"The happiest moments my heart knows are those in which it is pouring forth its affections to a few esteemed characters." - Thomas Jefferson
Today we went to the beach Aldo, mar, and Coco. They picked us up in their old Volkswagon van equipped with pipas (coconuts) still on the vine, and a machete with which to open them. To enjoy pipas you slice a bit off the top, insert a straw, and sip away. Refreshing, a little bit sweet, and packed so full of vitamins you could survive on them if lost in the jungle (hopefully with a machete-makes things much easier). When you have finished the juice, you slice them in two and use the straw to pick away at the meat or you can cut a piece of the shell to use as a spoon if the straw is too finicky for you (it is for me, I get too bored).
Mar and Aldo prefer Playa Grande, on the other side of Punta Uva, because it is less populated and breezier. We didn't feel so comfortable there-the waves are higher and it is deeper closer to the shore. Our kids are not really strong swimmers yet. So Mar and Aldo graciously settled for Punta Uva.
Aldo went out with body boards with Andrea (Coco) and Gabriel for a bit. He is well known in these parts as a surfer. He also knows everyone, it seems. He and Michael had a grreat time fellowshipping (Aldo is a super story-teller) while mar sent me with Andrea to rent a kayak. She asked if I would go with her so she could enjoy the sea.
So, with Gabriel and I in tow, this very capable and precocious ten-year-old went to transact the business of negotiating a rental. I learned to ask for the "local" price-almost half what they'd charge for a tourist....now you know...I will try in the future and hope a lack of Spanish isn't a deterrent...For $15.00 we had a kayak for three hours. Lots of fun.
Not trusting the waves on the ocean, we opted for the river, so, as with every other mode of transport in our Caribbean home, we piled three into a one-person kayak. Worked fine-good thing we were all wearing life jackets though-sat a little low in the water.
Of course, the fact that Coco and Gabriel thought it was fun to jump off didn't help matters...eeeewww, silty, dirty river mud. There had been a sighting of a crocodile in the river the day before.
The fellow said it was a "small one" and we would be safe... We had a lovely, lovely time paddling down the river-absolutely beautiful!
Later, the kids got out and swung from the Tarzan rope into the river. Twice the rope went flying up into a tree and two older boys climbed up to get it down again. This is a really high tree that looks more and more unstable the higher you go and the branches reach out into the river.
We have gotten more used to seeing children here riding sometimes three on bicycles too large for them, no helmets, no adult supervision, babies perched on a lap with a mom and a dad on a motorcycle, or hanging out the window of a vehicle, zooming by; little children climbing high, high trees, getting themselves where their going to play in the rivers and the sea, or on the one road that leads through the jungle, not quite wide enough for two cars to pass comfortably, especially when cyclists and pedestrians inhabit it as well... The contrast between our safety conscious society back home, where the biggest struggle is to convince your kid of the importance of wearing a helmet (or your husband to put on his seat belt...), and the "make do and enjoy life" outlook here is so huge! When riding in a vehicle, you are hard pressed to find a working seat belt-except in vehicles that travel on the main highway between Puerto Viejo and San Jose-if you're going to Hone Creek or Limon, the driver will request you wear a seat belt-not because you drive faster, but because the highway policia are patrolling...
Yet contrasting this lack of safety-consciousness so ingrained in us (we don't realise how much until we experience it differently) is a deeply felt sense of freedom, adventure, and self-sufficiency that reminds us of our own childhoods...playing for hours out of sight of adults, riding our bicycles wherever we went, exploring and being outdoors, using our imaginations and discovering our skills. Something maybe kids don't have so much of now with our ever expanding perception of danger for them.
Being mindful of this has given us a gentle reminder to trust our children's innate "self-ability" and their need to have freedom within limits...In it, we also see a parallel to our adult lives and this journey we are on to experience and live to the fullest. We have and are intentionally challenged our perceptions of "safety"...to us it looks like not risking "financial security", always close proximity to loved ones, huge (and misplaced) sense of responsibility to "everybody", caring about what "others' think" (me, Michael's more enlightened there), and of course, all the "what if's", among many others, I'm sure, we have yet to uncover in ourselves.
It is so wonderful to spend time with Aldo and Mar just soaking this same perspective of taking everything in stride and celebrating it as it comes with faith, and joy, and gratitude. So much, we are taught by these two very beautiful people who live and love simply and freely...
