There is something amazingly liberating, at least to me, about taking to the highway. I have always enjoyed just going.  The “where” never really mattered that much.  That is, until I ended up “there” and then began the process of wondering why I ever made the journey.  Why?  Because the “joy” is in the journey.  One of my all-time favorite books is the Jack Kerouac “beatnik” classic, On the Road.  It is about nothing much except just just going and all the strange and wonderful events that transpire on the journey. I remember in the book Kerouac describes the frequent day-dream of holding an impossibly long “scythe” out the window of the car and mowing down the countryside as he whizzed down the highway.  The amazing thing about that is that as a kid I would always have the same daydream as I peered out the window at the passing scenes on a long journey.  Amazing how human minds are so interconnected as to capable of having the same strange thought, isn’t it?  For two completely unrelated people to have the same bizarre thought or dream seems to reinforce the whole notion that ”thoughts are things.”  It is as if there is some great metaphysical reservoir, or primordial soup-bowl, of thoughts and dreams available for each of us to draw from, and some times two people may actually end up with the same thought, or even the same dream.  Pretty cool, huh, or as Kerouac might have said, groovy man!  And, no, I am not smoking anything this morning (yet), thank you.  Well today is an exciting day because I once again get to take to the highways.  And there is no place more exciting and adventurous to do so than Costa Rica.  Today the destination is “la frontera” or our northern border with Nicaragua.  It is not a pleasure trip so to speak, because I am currently “illegal” and have to go there to renew my passport and be “legal” again.  Beyond the border, I will probably end up in San Juan del Sur or Granada sipping Flor de Caña (Nicaragua’s excellent rum) and talking with the locals of the most recent exploits of Daniel Ortega.  I love traveling like this because it always provides the time for some deep reflection.  I seem to do my greatest thinking either in the toilet, or on the road (sorry for that mental picture).  And I never travel the “conventional” way.  You know the main highway.  No for me it is always those delightful and pot-hole ridden back-roads.  Those are the places where real discoveries can be made.  And it never hurts to stop at a few local watering holes (with Pablo doing the driving, of course).  What is the “unconventional” route that we will take today?  Well we will travel the Pan-American for a short distance from San Jose to San Ramon. Then the real fun begins.  We will exit the highway and drive north towards the Arenal Volcano. We will pass the gorgeous primary cloud forest of San Lorenzo in route.  Once we arrive at the volcano we will continue on a northerly course to Upala.  Upala is actually very close to the border, but there is no “official” crossing there.  However, once I crossed the border near Upala with my friend Yuri. We rode about four hours through the jungle to Lake Nicaragua, me riding on the back of a “buey,” or ox, and Yuri on a donkey.  And that is the god’s honest truth.  This time we will cross in a more orderly and legal fashion at Peñas Blancas.  We will take a dirt road from Upala over to La Cruz and along the way pass by the Rincón de la Vieja volcano and many other beautiful sights on this peaceful, but very bumpy, back road.  The journey will take about five hours, but maybe for us longer due to frequent “refreshment” stops along the way.  I am so excited just thinking about it that I must stop writing and start packing.  One of the real joys of living in Costa Rica is being on the road, again.  Hasta luego!

