Today is Memorial Day, when we take time out to acknowledge and thank the men and women who have given their lives in service to their country. May God bless their souls, and comfort their families. May we all live in such a way that we honor their sacrifice by working together to uphold our American ideals.
So I'm back Stateside. It feels good to be home, and as I just come in from picking up my laundry, it occurs to me what a blessing it is to live in America. I have enough food, too many clothes, and a sturdy roof over my head. I love and am loved, and am in relationship with a God who adores me. My health is generally good (I'm a grateful cancer survivor), though the present thorn in my flesh is painful, almost debilitating leg cramps. They occur despite copious amounts of water, mineral supplements, and even quinine supplements, they continue. I do recognize that if leg cramps are the worst complaint I have, in the overall scheme of things, that's nothing.
My goal is to write something every day. Just like I encourage my students and kids to exercise their writing muscles, I have to do the same. Don't have a lot to write tonight; sometimes you just have to put in the footwork and leave the results to God.
Monday, May 31, 2010
May 30, 2010
Sitting in the San Jose airport, waiting for the flight. This morning Dani and I went to a fruit market in Santa Ana. It was right in front of a Catholic Church, so about 10:15 NY time, we had the opportunity to go in and have prayer. That was good. After that we went back to the house to wait for the kids to get ready. We dropped Sofi off, then Dani, Chris and I went to the Teatro Nacional downtown, then to the Central Market or something that was just FULL of souvenirs. I’m glad we went there last with only a little bit of time, since they had every souvenir you could possibly want. I’ll have to go there again next time. Never would have thought we would have gotten all the stuff in in enough time today, but we made it with no problem. It’s all good.
At the airport, I got sucked in and bought even more stuff, including an additional organic bag. But it’s all good. I ran into this group that’s wearing shirts saying “Here I am Lord, Send Me.” They’re from the Houston Conference of the United Methodist Church, and they come down once a year to do physical, occupational, and speech therapy. I wish our church could organize an annual missions trip – maybe we could go to the Haiti or the Africa conferences and spend a week or two doing mission work. That might attract the youth, and give us a bit more purpose. It sure would be more meaningful to me than going to Annual Conference. Or maybe we could do it and make reports to annual conference. It just seems to me that our church has gotten busy with the business of being church, and is no longer forwarding the mission of the church.
River rafting wasn’t on my bucket list (I don’t really have a bucket list yet), but it should have been. When I make one, I’ll put it on there then cross it off. There’s not a lot of things I still want to do, except possibly hot air ballooning, skydiving, and parasailing.
At the airport, I got sucked in and bought even more stuff, including an additional organic bag. But it’s all good. I ran into this group that’s wearing shirts saying “Here I am Lord, Send Me.” They’re from the Houston Conference of the United Methodist Church, and they come down once a year to do physical, occupational, and speech therapy. I wish our church could organize an annual missions trip – maybe we could go to the Haiti or the Africa conferences and spend a week or two doing mission work. That might attract the youth, and give us a bit more purpose. It sure would be more meaningful to me than going to Annual Conference. Or maybe we could do it and make reports to annual conference. It just seems to me that our church has gotten busy with the business of being church, and is no longer forwarding the mission of the church.
River rafting wasn’t on my bucket list (I don’t really have a bucket list yet), but it should have been. When I make one, I’ll put it on there then cross it off. There’s not a lot of things I still want to do, except possibly hot air ballooning, skydiving, and parasailing.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 27 2010
We just chilled in the morning. It was raining so I decided I didn’t want the city tour. Dona Olga made breakfast of something like a western omelet but scrambled, and gallo pinto (which everyone eats all the time). I took a turkey and cheese sandwich with me and got on the bus to Liberia. It was a direct bus, with one rest stop. The busses are really interesting in that sometimes they don’t actually stop so much as slow down and the folks jump off.
