Costa Rica - Part 3 - Palo Verde River Cruise

The interconnectedness of nature. It is a term and a concept that I think we understand on an intellectual level, but how often do we really experience and feel it? The renewed ability to feel it was perhaps the most important benefit from our first trip to Costa Rica, one that, as I described in my last post, began with the architecture of the resort’s main building and the presence of the howler monkeys on the property. The subsequent tours we took reinforced it.

I’ve already discussed our visit to the cloud forest and the stewardship in force to protect its ecological balance. The magnificence of the natural world became even more apparent to us when we took a jungle river cruise in Palo Verde, one in which both the guide and the boat’s pilot served as spotters for the often carefully camouflaged wildlife abounding along the shore. Away from any human habitation, we got a real sense of life in the larger, natural world, encountering many crocodiles, capuchin monkeys, water birds, iguanas, fruit bats, etc. While it may sound trite and clichéd, we were able to perceive both the beauty and the terror that nature holds, with a balance that only the natural world can offer. Armed only with our eyes (and of course, our cameras!), we had the opportunity to experience things that were unmediated by interpretation, nuance, narration, etc. In other words, we were immediate participants in this world, not simply vicarious bystanders seeing it through someone else’s lens. In a world where electronics has all too often made us remote participants in the world, this was a real accomplishment, and it was to have long-lasting effects, as I will discuss later on.

I will write about our third tour, to a fair-trade organic coffee co-operative, which took place on the same day as the river cruise (it was a very long day!) in my next post. In many ways, it was the one I found most inspiring.

Costa Rica - A Land of Contradictions - Part 2

In my last entry on Costa Rica, I gave it the title “Land of Contradictions,” the reason for which will become apparent over the next few posts. Today I would like to focus on the positive learning opportunities our January trip afforded us, both through the tours taken and the resort we stayed at.

The first thing we noticed at our resort, Sol Papagayo, was the harmony existing between the reception building, which also housed the restaurant, and the surrounding environment. Open on three sides, the architecture blurred the distinction between the inside and the outside, allowing the sounds of nature and the tropical breezes, and yes, the occasional gecko and even bat, ready access. That co-operation with nature, and the fact that we were just feet from the beach and inlet, seemed to set a tone for our visit, one present in all three of our tours.

Additionally, we were captivated by the howler monkeys that made the trees near the pool their home. There is something particularly enthralling for me to watch primate behaviour, and they provided hours of fascinating observation and photographic opportunities. Significantly, they were not regarded as pests, but rather as simply part of the natural environment and landscape. Here are a couple of the pictures that I took:





Our first tour, to a cloud forest, was a tame one as we opted for a canopy experience (a series of bridges above the trees) as opposed to a zip line adventure. Choosing this route allowed us to appreciate the myriad flora that our guide pointed out,and the fact that there were only four on the tour meant we got pretty individualized attention from him as he pointed out that going through such a cloud forest requires a guide so that people will not damage the plants and trails. As well, he informed us that Costa Rica has set aside 25% of its land for conservation, a move designed to slow down the deforestation that has taken place over the decades for coffee plantations, etc. What especially impressed us was the seeming reverence of our guide for his environment, something that I think we all need a little more of. The only disappointment of the tour, and indeed, of the entire January visit, was the absence of exotic birds. Apparently early morning is the best time to spot them.





Our visit to the cloud forest was followed a couple of days later by the river cruise and the coffee co-operative tour, which I will write about in my next post.

Costa Rica - A Land of Contradictions - Part 1

I have not written anything here for some time, partly because I’ve been busy with other things, including a basement renovation and some travel, but also because I really haven’t felt that I’ve had a great deal to say about things lately that are worth publishing on the blog. In my recent reading of other blogs, I’ve come to realize that some are totally self-indulgent and self-referential, with seemingly very little of value or interest to a readership beyond family and friends. My intention from the outset has been to avoid such mistakes, but who knows whether or not I have succeeded?

What I would like to write about in the next few posts are what my wife and I learned on our two trips to Costa Rica this year, one in January and one in March, our first visits to the country. I had long been interested in the Central American country, having read about its record of environmental stewardship, the diversity of its geography, and the fact that many Canadians and Americans have chosen to retire there. Another compelling reason for my interest is the fact that since I retired, I have developed an even greater aversion to the cold of winter than I had when I was working, resenting the fact that the elements often confine us indoors for lengthy stretches.

