Buenos Aires, the city that never sleeps!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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!

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

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

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!