But I took the bus to Basgaces. No one was there to meet me, but thankfully there was a guy on the bus named Kerry. He used to live in NJ, now lives in GA, and was coming back to CR to do what he needs to do to get his US citizenship. He let me use his cellphone to call Danny, and we hung out and chatted until Daniela, Sylvia, and Brian all came. Turns out that not only was he was from Basgaces, but he actually knew Daniela. Basgaces is a very small town.
Silvia and Daniela took me to their place. They made a wonderful dinner of salad (tomatoes, onion, lettuce?, cilantro, lemon, and salt) and pollo a la peruviana: grilled chicken cooked with grated garlic, sliced red onions, some sweet peppers, and a little soy sauce. Silvia and Daniela cook on a wood-burning stove, and they prepared this dish, beans, and rice in about 30 minutes.
After dinner, Tony, el cielo, came to visit. He had some kind of retinal infection when he was a child and it has left him blind with an aversion to light. The girls were teasing me that he was interested in a US girlfriend. He’s cute, but even if I were interested, he’s 23 and smokes pot. When I was in CR 25-30 years ago, I loved smoking pot here, but I’m not the same person. Now all I notice is that when I smoked pot I never had much money. I don’t smoke pot any more, and I have more money. The people I know who still smoke pot also never seem to have much money. Which makes sense; you use money to buy pot, and then you burn it up. It’s like torching your money. I suppose you pay for the pleasure, but someone once told me you’ve never done something til you’ve done it clean. I’ve done CR stoned and I’ve done CR not stoned. Not stoned was WAAAAY more fun!! I just don’t see an up-side to smoking pot.
So anyway, we came to this thermal springs place. The water is warmed by volcanos and there are all these natural springs. We went into one last night, and have already spent a couple of hours in one today, and it’s not yet 10 am. We’re taking a rest for now, but will get back in the springs later in the day. Dany wants me to go on a canopy tour, but it’s raining outside. He says it’s more interesting then, because it’s more dangerous. We’ll see. I’m going to nap now and we’ll take it from there.
Got up at 11, like we agreed, but can’t get a response from Silvia and Daniela. Went to the front desk and bought some of the volcanic mud. Just a couple of hours in the water seems to have made a positive change in my skin, so I’m getting some to take home. This place is called Thermo Mania, and here is their blurb: located on the beautiful mountainside of Miravalles volcano, only 5 minutes from downtown Guayabo, Bagaces, Guanacaste. Attractions include 11 thermal pools (Hot springs), a water slide, rustic bungalows, wet bar, spa with sauna, Jacuzzi, volcanic mud, in-room massages, and treatments. Also own farm with different animals, and they offer tours to Miravalles Volcano, can visit the blue lake, fumarols, and the geothermic project. We met Yiyi Arrieta, the owner. He’s a friend of Silvia’s. www.thermomania.net.
But I took the bus to Basgaces. No one was there to meet me, but thankfully there was a guy on the bus named Kerry. He used to live in NJ, now lives in GA, and was coming back to CR to do what he needs to do to get his US citizenship. He let me use his cellphone to call Danny, and we hung out and chatted until Daniela, Sylvia, and Brian all came. Turns out that not only was he was from Basgaces, but he actually knew Daniela. Basgaces is a very small town.
Silvia and Daniela took me to their place. They made a wonderful dinner of salad (tomatoes, onion, lettuce?, cilantro, lemon, and salt) and pollo a la peruviana: grilled chicken cooked with grated garlic, sliced red onions, some sweet peppers, and a little soy sauce. Silvia and Daniela cook on a wood-burning stove, and they prepared this dish, beans, and rice in about 30 minutes.