During our time there in January, we stayed at a 3-star all inclusive resort (this would be our first time at a resort) in Guanacaste Province, known for its heat and low humidity, and while there, we took three tours, one of a fair-trade organic coffee co-operative, another of a cloud forest, and the third a jungle river cruise. We also took a trip to Liberia, a city about a 20-minute drive from where we were staying. Each excursion, in its own way, confirmed for us the special qualities that make Costa Rica stand out as a country in Central America to visit, and a place where North Americans can learn new perspectives on how to live. That will be the topic of my next post, but for now I am including a few pictures that represent a few of the things we saw.

Leisureville – Andrew D. Blechman

Macbeth: Act 3, Scene 2:

… Duncan is in his grave;
23 After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
24 Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
25 Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
26 Can touch him further.

These words, uttered by Macbeth to his wife as he describes the hell that his life has become since his murder of Duncan, occurred to me as I read Andrew Blechman’s searing examination of age-segregated communities burgeoning in popularity in the United States. Is there anyone amongst us who has not pined, as Macbeth does in the above quote, for an existence free of the anxiety, disturbance and suffering that are inevitable components of life? Macbeth realizes the only way to realize such a utopian peace is through death; an increasing numbers of seniors, however, see it as achievable by removing themselves to retirement or age-segregated gated communities, virtually severing the once almost indissoluble ties of community and family in the process. Such is the promise of Leisureville, the wry title the author uses to describe his perception of life in such an environment. After reading the book, many readers may conclude that such communities are another form of what Macbeth longed for in his colloquy with his wife.

While always treating his subject with respect, after living for a month in such a community at the invitation of former neighbours who moved to “The Villages,” the foremost age-segregated community in central Florida, the author draws a portrait of a life that, from most people’s perspective, can only be described as vapid and meaningless. Although days upon endless days filled with swimming, golfing and drinking in a sheltered environment may seem alluring to many, one inevitably has to ask if this is any way for a responsible person to spend the rest of his or her life. Considering that many of the retirees have perhaps 30 or more years of life remaining, the answer has to be no.

Blechman makes a pretty strong case for community engagement and involvement throughout one’s life, not just up to retirement, arguing that inter-generational co-existence is what gives true meaning and vitality to communities. While acknowledging that North American society as a whole doesn’t do a particularly good job of either encouraging or looking after its retired people, he clearly doesn’t see secession as the answer.

In addition to the societal implications of seniors’ self-removal from the larger world, Blechman also examines the environmental and political implications of such movements. For example, owing to their mild climates, two of the most popular states for age-restricted communities are Florida and Arizona. At least up to the present, there have been very few restrictions placed on development, despite the fact that water is becoming increasing scarce in both states, with droughts occurring with disturbing regularity. The author discusses sinkholes happening in The Villages due to depletion of aquifers; as well, he makes regular reference to the bulldozing and flattening of land as The Villages continues its relentless development. Another consequence of this kind of lifestyle is the domination of very conservative politics, led by the developers who, with their vast resources, contribute significant sums to both the Republican Party and local politicos that welcome unrestricted development while at the same time largely ignoring and denigrating the needs of the larger community.

All of us need and deserve regular hiatuses from the hurly-burly of life. In my view, Andrew Blechman makes a compelling argument through Leisureville that none of us deserves a life-long commutation from it.

A Fistful of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan

As I have mentioned in the past, I do some volunteer editing work with kiva.org, an Internet-based microfinance entity that raises loans for entrepreneurs in the developing world.

A video explaining how Kiva works was recently produced by Kieran Ball, a Kiva Fellow, and can be found by clicking here. I hope you will get the opportunity to view it.

Alex and Me

Anyone who has ever owned and had a close relationship with a pet other than perhaps a turtle or a hamster will likely attest to the belief, much resisted by the majority of the scientific community, that animals do in fact have some capacity for thought. That has certainly been true of our last two pets, now deceased, a Newfoundland dog and a tabby cat. I remember when I would take Fred, our Newf, on long walks which would frequently see me running into people I knew and stopping for a chat. Fred, always the gentleman, would sit nicely beside me for about five minutes, but after the elapsed time, would invariably take his paw and nudge me on the thigh, saying, in effect, “Time to get a move on.” Similarly, our cat would stay out of our bedroom until he heard me getting up, at which point he would enter the room and meow at me to feed him. Despite the fact that I would react with pavlovian haste to his request, it was somehow never fast enough for him, and he would inevitably chastise me with a series of very acerbic meows as I made my way to the cupboard to get his food, as if swearing at me for not being fast enough.

