365 Reasons I Love Costa Rica
Archive for May, 2010
Reason #324: One Life, One Love, One Chance
Heard an interesting conversation this morning and it made me think…no it helped me to focus more on the important and less on the trivial. It went something like this… Is it getting better? Or do you feel the same? Will it make it easier on you now? You got someone to blame. So you say [...]
Reason #323: The Fabric of Life
One of my favorite all-time movies is To Kill a Mockingbird, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee of the same name. The movie impacted me to the extent of profoundly affecting my values and world-view. I was particularly fond of the character played by Gregory Peck, the country lawyer known as [...]
Reason #322: Blasting BP…Now Ain’t That Slick
The handful that stumble onto this blog on more than one occasion are probably thinking to themselves, “damn, Costa Rica Guy, getting awfully political lately, aren’t we?” Well, truth is, politics does have a pretty large impact on the world we have to live in and that to me makes it a topic worth writing [...]
Reason #321: Paradigm Shopping
It is so easy to get stuck in a particular line or “train” of thought. I often see that happening to me, even though in the moment that is the problem…i.e., an inability to “see” any other viewpoint except the one I am holding fast to. In those instances, I believe it is a great [...]
Reason #320: The Pathology of Empathy
I have been observing with concerned curiosity, or what one might call “empathy,” the plight of a young lady from Colombia who is desperately trying to bring her two young children into the country. They have been denied visas by the consulate of Costa Rica, an all to common occurrence of Colombians seeking a better [...]
Reason #319: Ilusionado
Lily used a word this morning that caused me to step back and ponder…the word was “ilusionado.” Spanish and English do share quite a few words that are strikingly similar, but this is not one of them. The word means hopeful, excited or eager. However, it sounds an awful lot like illusion in the English [...]
Reason #318: Gravity Sucks
Why is gravity? What it is can easily be understood through science, but not why? Why does all of creation have to be under the glaring rule of this harsh taskmaster? Maybe it is because gravity is the impetus that ignites the cycle of life. We grow up, but then at a certain point we [...]
Reason #317: Reconciliation
Why is “making up” so hard to do, but then when it happens, it really is fun. Somewhat of a paradox, wouldn’t you agree? Being one to often air his laundry in this blog, I will confess that Lily and I have been a bit on the “outs” during the prior week. However, yesterday one [...]
Reason #316: Goma Mala
In Costa Rica, the “hangover” is generally referred to using the word “goma,” as in “estoy de goma mala” (I have a bad hangover). Hangovers are called different things throughout Latin America. In Colombia, the hangover is “guayabo.” In Mexico it is “crudo.” It is kind of weird, since the literal translation for “goma” is [...]
Reason #315: The Rhodium Rule
We have all heard of the “golden rule.” You know, the one that says “do unto others as you would have done unto you.” But there is a metal far more precious that gold and maybe there should be a rule to go along with it as well. I will call it the “rhodium rule.” [...]
