I want to take back the hot comment. Yes, volcanic beaches are just as hot…I just did not realize it because it is cool at 5:30 am or pm when I am usually there.

Last night, I swam in the morning, at 5:30 and again at night. I really enjoyed lying on the water and seeing the sun melt into the water at sundown ( I believe about 6). When I saw Josh’s pictures of a Thai beach I realized that we have the same thing here…the island or two with rock sticking up out of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful green forest except without the spicy food.

We also have volcanoes! Yesterday, after a school picnic, I drove to Liberia, a cattle town which National Geographic calls “the most colonial of Costa Rican cities, redolent in its own charm.” Not quite what Irving said about it, and now I tend to agree with the Frisch viewpoint. Like every Costa Rican town, there is the city square with the church on one side and not much else.

After touring Liberia ( in about 5 minutes), I decided to drive north on the main highway- a two lane road. On the east you see giant peaks ( which I guess are volcanoes) enveloped by clouds. I took a right turn on one of the dirt roads and headed towards the mountains. Yes, I still have my rented car more or less intact, but it was an adventure. My pictures do not capture the beauty in any way. I had no time to set up the pictures or fool around with angles because I was afraid to keep the car in the middle of the single lane road ( or lane and a half) in case some other car was crazy enough to come by. In fact, some horses with riders did come by, but the horse could make it by my car, barely. I saw one boy on the horse with a big bag of something going home the other way and I presume the mother, walking behind. I wanted to offer her a lift but could never have turned the car around at that juncture because I was high up in the mountains and if I turned and did not quite make it, I could end up in the valley below quite easily. Putting the car in reverse is not so easy.

I spent this afternoon working and in spite of the Frisch suggestion otherwise, went to visit Filedephia. It was actually very picturesque with the river running through it.
One more thing. If you are ever in a toilet stall and the door does not lock properly-don’t force it. I assure you it is less embarrassing having someone walk in than having to yell over the noises of a casino to let you out of a toilet stall!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2009-08-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

O.K. so not so ugly. It is Costa Rica after all! I am now an expert on Costa Rica, having been here for one week. The good is that the beaches are empty, the bad is, how am I supposed to meet anyone? The good is that the water is warm, I do not need a towel when I come out for my instant dry; the bad is my floor is covered in sand as I have nowhere to rinse off as I cross the street back to my house.

My house is spectacular, as you can probably see from the pictures. It is the ground floor of a duplex which has a full kitchen complement ( still virginal I may add), two bedrooms, a porch to sit on as well as dine and greenery all around. The bad is to get to the house you have to take your life in your hands. To get down to the beach, you drive down a narrow winding road for nine kilometers which in Canada would probably be about a one lane road but here is two lanes. Try navigating that at night ( in gearshift!) Once you are near the house, assuming you find the turn, you have to navigate through potholes the size of the moon and when you finally reach the house put the car in first gear to even get up the driveway because it is so steep. The first night I had the car I had to find my way home from the school in the dark and even though Playa Hermosa is about the size of a postage stamp I somehow missed the turnoff to my street. Not a surprise, really, if you know anything about me! Luckily, I saw about three guys talking in the middle of the road and when I spoke to them in Thai got no response. This time, it was not because they were Thai, but because they were Spanish. Switching to my non-existent Spanish I asked where the Hotel Finistere was, which is on the road to my house. Taking pity on me, one of them got into the car and drove with me for one block. He then asked for a propina ( see how fast I am learning) and when I offered him 2,000 colones, about four dollars, he saw the 5,000 in my wallet and asked for it. I did not feel I was in a very good bargaining position, frankly, and gave it to him, thankful that I found my house, actually had a key, and could finally get some sleep.

School is engaging, to say the least. I am up at six, just when I normally fall asleep. I am wakened by the gorillas in the trees near the house; at least they sound like gorillas although they are probably howler monkeys. I blindly pour my breakfast cereal and get ready for school. The good is I do not have to wear a tie. The bad is there is a reason for it. It is very hot ( supposedly) and I end up playing in the mud with the kids, as you can see from the pictures. The kids are doing phenomenal things as you can see…visiting our fish farm, looking through microscopes, putting on an art show, putting computers together and so on. The good is that the school is on a farm, the owners are amazing and passionate and dedicated to learning and the bad is all of the above. Because the school is so new, there are only 50 kids and about 10 teachers. I think running a school of 1000 kids and 90 teachers would be a breeze but when you have a small size you actually have to work…it does not run itself.

My challenge for to-night is to find the Coco-Palm restaurant where all the expatriates I met at the beach are hanging out having a fish fry with the fish my ‘new’ friends caught to-day. There is Allan the business person from Baltimore, Dave who owns the golf course and Garth the Canadian. Should be an adventure.