No doubt, many will dismiss these two anecdotes as manifestations of nothing more than operant conditioning, but on an intuitive level I know they were much more. Which brings me to the subject of this post, a fascinating book by Irene Pepperberg called Alex and Me, the story of her 30-year relationship with an African Grey parrot named Alex. Although possessing a doctorate in chemistry, Pepperberg turned her lifelong fascination with birds into a career discovering the capacity for thought and true communication between parrot and human.

Hers is the story both of the struggle to get sufficient funding to pursue her studies and the very close, loving relationship that developed over three decades with Alex, her subject and, in a very real sense, collaborator. The book is not meant to be a scientific explication of her methodology, although she provides sufficient information about her training techniques and her results to leave the reader with the belief that what she uncovered was not some unusual capacity for mimicry on the part of an unusually bright parrot, but rather significant indications that Alex was not only able to speak with meaning and purpose but also grasp abstract concepts such as numbers, differences and similarities between things, and language as a tool for influencing and manipulating others, all qualities that have been traditionally viewed as the exclusive domain of homo sapiens.

Rather than my recounting some of Alex’s specific achievements here, I am providing a link to a segment done with Alan Alda on Scientific American Frontiers: PBS - Scientific American Frontiers:Pet Tech:Watch Online

The reader can’t help but be amused and touched by the experiences that both parrot and human shared over the many years, and perhaps a little humbled in seeing that human beings are perhaps not quite as distinct a species as we have always believed.

I Support Our Troops

While I rarely make overtly political comments in this blog, I have to say that as a Canadian, one of the phrases that irks me to no end is, “I support our troops,” whether uttered by the individual or found on the bumper sticker of the still-ubiquitous SUV. The irony of that statement, as it pertains to democracy, is profound.

What does it mean to express support for the troops? In practice, it invariably means, and demands, an unquestioning acceptance of their presence, their mission, and, sadly, their deaths in Afghanistan. To support the troops by advocating an end to their Afghani operation has been seen as tantamount to some kind of betrayal of them. Certainly this is much evident in the way the Harper Government has used the phrase to stifle discussion about the mission, a warning to those who oppose it to keep their mouths shut at the risk of being labeled unpatriotic.

A couple of years ago, before the Liberal Opposition cravenly acquiesced in yet another extension of the Canadian operation to 2011, (on the specious grounds that they didn’t want to divide the nation), the ever-political, ever-manipulative and ever-morally- blunted Prime Minister Harper labeled those politicians who dared question the validity of our troops being in Afghanistan as ‘Taliban sympathizers,’ working a Macarthesque rhetoric into his usual practice of division and demoralization. Sadly, very little spirited defense was mounted for freedom of thought, opinion, and expression, foundational freedoms that are the putative reasons for trying to “bring democracy’ to the Afghanis. Somehow, the Harper concept of democracy applies only to those views in accord with his own.

And yet perhaps Harper is only a sad symptom of our own weaknesses as human beings. While we rarely consciously acknowledge the hypocrisy, our notions of informed and spirited discourse frequently seem to fall far short of anything approaching a meaningful exchange of ideas. One can’t help but feel that perhaps civilized and respectful discussion is only an ideal, never to be truly realized.

But then, of course, there is the possibility of a renewal of public discussion in the United States with the election of Barack Obama. One of the most encouraging signs emerging south of the border is the fact that unlike Prime Minister Harper, who has surrounded himself with sycophants and policy clones, Mr. Obama seems intent on having a diversity of views in his Cabinet, suggesting he wants the best policy options emerging from the cauldron of heated discussions that inevitably ensue when you place people of diverse perspectives together. Kind of like the classroom I remember so well when things were really working and the kids were really thinking.

Will this mark a turning point in what has become a sad parody of political process as evidenced under the disaster of the Bush presidency? If so, will it have any impact on the poisoned Canadian political process? Perhaps we will begin to get the answer to those questions in 2009.

Happy New Year.