Dominican Republic

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

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

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

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!

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!