loco loco loco

so i got a message via facebook this afternoon that my lovely friend riki might be visiting me in a couple of weeks. honestly, i love that i have someone in my life with both the resources and spunk to respond to my request that she visit me in costa rica with a quick and emphatic yes.

i can't believe it's the end of october and i'm so sunburnt i can hardly move. it feels great though. yesterday aimee and i went to playa negra with a new friend to check out the surfing scene. i must admit to being impressed, and completely tempted by the whole outing. i'm sure you're all thinking to yourselves that yes, it is a scene i could get myself into. i love the sun, the ocean, the thrill, and ummmmm, the rest of the gear shall we say that goes with the lifestyle. although, admittedly, i may be put off by the whole macho factor.

but the macho thing is something you have to get used to, living in rural costa rica. i've come to accept that there seems to be quite a few things that, while they're not viewed as virtuous, people simply turn a supposed blind eye too. infidelity, for instance, and lying. ok, that's a harsh critique that also has a heavy emotional bias due to recent events. if anything, it just goes to illuminate how every place has it's eccentricities and how no one group of people has everything all figured out. because in the united states even, we're a long way from joining hands and singing in unity with all, although perhaps we talk about wanting and wishing and hoping and praying for it a bit more. keyword really being we talk. we're all just trying to stay in the game here, and it requires different plays and fouls given different circumstances.

gosh i've gotten attached to paraiso. aimee and i are in tamarindo for a treat this weekend and, surrounded by all the shopping and tourists and food and luxury, are finding ourselves thinking that maybe we should head on to the homefront to party with our people on saturday night. we have new novios to woo, and the local dance to make an appearance at. we'll see how it goes, i'm totally psyched for pizza and beer tonight.

now i'm wondering if i dare tear myself away from my sunny surf paradise to view the news of recent days. always a bummer. and there's a part of me that somehow wishes i could just turn away from it, disappear into my little treehouse and tropical sunsets and all that goodness. after all, if other people haven't found pura vida, maybe i should just let them fight it out a bit more before they either do or destroy themselves. but i'm a lover of humanity and an idealist at heart, not an escapist. if anything is bound to go down in this world i'm sure i'll find myself in the front and center of the chaos, hopefully helping, but probably just making a mess of everything like everyone else. i guess you just have to do what feels right.

i keep thinking about teaching and writing and dance and the pacific northwest, and i'm thinking these are things that could sustain me for the long haul. perhaps they are my center.

for now, it's hot here in tamarindo, and i'm thinking i need another refresco before getting down to the business of living it up.

the prom queens of paraiso

well, i suppose i´ve lost a lot of my readers. good thinking, right? start a blog and THEN move to a treehouse without electricity and expect to keep it updated. aye.

i guess i also thought i would have more to say when i got the chance. trust me, it´s not that i don´t have stories, it´s just been a lot to process a lot of the time. most of the time. for better or for worse, aimee and i can hardly go a day without something completely baffling happening to us.

this week, it was an invasion of army ants rousing us from bed and forcing us to high-tail it down the hill. the few weeks before, fleas. and the list goes on.

it´s interesting to notice the spanish words that i´m picking up on. a lot have to do with insects and insect bites. and the playa and cervezas. i´ve been impressed with my ability to learn the language, but am need of more practice. the treehouse isn´t exactly the happening spot of paraiso.

no, no, the happening spot is what aimee and i create on the weekends, when we drink and dance our faces off much to the amusement of the locals. and every week we swear we´re not going to make a scene again, but inevitably our greed and need for fun wins out. then again, i suppose we have made a few friends, and every monday when we go on our walk through paraiso the neighbors all shout from their porches, "mucho bailando sabado! mucho bailando!"

hence the self-proclaimed nicknames i´ve alluded to in the title.

so i guess while my circumstances change, some things will just never fall suite. and others are just bound to, as i hope upon my return i will be able to fully appreciate how cushy my life has been this far. i don´t want to fall back into the normal routine of consume and work and complain (ok, i´ve never wanted to ever but geez, i do live in the united states right, it´s easy to fall into this pattern on many different levels). what i do want is to really feel that gratitude for all the blessings in my life, even for the hard lessons i needed to learn.

i guess this is a pretty rushed and vague sort of entry, huh? but how do you cover a month and a half adequately. perhaps i should just start with the moment, forget the catch-up. the moment is what counts right?

at this moment i´m in santa cruz, about 30 kilometers west of paraiso. aimee and i just finished a big breakfast of tortillas, local cheese, rice, beens, eggs, and fried plantains (i did mention we get a bit greedy right?) after this we´re on our way to the farmer´s market to stock up on fresh fruit and veggies and then we´re hoping to buy a party outfit for our big trip to playa tamarindo next weekend. we have regular saturday night dates that we have to get back for, which are another set of complicated stories to share at a later time, and then a big dance at playa junquillal.

granted, this is no normal day in the treehouse. when we go out we go out. and while our living situation is the perfect opportunity for me to practice mindful living, it´s a sad fact that it´s often what i´m not doing due to the lack of activity and conveniences. but that´s why they say you must practice mindful living, right? practice practice practice. i´ll let you in on it, as soon as i have the faculties and the internet connection.

miss and love you all.