After dinner, Tony, el cielo, came to visit. He had some kind of retinal infection when he was a child and it has left him blind with an aversion to light. The girls were teasing me that he was interested in a US girlfriend. He’s cute, but even if I were interested, he’s 23 and smokes pot. When I was in CR 25-30 years ago, I loved smoking pot here, but I’m not the same person. Now all I notice is that when I smoked pot I never had much money. I don’t smoke pot any more, and I have more money. The people I know who still smoke pot also never seem to have much money. Which makes sense; you use money to buy pot, and then you burn it up. It’s like torching your money. I suppose you pay for the pleasure, but someone once told me you’ve never done something til you’ve done it clean. I’ve done CR stoned and I’ve done CR not stoned. Not stoned was WAAAAY more fun!! I just don’t see an up-side to smoking pot.
So anyway, we came to this thermal springs place. The water is warmed by volcanos and there are all these natural springs. We went into one last night, and have already spent a couple of hours in one today, and it’s not yet 10 am. We’re taking a rest for now, but will get back in the springs later in the day. Dany wants me to go on a canopy tour, but it’s raining outside. He says it’s more interesting then, because it’s more dangerous. We’ll see. I’m going to nap now and we’ll take it from there.
Got up at 11, like we agreed, but can’t get a response from Silvia and Daniela. Went to the front desk and bought some of the volcanic mud. Just a couple of hours in the water seems to have made a positive change in my skin, so I’m getting some to take home. This place is called Thermo Mania, and here is their blurb: located on the beautiful mountainside of Miravalles volcano, only 5 minutes from downtown Guayabo, Bagaces, Guanacaste. Attractions include 11 thermal pools (Hot springs), a water slide, rustic bungalows, wet bar, spa with sauna, Jacuzzi, volcanic mud, in-room massages, and treatments. Also own farm with different animals, and they offer tours to Miravalles Volcano, can visit the blue lake, fumarols, and the geothermic project. We met Yiyi Arrieta, the owner. He’s a friend of Silvia’s. www.thermomania.net.
Rafting on the Pacuare River, Wednesday, May 27, 2010
This is just a stream of consciousness blog, so it might not make a lot of sense.
On Wednesday morning, we got up and left the house in time for Chris and me to be at a downtown central plaza at 6 am. We got on a bus (Armando and Chantal, the couple from Isla Tortugas yesterday, was already there, so that was a nice treat!), picked up other people throughout the City of San Jose, and drove for an hour and a half or so to the base camp of Exploradores Outdoors. There we had a buffet breakfast, changed clothes, picked up more people and headed up to begin our rafting experience.
Our guide was a young man named Elber or Alber or Albert – I’m not really sure. Our class in rafting consisted of a lecture on the way up to the raft site. He told us how to paddle (with the upper body, not just the arms), how to get down in the middle of the raft, how one side can row one way and another side another way, how to row backwards, and how to jump to the high side. We got basic safety pointers like how to find our way out from under the raft if it flipped over, and how to properly adjust our helmets and safety vests. We also got tips on who and how to do rescues, and how to hold the paddles properly.
Then we were assigned to our guides. Our guide was Ivan. We got our helmets, vests, and paddles, and went into the rafts, off on our rafting experience. I don’t remember when I’ve had so much fun!!! Danny’s son Chris and Armando were the two at the front of the raft. I was behind Chris, Chantal was behind Armando, and two cousins from Mexico, Lilly and Sara, were behind us.
The first half mile or so, wee were just learning to row in unison, and learning to do basic rowing strokes. Then we had a couple of little rapids, which we took quite well. Over the next few hours, we went through class II, III and IV rapids. Our group, Group #2, raft #23, was AWESOME!!! Each of the cousins fell out once, but Ivan was able to pull them in quickly with no problem. We were caught in the middle of a huge hole for what seemed to be several minutes, and not only did we not panic, but we worked together. None of us was thrown out, and the raft did not capsize nor flip. That was an amazing experience. I remember Chantal’s paddle had slipped away, and Armando said to her, "never mind the paddle, hold onto me." But for some reason she couldn’t get to him. And then I remember saying to her “Hold onto me.” She did, and we balanced and swayed back and forth until we were through the rapid. It was an AWESOME display of teamwork – if we hadn’t done it right, our raft could very easily have capsized or flipped.