These days there ain’t a whole lot to get “fired-up” about. In the words of Hank Williams, Jr., “the interest is up and the stock market’s down and you only get mugged if you go downtown.” It really makes one feel “boxed in.” Sure, I still have many reasons to “count my blessings,” but even that exercise doesn’t seem to do the trick these days. So what’s the answer in times like these? Any one out there got any suggestions? Well, since I am the “genius” writing this post, I guess I’d better come up with a few myself. Of course there is the whole “live for something larger than yourself” idea that I have espoused countless times in this blog, so I will spare you more of that, today.  Although, it is true and does work. But sometimes you just don’t feel like it, and for me now is one of those times. So I guess the thing to “hone in” on is the idea of “process.” It seems that we are always trying to “arrive” at some elusive destination, like Santiago, the poor shepherd boy in The Alchemist.  It is just that life throws up so many obstacles that sometimes that destination seems only a distant dream. So maybe we should change the focal point from the destination to the process?  Huh?  Well, what I mean is rather than focusing so intently on where we want to be (and where we are not at the moment), maybe instead the focus should be on the process of getting there, “the precious present” as Spencer Johnson, M.D. wrote in his insightful short story.  Because it is only when you can learn to enjoy the process that life begins to become enjoyable.  That is, if every moment of “getting there” is a struggle and an uphill climb for you, then once you finally arrive (if you ever do) you will have wasted all that time you spent getting there being miserable…and that can be a lifetime!  The prize at the end then doesn’t seem all that rewarding, or worse you might discover it is not even what you really want.  Maybe that is why many who arrive at great fame and fortune end up in disaster (names like Presley, Belushi, Joplin, Hendrix and many others come to mind).  Is it absolutely necessary to go through all that?  Well, certainly there are always “dues to be paid” in the achievement of any worthwhile endeavor, but that doesn’t mean that the road to achievement has to be one of constant stress and pain.  Right now that road for many (myself included) has taken a turn into territory that seems dark and foreboding and extremely difficult to navigate.  Even so, moment by moment I have the choice to find joy in the journey.  A great metaphor is the way my customers at Package Costa Rica sometimes get so focused on arriving at a particular destination, the beach for instance, that they completely miss all the pleasures along the way….the many beautiful experiences that could have made the trip more enjoyable (in short, they end up missing much of what they came to experience, Costa Rica).  And the same is true for any destination of life towards which you might be traveling right now.  This current economic crisis won’t last forever, they never do.  The world will not end.  Life will go on.  The whole cycle will repeat over and over again.  Those previous statements are ones you can count on.  I believe the mistake that we tend to make, and that I feel myself making these days, is to give in to the idea that life must be “put on hold” until the crisis ends.  That for a while we just kind of “hunker down” and stop growing and striving and enjoying our lives, as if taking that approach will somehow make weathering the crisis easier.  But it doesn’t.  It just wastes the valuable moments of the precious present.  Moments that can never be replaced.  So I guess my advice to myself, and to you, is that however “knocked down” you might feel right now, get up, dust yourself off, and get back into the fight.  But do it wearing a big smile and an awareness that life, every moment of it, is always worth living.  Hmmm, seems I found some inspiration this morning from an unlikely place, within me!  What source are you looking to?  Pura Vida!

I am a little confused about this whole mess concerning Roberto Dobles, who just stepped down as the head of MINAET, Costa Rica’s Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry.  He is also a second-cousin to Costa Rica’s President, Oscar Arias.  Okay according to reports in La Nación and The Tico Times, Dobles and his family are shareholders and/or officers of various corporations that own a corporation that owns a corporation that requested a concession to draw water from the Aranjuez River.  Well this corporation, called Agricultura Mecanizada Chapernal, S.A., withdrew its request and instead joined with other corporations, all of whom had an interest in diverting water from the river to various agricultural and sugar mill operations, to form a corporation called Sociedad de Usuarios de Agua Rio Aranjuez (which means Rio Aranjuez Water Users Corporation).  This corporation was granted the concession in 2003. Well recently it has been determined by MINAET that actions by these entites under this concession have caused irreversible damage to the river and biodiversity in the area.  The report used very strong language stating that “disastrous harm” and a “serious crime against an important ecosystem” had occurred.  Dobles may be in serious legal trouble as his actions may have run afoul of Costa Rica’s anti-corruption law, as well as an ethics decree signed by Arias when he took office.  So now Dobles has resigned, but claims he did nothing “illegal.”  Turns out that Oscar Arias himself may not be entirely clean in the matter either as he and his family also have ties to this web of corporations.  I guess a really good question to ask Dobles is, “if you did nothing wrong, why did you resign?”  It is deeply troubling that the Arias administration is implicated in these environmental problems.  I have in the past written favourably about Costa Rica’s president and former Nobel Peace Price winner.  Under his watch I have seen dramatic improvements in the country’s infrastructure, which had been allowed to deteriorate to intolerable levels under the previous Pacheco administration. Arias talks a pretty good environmental talk, but actions speak louder than words.  Problems such as the granting of “national convenience” decrees giving green lights to environmentally questionable projects like the Las Crucitas mine and Steve Case’s Punta Cacique development keep cropping up.  And now this far more serious and potentially criminal matter.  It is a “black eye” on the environmental record of this administration that probably won’t heal any time soon.  Costa Rica cannot afford this type of nepotism and political corruption, especially concerning the most precious resource it has.  Dobles should resign and if he ran afoul of any law with respect to this concession, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  And as for Arias, I can only hope that his decision to appoint his second-cousin to the important role as chief environmental watchdog doesn’t in the end turn and bite him on the $%#.

