Monday, March 28, 2011

Marchin' thru March- part 2

One o Five - that's about the temperature we endured today while waiting for a bus to pass through Jaco (ha-koh).  We rarely make the trek to town, instead obtaining all our food provisions from the little store in Hermosa.   But we needed to take care of a few things today, so were forced into the vortex of Hot Hot Jaco.  To save approximately two dollars and 85 cents, we waited for almost two hours in the oppressive noon heat for a bus that arrived quite late.   As we sat there sweltering, dozens of taxis whizzed through, plucking up random people and sailing away with their a/c full blare.   I wished we could be one of those people, but that extra $2.85  might be a necessary stipend in our near future.  We just couldn't risk it.    Our bus finally arrived in its glory, packed  full tilt with so many sticky sweaty bodies that we were literally sardined on the steps with a door swinging open at every stop, threatening to suck us back out onto the crumbling sidewalk.  We barely reached the string in time to pull it for the "ding" that tells the bus driver to stop.  Thankfully he did and we tumbled out the rear doors lacking all dignity and grace- but with arms full of food and half a smile.  
     We were planning our mission to El Salvador.  the beachie has started to become unruly in Hermosa with the south swells lighting up the coast.   For a surfer with a set of wheels, this is the best time of year to go to Costa Rica.  But for us- no car, no money for a taxi or even a daily bus mission,  we were getting frustrated.  Playa Hermosa, anyone can tell you, is a dumpy little beach break in dry season- but come rainy season it's become a monsterously unmanagable wave with any sizable swell -  unless of course you have a dozen or so boards to break.    The boards we had were already falling apart and we certainly didn't have enough money to buy boards if ours fell victim to the oceans tantrums.  So we opted to find  a less hazardous wave.  We also needed to find somewhere that could use our services in exchange for letting us stay-  we simply had little money to put towards rent.  That's where El Sal came in. We'd passed thru there before on a bus to Nicaragua from Guatemala, but stayed only one night in the city, San Salvador, in transit.  With all these stories and photos of waves that can hold the big rainy season swells, we were pretty keen to get up there.   We scraped together what we could and bought the ticabus tickets up.
    Our last day in Costa Rica will be the last day in March- I can only hope that age old saying will apply this year-  "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb....." 







Sunday, March 27, 2011

dawn hours



I love the hours of dawn because everyone who tells me who I'm supposed to be is asleep and in the quietness I remember who I am. 

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Forgiveness

         
In life, it is better to have a short memory.  At some point we will be wronged, usually not because the other person intends to hurt us,  but because they are trying to protect themselves.  Confront the situation, and then Let It Go.  
                                    The sooner you release the anger, the sooner you can heal.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Marchin' through March

 It felt like things came a bit unraveled this past chunk of time, so I won't bother to  tell the tale of our past week or so because there's a certain blandness to it.  I will share a story that I often think of when I experience things I don't understand and react with anger sadness and frustration.   

              There was once a farmer and son that had only one horse. They worked long hard days, sun up to sun down, just to get by, with nothing left to spare. One day as the father and son plowed the fields, their horse got spooked and ran off. The son was devastated; "What bad luck, now what will we do?"
The father replied; "Good luck, Bad luck, who knows?"
                The father and son continued to work the farm. Then one day their horse comes running back over the hill with six other horses. The son exclaimed, "What great luck, now we have all the horses we'll ever need!"
To which the farmer replied; ""Good luck, Bad luck, who knows?"
               The next day as the farmer and son were working with the horses, one particularly difficult horse threw the son off his back and broke his leg. The son cried: "Oh father, I am so sorry, now you have to work the farm all by yourself. What bad luck!"
Once again the father replied: "Good luck, Bad luck, who knows?"
          Several days later a War broke out and all the able bodied young men were sent off to fight. The farmer's son, having a broken leg, was forced to stay at home.
To which the farmer replied; "Good luck, Bad luck, who knows?"