A guy from another raft fell in, and he was there floundering in the water. We were able to get to him and Ivan and the gujys pulled him in. He was choking and gasping for air when they brought him in. He said he’d gone under and was trying to follow the instructions they'd given us at the beginning (don't panic, feel your way to the edge of the raft if you're caught underneath, float with feet forward, how to grab the rescue lines properly, etc), but the water just sucked him in too quickly. We got him and got him back to his raft, with nothing worse than a skinned knee.
On one of the rapids, Ivan had half the raft sit backwards and pull forward while the other half faced frontwards and pulled forward. The effect was that we were doing 360s, right as we came up to a rapid. Not that we were showboating or anything, but no other team did anything like that. We were also able to recover a paddle lost by one of the other teams.
In the midst of the turbulence, I found myself remarkably calm. Before the trip, I was afraid – I didn’t know if I could do it or not, and when they shouted the commands to “get down!” I wasan’t sure if my knee would let me (It is stiff and hurting today, the day after). But I got through it and Ivan even complimented me on how well I rowed (It was just working abs and obliques for me).
Ever since the cancer, I've made peace with my mortality. I don't fear death any more, cuz I know death is not the end of the story, and because of my big brother Jesus, I know how the story ends. As I look back on this experience I think about how, when we’re on the raft of life, we might go through storms or turbulence or rapids. There may be rocks in the way. But if we can work together as a team, as the Body of Christ, and if some survival training (the Word) has been planted in us, then the probability is that not only will we survive, not only will we thrive, but we will also be able to render aid and assistance to those in our midst. We will be able to pull in someone who is sinking. We’ll be able to return an oar to someone who needs it to paddle their own raft. And we can do it all with the assurance that this experience, no matter how scary it may seem, is not the end of the story -- it's just another chapter. The key, it seems to me, is our ability to apply our training, AND our ability to work together as one unified body.
So now I’m on my way to Guanacaste, in the north of the country. Silvia lives there with Daniela, and we are going to go to a thermal springs / spa. I think I’m there through Saturday morning.
This has already been an amazing trip. I’ll have to come back again.
On Wednesday morning, we got up and left the house in time for Chris and me to be at a downtown central plaza at 6 am. We got on a bus (Armando and Chantal, the couple from Isla Tortugas yesterday, was already there, so that was a nice treat!), picked up other people throughout the City of San Jose, and drove for an hour and a half or so to the base camp of Exploradores Outdoors. There we had a buffet breakfast, changed clothes, picked up more people and headed up to begin our rafting experience.
Our guide was a young man named Elber or Alber or Albert – I’m not really sure. Our class in rafting consisted of a lecture on the way up to the raft site. He told us how to paddle (with the upper body, not just the arms), how to get down in the middle of the raft, how one side can row one way and another side another way, how to row backwards, and how to jump to the high side. We got basic safety pointers like how to find our way out from under the raft if it flipped over, and how to properly adjust our helmets and safety vests. We also got tips on who and how to do rescues, and how to hold the paddles properly.
Then we were assigned to our guides. Our guide was Ivan. We got our helmets, vests, and paddles, and went into the rafts, off on our rafting experience. I don’t remember when I’ve had so much fun!!! Danny’s son Chris and Armando were the two at the front of the raft. I was behind Chris, Chantal was behind Armando, and two cousins from Mexico, Lilly and Sara, were behind us.
The first half mile or so, wee were just learning to row in unison, and learning to do basic rowing strokes. Then we had a couple of little rapids, which we took quite well. Over the next few hours, we went through class II, III and IV rapids. Our group, Group #2, raft #23, was AWESOME!!! Each of the cousins fell out once, but Ivan was able to pull them in quickly with no problem. We were caught in the middle of a huge hole for what seemed to be several minutes, and not only did we not panic, but we worked together. None of us was thrown out, and the raft did not capsize nor flip. That was an amazing experience. I remember Chantal’s paddle had slipped away, and Armando said to her, "never mind the paddle, hold onto me." But for some reason she couldn’t get to him. And then I remember saying to her “Hold onto me.” She did, and we balanced and swayed back and forth until we were through the rapid. It was an AWESOME display of teamwork – if we hadn’t done it right, our raft could very easily have capsized or flipped.