You know I used to be a faithful listener to Rush Limbaugh.  Some things he says make a lot of sense.  But this whole notion that “global warming” is just a “hoax” concocted by liberals to increase taxes and big government is beyond absurd.  Let’s look at it this way.  What if?  What if it is true?  I don’t believe there is any scientist who can tell you with 100% certainty that anthropogenic global warming is taking place and much less what the long-term consequences might be.  By the same token, those handful of remaining scientific skeptics can neither tell you with 100% certainty that it is not.  All they can do is offer alternative explanations for the empirical fact that the earth has gotten hotter.  Ice on the polar caps is melting.  Ocean levels are rising.  Catastrophic weather events have increased.  Let’s look at it this way.  Even if human activity is not affecting the weather it is certainly affecting the planet.  Air pollution has a negative effect.  Clear cutting of forests has a negative effect.  Empowering petro-dictators hell-bent on radical religious extremism has a negative effect.  Disappearing species is not a good thing.  I could go on and on.  So why is it such a bad idea to try to clean up our act a little bit?  Why is the notion of a “carbon tax” or a “cap and trade policy” so scary to a guy like Rush and his millions of followers?  Why, as I have asked often in this blog, does every idea have to be painted with some political color?  Any idea that involves cutting taxes for business gets painted blue and any idea that involves environmental conservation gets painted red.  Aren’t there any ideas that could possibly be painted with a neutral color, like green.  One that does not inspire political polarization and demonization.  Ideas that are good for the planet are good for all of us, whether conservative or liberal, left or right, socialist or capitalist.  Rush is quick to imbue any idea that would combat global warming with the diabolical leftist motivation of more taxes and big government.  Well, what is his motivation?  Is he “in the pocket” of the big oil companies, coal companies and other dirty fuel providers?  Listen, it is easy to stand back and attack and demonize every idea that carries with it some pain of responsibility.  A policy like “cap and trade” will impose pain on dirty fuel providers.  It will raise the price for consuming energy that is supplied by those dirty fuels.  But it can also inspire a whole new era of energy innovation that in the end could create more jobs, more wealth and at the same time help clean up our environment.  Isn’t that a good thing, Rush….global warming arguments aside?  And if, just if, this whole global warming thing turns out to really be true, clean energy policies could save our planet, and us along with it.  Or is it that U.S. style over-consumption and greed (capitalism run amuck), such as we are witnessing these days with the $1 to $4 million dollar bonuses being paid with taxpayer dollars to AIG financial “masterminds,” too important to even consider ideas like environmental conservation and energy innovation?  For a man with “talent on loan from god” I would think the answer shouldn’t be too difficult.

P.S.  To tie this post back into the reasons why I love Costa Rica is easy.  Costa Rica has vowed to be “carbon neutral” by 2021.  This is a good thing, secures Costa Rica’s position as a world leader in environmental sustainability and is another in this long list of reasons why I love Costa Rica!  Come on down for a visit Rush, and maybe you’ll be convinced that saving our planet is neither a conservative nor liberal idea, just a good one.

