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!

Express Hostages

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!

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

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?