Later, we went to Miraflores for a bite to eat and a visit with Pamela; a warm and loving woman who is a wealth of fascinating stories and life experience! She talked of being a young girl in New York and moving to Panama when her dad was stationed there with Citibank. As a teen, she went to boarding school, making the passage by herself and travelling widely during those years. She came to Costa Rica due to political unrest in Panama, and settled to raise her kids here. Pamela applied for a grant from the United States government to research flowering plant-life in the jungle. She has discovered rhizomes she is too humble to have named after herself. She gives Spanish classes, Caribbean cooking classes, has conducted workshops in PET and Transactional Analysis, among others, and was a Montessori teacher. We are so privileged to have her share each fascinating layer of herself. She is getting tired of "doing it all" and would like to sell the business part of it so she can be free to do the things she wants to do... We just feel so contented at her place. She says she learned as a Montessori teacher if you structure the environment to be warm and welcoming, people will feel good there. We certainly do!
Life is very GOOD!
Mar and Aldo prefer Playa Grande, on the other side of Punta Uva, because it is less populated and breezier. We didn't feel so comfortable there-the waves are higher and it is deeper closer to the shore. Our kids are not really strong swimmers yet. So Mar and Aldo graciously settled for Punta Uva.
Aldo went out with body boards with Andrea (Coco) and Gabriel for a bit. He is well known in these parts as a surfer. He also knows everyone, it seems. He and Michael had a grreat time fellowshipping (Aldo is a super story-teller) while mar sent me with Andrea to rent a kayak. She asked if I would go with her so she could enjoy the sea.
So, with Gabriel and I in tow, this very capable and precocious ten-year-old went to transact the business of negotiating a rental. I learned to ask for the "local" price-almost half what they'd charge for a tourist....now you know...I will try in the future and hope a lack of Spanish isn't a deterrent...For $15.00 we had a kayak for three hours. Lots of fun.
Not trusting the waves on the ocean, we opted for the river, so, as with every other mode of transport in our Caribbean home, we piled three into a one-person kayak. Worked fine-good thing we were all wearing life jackets though-sat a little low in the water.Of course, the fact that Coco and Gabriel thought it was fun to jump off didn't help matters...eeeewww, silty, dirty river mud. There had been a sighting of a crocodile in the river the day before.
The fellow said it was a "small one" and we would be safe... We had a lovely, lovely time paddling down the river-absolutely beautiful!
Later, the kids got out and swung from the Tarzan rope into the river. Twice the rope went flying up into a tree and two older boys climbed up to get it down again. This is a really high tree that looks more and more unstable the higher you go and the branches reach out into the river.
We have gotten more used to seeing children here riding sometimes three on bicycles too large for them, no helmets, no adult supervision, babies perched on a lap with a mom and a dad on a motorcycle, or hanging out the window of a vehicle, zooming by; little children climbing high, high trees, getting themselves where their going to play in the rivers and the sea, or on the one road that leads through the jungle, not quite wide enough for two cars to pass comfortably, especially when cyclists and pedestrians inhabit it as well... The contrast between our safety conscious society back home, where the biggest struggle is to convince your kid of the importance of wearing a helmet (or your husband to put on his seat belt...), and the "make do and enjoy life" outlook here is so huge! When riding in a vehicle, you are hard pressed to find a working seat belt-except in vehicles that travel on the main highway between Puerto Viejo and San Jose-if you're going to Hone Creek or Limon, the driver will request you wear a seat belt-not because you drive faster, but because the highway policia are patrolling...
Yet contrasting this lack of safety-consciousness so ingrained in us (we don't realise how much until we experience it differently) is a deeply felt sense of freedom, adventure, and self-sufficiency that reminds us of our own childhoods...playing for hours out of sight of adults, riding our bicycles wherever we went, exploring and being outdoors, using our imaginations and discovering our skills. Something maybe kids don't have so much of now with our ever expanding perception of danger for them.
It is so wonderful to spend time with Aldo and Mar just soaking this same perspective of taking everything in stride and celebrating it as it comes with faith, and joy, and gratitude. So much, we are taught by these two very beautiful people who live and love simply and freely...
Later, we went to Miraflores for a bite to eat and a visit with Pamela; a warm and loving woman who is a wealth of fascinating stories and life experience! She talked of being a young girl in New York and moving to Panama when her dad was stationed there with Citibank. As a teen, she went to boarding school, making the passage by herself and travelling widely during those years. She came to Costa Rica due to political unrest in Panama, and settled to raise her kids here. Pamela applied for a grant from the United States government to research flowering plant-life in the jungle. She has discovered rhizomes she is too humble to have named after herself. She gives Spanish classes, Caribbean cooking classes, has conducted workshops in PET and Transactional Analysis, among others, and was a Montessori teacher. We are so privileged to have her share each fascinating layer of herself. She is getting tired of "doing it all" and would like to sell the business part of it so she can be free to do the things she wants to do... We just feel so contented at her place. She says she learned as a Montessori teacher if you structure the environment to be warm and welcoming, people will feel good there. We certainly do!
Life is very GOOD!
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