365 Reasons I Love Costa Rica
Archive for September, 2010
Seeking Influential Indians
“Too many chiefs and not enough indians,” is a complaint you often hear with respect to organizational malaise. But in reality, I guess every tribe needs a chief and since I started this one, I guess I’m it, at least for now. But what’s a chief, what’s a tribe, without indians? So I am on the warpath [...]
Lessons from Woodstock
Saw the movie Taking Woodstock last night. It was great! No, I wasn’t at the concert. I was nine years old. There seems to be some great meaning in this 72 hour focal point of hippie history, indeed, U.S. history. After the movie I was eating in the food court at the mall and I [...]
Intolerable Intolerance
I came across a news story today about some pastor of a church in Gainesville, Florida who is vowing to hold a Koran burning on September 11th. I was thankful to hear that many in political and influential realms roundly condemn any such act. I was less thankful that the sole reason put forth by [...]
What’s Wrong With Capitalism?
A watched the newest Michael Moore movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, recently. I have never been a big fan or follower of Moore’s movies. In fact, this is the first one I have ever seen. But the topic is one that I am interested in, so I decided to give it a try. It was [...]
Ticos React to New Immigration Law
Group of Ticos Living in Arizona I read an article in the Sunday issue of La Nación about the way ticos living in Arizona, as well as other U.S. states, are perceiving the new immigration law. The perception is that this law has unleashed a backlash of anger and hatred towards Latin American people in [...]
Anger Management 101
How much time do you spend being angry? I know if I let that question loose on myself, I would have to answer honestly, too damn much (see even the question makes me angry). I was perusing a blog (I won’t mention the name) today that has some really useful information about Costa Rica, presented [...]
Apathy Kills
Visited the ACTUAR office today. Actuar is a Spanish verb meaning “to act.” But in this case, it is also the name of the Costa Rican Association of Rural Community Tourism. What is “rural community tourism.” Well, according to their guidebook, it is tourism that provides a chance to really immerse oneself in local culture and [...]
Talk is Cheap
Talk is cheap, which is what makes it such a good place to start. These days, with forums like Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo and others, talk is dirt cheap. But talking leads to thinking, thinking leads to talking, and all that thinking and talking can lead to doing. And doing can lead to a real difference. That is [...]
What is a Volunteer Vacation?
I have had the notion from time to time of offering a traditional Costa Rica vacation package with a twist. And that twist would be allocating some portion of time to volunteering. The volunteer part would not just be about sloshing out ladles of soup in some downtown San Jose soup kitchen. No, it would [...]
Thoughts on Iraq
Caught a few glimpses of Obama’s speech marking the end of combat operations in Iraq, what most liberal democrats call Bush’s war. Of course, Obama is not, nor ever was, fond of this war. His speech last night alluded to that fact numerous times. This morning, the Fox News pundits were on the attack, picking [...]