The great American “blame game” is in full force these days. Poor Obama. Do you think he really knew the mess he was getting himself into? Living in a country like Costa Rica it is a little hard to fathom executives being paid $1 to $4 million dollar bonuses. I mean the entire tourism industry that I make my living in is only a couple billion and here we have one U.S. company (AIG) receiving, how much is it, 180 billion in a government bailout? I have written previously in this blog that in my opinion the major problem the U.S. faces is that it has become a culture obsessed with consumption and greed. And, moreover, a culture that believes in its heart of hearts that it deserves the right to consume itself out of existence, which is exactly the threat it faces at this moment in history. Look at it this way, we may be endowed with inalienable rights, like the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but those rights cannot be viewed only in the individual, but must also be viewed in the collective. What does that mean? Well, it means that my rights don’t allow me to take away from the potential of you enjoying yours.  Those ”rights” also carry important “responsibilities.”  In the exercise of our rights we also must exercise the responsibility not to interfere with others’ enjoyment of their own, and, moreover, to the extent we are endowed with more “happiness” that we can reasonably hope to consume in a lifetime, rather than hording that happiness, we actually try to increase the “happiness pie” for everyone. Get it? But what is occurring as exemplified by this whole AIG mess is exactly the opposite, isn’t it? In the pursuit of these inalienable rights supported by U.S. free market capitalism, this company, AIG, helped create these “toxic assets” that have now collapsed and put the U.S. economy in a tail spin. Now the government has deemed this company “too big to fail” and therefore has provided taxpayer money to the tune of a sum many times larger than the entire economy of a country like Costa Rica to bail this company out. And now the masterminds that designed these “toxic assets” get to use that taxpayer money to reward themselves for failure to the tune of $1 to $4 million each! It is a little bit mind-boggling to even try to comprehend. So John Q. Taxpayer, who right now is struggling to even make the payments on the mortgage of his 3 bedroom home, has to watch his tax dollars go to support Wall Street “Gordon Gekko” types with million dollar bonuses that fund mansions and yachts in the Hamptons. Isn’t there something a bit askew about that picture? So now the Congress, who paved the way to make the bonuses available to begin with, is responding with “outrage” and threatening to tax the bonuses to the tune of around 90%. I tell you it is quite amusing to sit back and watch all this, but also quite threatening. The economy of Costa Rica is being dramatically affected by what is occurring, as are other economies of countries around the world much less prosperous than the U.S. This culture of greed is, in other words, bringing the whole world down with it. So that brings me back to my point, those inalienable rights that die-hard free market capitalists love to rant about must be viewed in the collective. They belong to every soul living in every corner of the world, not just those individuals fortunate enough to have a business degree from an Ivy League school and a job with AIG. I could live the rest of my life quite comfortably down here in Costa Rica with one of those million dollar “annual” bonuses. Are you kidding me? The whole thing is absurd. Wake up U.S. and get off your high horse of believing that you alone are the possessor of inalienable rights. The world is watching and getting pissed off! We all deserve the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and these greed-obsessed shenanigans that keep only a certain “privileged few” wealthy and powerful at the expense of the rest of us need to end, once and for all.

