march 2005
Days 10-16: Portrero and Playa Flamingo
Posted by Erik Frey Sun, 27 Mar 2005 04:46:00 GMT
This period of travel is characterized in my head as the first tentative steps off the beaten path. I took a week of Spanish classes, hiked out to a number of remote towns and beaches, and met many more interesting people.
Read More...PROFILES
Posted by Erik Frey Fri, 25 Mar 2005 07:08:00 GMT
During my first few days here I thought I had identified some general categories among the people I had met. While at first the categories held, I found characters of such vast variety that I quickly realized there were more exceptions than rule. Nonetheless, here are a few roles that seem to have some consistency:
Read More...Days 4-9: La Fortuna & Monteverde
Posted by Erik Frey Sun, 20 Mar 2005 08:22:00 GMT
Outside, the sun is setting across the bay, over the pacific ocean, behind the small town of Flamingo. This is my fourth day on the coast, in an area of Costa Rica called the Peninsula Nicoya. It’s known for the slew of beautiful beaches that dot the coast, each one complete with sleepy town and local bar for the necessary Imperial (or two).
I’m staying in an extra room of the small home of Benito and Liseth Peralta, in the town of Portrero. Cows crisscross the dirt roads here, occasionally walking through the front gate to munch on garden hedges. When Benito sees them, he yells and throws rocks to keep them off his property. In the evenings, Liseth cooks fantastic dinners and always serves me a mountain of food; I can never finish everything. The two are very friendly, and they put up with my awful attempts to speak Spanish with them.
In the morning I wake up early and take the bus to Playa Flamingo. There, I take Spanish classes at Central Panamerica De Idiomas till noon. In the afternoons I find something to do. There are salsa and merengue lessons, cruises to local reefs for snorkeling and watching the sunset, buses to nearby beaches; it’s hard to go wrong.
Read More...DAYS 0 - 3: San Jose & La Fortuna
Posted by Erik Frey Thu, 17 Mar 2005 03:06:00 GMT
The beginning.
Read More...IN WHICH THE HERO EXPOSES MOTIVE
Posted by Erik Frey Thu, 10 Mar 2005 05:23:00 GMT
It was a few years ago that I first became fascinated by anything that had the property of being epic. I found heroes everywhere in classic literature, in popular culture, even among my workmates; there was a narrative playing out that involved exploring undersea rifts in the Pacific, or perhaps simply swashbuckling one’s way through an onslaught of IT paperwork. Whatever the task, it was something that seemed worthwhile, that produced a strong, satisfying narrative, and I placed great value in that. Applied to myself, the voice in my head became the narrative, and in the vacuum of perception, I was the protagonist in my own story. It was a kind of realization.
Read More...DAY -9: Miami
Posted by Erik Frey Mon, 07 Mar 2005 15:03:00 GMT
While I was looking for boots at a local outdoor store, a short, wife-beater-clad fellow sidled up and offered me $100 in gift cards in exchange for 80 bucks cash. I asked him why he wanted to get rid of the gift cards and he explained that he’d won them in a raffle, but didn’t like the outdoors much. Predictably, I asked him why he didn’t like the outdoors. He smiled, revealing a hearty row of gold, and said, “I guess I’m just so busy, you know, not that much time…” which seemed vague, but hey, I’ve gotten worse responses in the realm of asking complete strangers probing personal questions. I thought it over for a moment,
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