This is my delightful friend Diana. Everybody who knows her, loves her. With good reason. She embodies all those good things about a person that just simply bring a joyful smile to your face. Much like her own radiant smile. I snapped this photo of Diana as she finished wheeling home from one of her [...]

By the time I leave Nicaragua I hope to have visited all of the protected natural reserves in the country. There are magnificently beautiful areas here. For a poor country, Nicaragua seems to have adequate staff to patrol the reserves to keep wildlife poachers and tree bandits away. Costa Rica could learn something from their [...]

  I left Costa Rica to head back to Missouri and Kentucky (U.S.) from November 8 – December 4, and as part of the journey home I reconnected in St. Louis for a klatch with high school pals at Alice’s house. Some of the women I saw a year and a half ago at our [...]

 The bicycle is the predominant mode of transportation, next to the foot, in rural Costa Rica where development hasn’t run amuck. Where development has taken over, cars, trucks and SUVs are found everywhere, bringing air pollution to once pristine areas. It’s amazing how many SUVs are on the narrow roads of Costa Rica! But I [...]

 The Guanacaste-Nicoya region, where so much irreversible environmental damage has occurred, was once the center of a vibrant pre-Columbian culture — the Chorotegas. Descended from Olmecs of Mexico, they arrived in Costa Rica in the 8th century. They were the most advanced people of the area. They alone, for example, developed art and writing schools. [...]

The vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement passed in the Costa Rican election, but barely. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in San Jose to denounce passage of CAFTA, declaring that strong-arm tactics intimated voters and scared them into voting against their will. Graffiti on the walls at the congressional offices tell [...]

A recent nationwide survey revealed that hunting and hunters are not esteemed by the general public in Costa Rica. According to the survey, the majority of Costa Rican adults considers recreational hunting an act of cruelty. The strongest disapproval of hunting is found among women and people of high education levels and socioeconomic strata. The [...]

  I bought one of these women’s hammocks at the Nicaraguan border. She makes them by hand and sells them for $5. I stretched the hammock between pillars on the upstairs deck just outside my room overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Campanario, and it has become my favorite place to lounge at the field station. [...]

Nielson is my buddy. When I’m in Sierpe he likes to take me by the hand and lead me to his favorite places. He frequents some pretty cool spots. I especially like the scenic nook where he and his Dad dock their fishing canoe, and I like the muddy village pathway that leads to trees [...]

My daypack and rain hat are now part of my daily uniform. I don’t hike anywhere without stuffing into the daypack a couple bottles of water, rain gear, headlamp or flashlight, insect repellant and sometimes a snack, book, Spanish grammar primer and camera, depending upon the goal of the journey. Every now and then a [...]