Have you ever seen the movie Amor en el Tiempo del Cólera (or Love in the Time of Cholera)?  It is based on the celebrated Gabriel García Márquez novel of the same name.  The movie is set in the late 1800’s in Colombia, specifically Cartagena, during a time of civil war and outbreak of cholera.  The movie chronicles the life of Florentino Ariza who falls in love at an early age with Fermina Daza.  However, Fermina rejects his love and marries another.  Florentino’s love for Fermina is so strong that he carries this “infirmity” for the next 50 plus years until they are finally united in old age.  Essentially, the story is an essay about love. Florentino’s love for Fermina is portrayed as a “sickness” as life threatening as the disease that is claiming thousands all around him.  Yet his love persists and even though it provokes a deep suffering in his life, it also seems to be what guides him and even ennobles him.  Florentino is no saint, but his unwavering love in the face of insurmountable obstacles seems to elevate him to that level.  And in the end his love proves triumphant.  Love is an emotion that is highly praised and often ridiculed. We are told by so many “experts” what it is supposed to look like and if ours doesn’t match the description, then it must not be love.  We are told that love doesn’t have negative consequences….that “love doesn’t hurt.”  However, there is a magical quality about love that seems to defy explanation or definition.  It is something that just happens, occasionally. There are many other human emotions that can be easily mistaken for it, like infatuation, sentiment, lust, greed, etc.  But those emotions are at best counterfeit and pale in comparison to the true emotional experience of love.  If you have ever experienced real love you know that it occurs when you completely lose your individual identity, when yours merges with another, and when that happens heaven or hell cannot tear that union apart.  Oh, of course in the physical realm there may be separation, but love transcends the physical and resides somewhere deep within the soul.  The Bible speaks of this “melding” of souls in Genesis 2:24 and on a lighter note, Jerry Maguire spoke of it in that immortal line, “you complete me.”  But is it possible to love someone who doesn’t return the emotion to you?  Well in the story it was certainly so, and in my experience I would say yes it is possible.  And there is no greater suffering imaginable that unrequited love.  There is some insanely romantic quality about Latin America that inspires love, and Costa Rica is no exception.  It is a “backdrop” that seems to beckon for that emotion like no other setting I know.  I admit that I have found love here and, like Florentino, I know from experience that love has a life of its own and can drive a man crazy or drive him to a greater level of consciousness.  An awareness that life is meant to bring to us this experience, however painful as it might sometimes be.  Once you have loved, truly loved, life never returns to being “normal” again.  Life, every aspect of it, takes on new meaning and purpose and vitality and a new romantic quality.  You become a “lover of life” in all its infinite manifestations.  You become a “romantic.”

The producers of the movie contracted with Shakira to create the soundtrack. Below are the words (in Spanish) to one of the songs that seems somehow to capture the essence of the emotion as only Shakira can.  Like most of her songs, when translated to English they tend to lose their romantic quality, so I will leave the understanding to you.  However, if you listen to the song (click below) you will agree that it needs no translation…

Cada día pienso en tí
pienso un poco mas en tí
despedazo mi razón
se destruye algo de mí.

Cada día pienso en tí
pienso un poco mas en tí.

Cada vez que sale el sol
busco en algo el valor
para continuar así
y te veo así y no te toque
rezo por ti cada noche
amanece y pienso en ti
y retumban en mis oídos
el tic-tac de los relojes
y sigo pensando en ti
y sigo pensando…

