Costa Rica

I'm thinking about Rigo and the kayak trip. Remembering his answer when I asked him if he was vegetarian was "I don't kill". I noticed how he admired the sloths and howler monkeys for their gentleness and nonviolence. They maintain an element of the innocence we lose when we leave childhood which is difficult and admirable. The nonviolent seeming slightly more evolved. We saw Emerald Basilisks, turtles, white face monkeys, sloths, howler monkeys, toucans, fly catchers and other birds also.

Tito, our surf instructor, carried his joy with him as well always smiling. Just pure joy. He brought his friend, Walter, with him. Walter had a tough edge, but lit up when he talked about surfing. They surf everyday. Walter works for his dad in Cahuita in the evening at their restaurant called El Fey (The Fate). He has a daughter. He says she will be a surfer too. He is very proud of her and has sole custody.

I worry about them and hope they will all be okay in their lives. Rigo will be going to Italy soon to be a river guide there for a few months. He is happy to finally get to travel since he meets so many foreigners. He is soft spoken and very intelligent. They all have a philosophical aspect to themselves which isn't surprising having grown up in such wild-ness. They all seem to know one another also: who to talk to as well as who to stay away from. The tourism is causing a little imbalance. The hustlers are out and about. Industries like parrot sales and other nonsense will be an inevitability. I thought of how I despise the sale of life when I saw a flock of parrots goofing around and finally flying off noisily when I was walking in the beach in the morning. I remembered how badly I wanted to take my little friend Monty back to the Solomon Islands and how I felt so bad for him all that he'd missed out on being in captivity.

Maybe it sounds overly sensitive, but that's how I felt. These things frustrate me.

There's no way to sum up everything; in sure I will be writing and dreaming about all these experiences for a while. Deja vu. There was a lot of it. There is a lot to roll around in when I think about the last week. Strange how something so seemingly inconsequential can tap into something so deeply forgotten. To be continued. #lowtech #nomotors #naturelover #puravida