A guy from another raft fell in, and he was there floundering in the water. We were able to get to him and Ivan and the gujys pulled him in. He was choking and gasping for air when they brought him in. He said he’d gone under and was trying to follow the instructions they'd given us at the beginning (don't panic, feel your way to the edge of the raft if you're caught underneath, float with feet forward, how to grab the rescue lines properly, etc), but the water just sucked him in too quickly. We got him and got him back to his raft, with nothing worse than a skinned knee.
On one of the rapids, Ivan had half the raft sit backwards and pull forward while the other half faced frontwards and pulled forward. The effect was that we were doing 360s, right as we came up to a rapid. Not that we were showboating or anything, but no other team did anything like that. We were also able to recover a paddle lost by one of the other teams.
In the midst of the turbulence, I found myself remarkably calm. Before the trip, I was afraid – I didn’t know if I could do it or not, and when they shouted the commands to “get down!” I wasan’t sure if my knee would let me (It is stiff and hurting today, the day after). But I got through it and Ivan even complimented me on how well I rowed (It was just working abs and obliques for me).
Ever since the cancer, I've made peace with my mortality. I don't fear death any more, cuz I know death is not the end of the story, and because of my big brother Jesus, I know how the story ends. As I look back on this experience I think about how, when we’re on the raft of life, we might go through storms or turbulence or rapids. There may be rocks in the way. But if we can work together as a team, as the Body of Christ, and if some survival training (the Word) has been planted in us, then the probability is that not only will we survive, not only will we thrive, but we will also be able to render aid and assistance to those in our midst. We will be able to pull in someone who is sinking. We’ll be able to return an oar to someone who needs it to paddle their own raft. And we can do it all with the assurance that this experience, no matter how scary it may seem, is not the end of the story -- it's just another chapter. The key, it seems to me, is our ability to apply our training, AND our ability to work together as one unified body.
So now I’m on my way to Guanacaste, in the north of the country. Silvia lives there with Daniela, and we are going to go to a thermal springs / spa. I think I’m there through Saturday morning.
This has already been an amazing trip. I’ll have to come back again.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
More on Costa Rica
I forgot to talk about the woman who picked up the hermit crab on La Isla Tortuga. It was when we first got there. The crab bit her. It was clamped onto her hand, she was crying -- and we were all taking pictures. The way to get a crab off your hand is to light a fire under it, which someone finally did.
Also forgot to mention the wild boar on the island. It was a Javelina, but it had been domesticated. I had my first successful session in a hammock, and the little pig came and slept under me.
It was an awesome day!
Also forgot to mention the wild boar on the island. It was a Javelina, but it had been domesticated. I had my first successful session in a hammock, and the little pig came and slept under me.
It was an awesome day!
Costa Rica, May 24-25, 2010
On Monday evening, I left EWR for San Jose. Daniel and his son Chris picked me up at the airport; we went to their house in Escazu and there I met his daughter, Sofia. We took pictures, chatted, and finally crashed late.
We got up early this morning, were out of the house by about 6. Went to San Jose and got a tour bus which took us to the Puntarenas (Sandy Point), on the coast. We got in a catamaran and sailed for an hour and a half to la Isla Tortuga. It was AWESOME!!! We rode banana boats (I rode it twice, once gently with older people and the next time a bit more ambitiously, with younger people).