Click to hear the song

I have noticed through the years that there is a mysterious quality about suffering.  I am speaking of all types of suffering and not just physical, but also financial, emotional, etc.  There is probably no greater driver to human action than the threat of suffering and pain. The problem is that too often we allow it to drive us in a direction we don’t really want to go, as if we had no choice in the matter.  Many throughout the world are suffering right now.  They are suffering due to uncertainty about the future, which leads to a form of mental paralysis, which usually leads to, you guessed it, more suffering.  When we are uncertain of what the future has in store we tend to stagnate or, even worse, retreat.  The idea of moving forward scares the hell out of us.  That is the way I feel right now and I will presume that many others are feeling the same way.  But truthfully we can never really be sure of the future.  So why are things so different now?  Because even though we are uncertain of the future, we have convinced ourselves that it will be bad.  However, one thing that I have learned through all my suffering, and I have done my share, is that there is a purpose to it.  My strongest lunges forward in life have always come in the midst of suffering and uncertainly.  Why would that be?  Because those times made me think about my future and to dig deep to discover what actions I could take to shape it the way I wanted, rather than allowing circumstances of the present to do so.  That is the choice that suffering brings and that is where the purpose in it lies.  It forces us to visualize our future in the midst of the uncertainty, and to create in our minds a clearer picture of the way we want that future to look.  This in turn motivates us to take action in the present to actually bring about that visualized result.  And moreover, when we do that something else mysteriously begins to occur.  It seems that when we visualize and then take action to actually create that mental picture, the “Universe” begins to conspire to bring about actions, circumstances and events that help us reach our goal.  I know a lot has been written lately about “the secret” and the “law of attraction” as if it were the current “new age” religion. However, in my experience of life I can attest that this confluence of events that you might call coincidence or luck or divine providence actually does take place.  I can’t explain it, though some have actually tried to put some scientific meat behind the whole notion of a law of attraction.  I just know that it does exist and will work for our benefit if we make the right choice in the midst of our suffering.  Because take it for granted that we will always make a choice.  That is, either to succumb to whatever is bringing about the suffering as if it is your “lot in life” to be poor, hungry and miserable, or to allow that suffering to motivate you to visualize a better future and then take action to actually create it.  Either way, you will attract something into your life, either good or bad.  So our personal suffering, as frustrating as is it can be, does have a unique and individual purpose for us…..to either make us or break us.  And you cannot run from it. Many tend to want to believe that they can escape suffering by running from it to Costa Rica.  I am here to tell any one who is thinking that way that it just ain’t so Joe.  I have done more suffering here for the last eight years than I did in the previous forty, but I have also enjoyed the most personal growth.  It is one of the reasons that keeps me here and a major reason I love it here.  I am suffering in many ways, but I am also growing.  It all comes down to a matter of choice.  Choice as to which directon we will allow our inevitable suffering to drive us, down or up, backwards or forwards.  And thank God that at least we do have that choice.

Well wouldn’t you know it, after a week of stock market gains everyone is smiling and talking about the recovery being underway.  But wait, aren’t those the same people that were just last week blaming the stock market plunge into oblivion on Obama’s stimulus plan?  Does Bush now get the credit for the recovery since the plan he signed into law prior to leaving office is probably what is making a difference right now?  Or, really who gives a %&# who to praise, or who to blame.  What matters is that maybe things are turning up and that is a good thing, right?  No not really. Because in the U.S. it is all a game and every event, good or bad, is used to wrestle power away from the other side.  It is downright nauseating to tell you the truth.  It seems that all the fat cats on Wall Street are clamouring for a “bailout” because if they aren’t bailed out, we’re all going under.  Well what about me?  When can I expect to receive my government bailout money?  After all, I am down here making your dreams come true in Costa Rica and that is exactly what you need right now, an escape from the chaos of the U.S economy and the media that seems to relish in it.  But the truth is no one really has a clue as to the way out of this mess, now do they?  Not that they aren’t smart enough to figure it all out.  No, it’s just that the collection brainpower of D.C. and Wall Street are preoccupied trying to figure out how to either gain as much political power as possible before the economic dust clears, or somehow “gain the system” and exit an even “fatter cat.”  But who cares about us, the little people?  Well they care to the extent that they can win our votes, but that appears to be about it.  In reality we better stop relying on them and place more of our faith and trust in ourselves.  So what does this all have to do with Costa Rica?  Well, I am here to tell you that the best way to beat this crisis is to come down here and relax and rejuvenate. These days we are basically giving away vacations and you people still won’t buy. What do I have to do?  Costa Rica ought to be a big gainer in all this.  After all, it is the cheapest, safest and closest place where one can experience a tropical Latin paradise.  So where are all the tourists?  Get off you collective hind parts and go to www.packagecostarica.com and book your trip.  A shameless plug?  Maybe, but that my friends is the only “bailout” I can ever hope to receive.

Pura Vida, Costa Rica!

I am currently contemplating a “border run” this weekend.  What is a “border run” you ask?  Well, as I have written in the past, my petition for residency is currently lost in the maze of bureaucracy of the Costa Rican Immigration Office.  So I am still what we call, a “perpetual tourist.”  This requires that I leave the country every three months for seventy-two hours.  So off I go, usually to  Nicaragua.  Well, it isn’t really all the bad to have to take a little mini-vacation every three months, especially to a place as beautiful as our neighbor to the north.  Nicaragua definitely has a different “look and feel” than does Costa Rica.  It is a poor country.  Much poorer than Costa Rica.  Despite its bounty of natural beauty, the country has not been able to utilize those resources to ignite a tourism boom as has Costa Rica.  Why?  I believe the problem is partially perception. After years of war and strife, the country doesn’t have the best reputation among folks in the U.S.  While generally peaceful now (despite recent political upheavals) the people of the country are as wary about gringos as gringos are to them.  The regime in power, the Sandinistas, do as much as possible to foment resentment and distrust towards the “imperialist” U.S.  That does not make for the service oriented mindset that is required for tourism.  In Nicaragua you are not greeted with that big warm friendly smile like the ticos will readily show you.  But nevertheless I thoroughly enjoy my visits.  I always cross the border at Peñas Blancas, in the northwestern corner of Costa Rica.  My first stop usually is San Juan del Sur, a lovely little beachfront community only about an hour and a half from the border.  It is a great place to relax at one of the many restaurants right along the ocean’s edge, eat a fresh pescado entero (whole fried fish) and toss back a few Victorias (Nicaragua’s best beer….and yes it does give my beloved Imperial a run for its money).  The next stop would be Ometepe, an hourglass shaped island in Lake Nicaragua formed by two volcanoes that are joined by a narrow isthmus. One of the volcanoes, Concepción, is active and resembles very much Arenal in Costa Rica (it has almost the identical altitude, but is not as active). The other is named Maderas and is inactive and covered with lush jungle.  There is a great resort on the island named Villas Paraiso where you can stay in a bungalow and catch the cool breeze blowing off the lake.  Lake Nicaragua (or Cocibolca as the Indians named it) is the largest lake in Central America and the 21st largest in the world and is truly a marvel of nature.  The water is the perfect temperature for swimming.  However, watch out for the sharks, yes I said sharks!  Lake Nicaragua is unique in that it is a fresh water body of  water inhabited by sharks.  They are “bull sharks” that have over thousands of years adapted to the fresh water.  From Ometepe I would usually move on the Granada.  Granada is one of Nicaragua’s colonial cities and is steeped with history.  It reminds me a bit of Charleston, South Carolina with its pastel colored buildings and houses.  It is right on the lake and one of my favorite things to do is hire a local to take me out on a small boat (or panga) to the “islas,” which are a group of small islands where many of the upper classes of Nicaragua and even Hollywood types have purchased an island and built their ultimate getaway.  One of the islas is known as “monkey island” and is inhabited by a family of spider monkeys, who are quite friendly and not a bit afraid of humans.  Granada is well developed touristic-ally and there are many great places to stay and superb dining is in ample supply.  That is usually the route that takes just the right amount of time before heading back south to my Costa Rican home.  There are other great places to visit as well, such as the Masaya Volcano (one of Nicaragua’s most active), the Mercardo de Artesanias (or craft market in downtown Masaya), Leon (the other important colonial city), and even the capital city of Managua.  And if you feel really adventurous hop a domestic charter over to the Corn Islands, which are two pristine islands (Big Corn and Little Corn) with crystal clear waters just off the Caribbean coast.  Nicaragua is a fun place to visit and the people, once you get to know them, are as down to earth, humble and selfless as you will find anywhere.  It is a shame that politics is the constraint that holds Nicaragua back from realizing its true potential in the name of giving more power to the common man. Instead, this brand of resentment fomenting politics, which has recently been labeled by many “orteguismo” (after the Sandinista rebel and current President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega), only takes power away from the people and places it securely into the hands of the politicians.  For more information on trips to Nicaragua contact me at Package Costa Rica.