We'd stopped on the way to Puntarenas for a lovely breakfast: rice and beans, eggs, cheese, plaintains, bread, juice, and coffee -- but it was nothing compared to the lunch, which was served on picnic tables, as we dined with the whole island to ourselves. We started with ceviche, then had a pasta salad, a mixed green salad, a carrot salad, and a cucumber and onion salad. Our main course was chicken cutlets with rice, followed by cake with a pineapple sauce and ice cream, and coffee. While we ate, we had a marimba band: a guy on timbales and a guy on conga, with the audience adding in chekeres and guiros. It was great!
It rained all the way out to la Isla and all the way back, though the weather did clear up for our time on the island. The rain allowed us to bond together,and we chatted easily in Spanish and English. There was a group of 35 or 40 retired schoolteachers from Mexico, a couple from Miami, a couple from Mexico, and a two or three older American couples. On the way out, in the rain, we talked about Gilligan's Island. The people on the boat served us the best fresh papaya, pineapple, and watermelon. They were LOVELY!
There's a lot more, but it's late and I've got to get up early tomorrow morning to go white water rafting.
This has already been an awesome trip, and I'm looking forward to my return!
We got up early this morning, were out of the house by about 6. Went to San Jose and got a tour bus which took us to the Puntarenas (Sandy Point), on the coast. We got in a catamaran and sailed for an hour and a half to la Isla Tortuga. It was AWESOME!!! We rode banana boats (I rode it twice, once gently with older people and the next time a bit more ambitiously, with younger people).
We'd stopped on the way to Puntarenas for a lovely breakfast: rice and beans, eggs, cheese, plaintains, bread, juice, and coffee -- but it was nothing compared to the lunch, which was served on picnic tables, as we dined with the whole island to ourselves. We started with ceviche, then had a pasta salad, a mixed green salad, a carrot salad, and a cucumber and onion salad. Our main course was chicken cutlets with rice, followed by cake with a pineapple sauce and ice cream, and coffee. While we ate, we had a marimba band: a guy on timbales and a guy on conga, with the audience adding in chekeres and guiros. It was great!
It rained all the way out to la Isla and all the way back, though the weather did clear up for our time on the island. The rain allowed us to bond together,and we chatted easily in Spanish and English. There was a group of 35 or 40 retired schoolteachers from Mexico, a couple from Miami, a couple from Mexico, and a two or three older American couples. On the way out, in the rain, we talked about Gilligan's Island. The people on the boat served us the best fresh papaya, pineapple, and watermelon. They were LOVELY!
There's a lot more, but it's late and I've got to get up early tomorrow morning to go white water rafting.
This has already been an awesome trip, and I'm looking forward to my return!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
May 15, 2010
Lots has happened since my last post. I did the surgery and have lost a bit over 100 lbs. For me, bariatric surgery ranks right up there with my Liberty season tickets as one of the best things I've ever done for myself. It's amazing how much energy I have, and I am actually starting to pump more weight than before the surgery. I'm able to butterfly (poorly, but before it was not at all), and can actually run for a bus without wondering if I'm going to have a heart attack.
Don't know if it was increased confidence or God trying to tell me something, but I ended up leaving my job working in computers in a law firm, and am now the executive director of a small nonprofit. I've returned to the world of providing housing and supportive services to people living with HIV/AIDS, this time with a couple of other additional populations.
Next week I'm headed back to CR for the first time in about 20 years. I'm SOOO excited! Can't wait to see Dani, and to meet his kids. Last time I was there he was dating Sylvia; now their oldest kid is in law school!!!!
And I'm heading back to Egypt. Israel, and Jordan in November. More to come...
Don't know if it was increased confidence or God trying to tell me something, but I ended up leaving my job working in computers in a law firm, and am now the executive director of a small nonprofit. I've returned to the world of providing housing and supportive services to people living with HIV/AIDS, this time with a couple of other additional populations.
Next week I'm headed back to CR for the first time in about 20 years. I'm SOOO excited! Can't wait to see Dani, and to meet his kids. Last time I was there he was dating Sylvia; now their oldest kid is in law school!!!!
And I'm heading back to Egypt. Israel, and Jordan in November. More to come...