1/19 Helped Rosa Porras Marin of Soda Campesina get a U.S. tourist visa approved at the U.S. Embassy in San Jose with letter of recommendation and a personal appearance with her at her interview [see failure note below]. In the long queue before the door, she was dismayed to discover that she had left her required bank receipt back in her house in San Isidro along with her bar-coded application form. I helped her get a blank form and fill it out, then located a Banco Nacional nearby where she had to pay another interview fee ($100 U.S.) but at least did not have to reschedule another appointment, a four to six month wait. Now she will not let me pay for any meals at Soda Campesina. The bank had an interesting security feature: all metal including keys, coins, phones, etc had to be left in storage lockers outside the glass double door entrance. The U.S. Embassy also required cell telephones to be checked at the desk.
1/24 Spending 1/20 to 1/25 in Boerne, Texas. Visited Costa Rican consulate in Houston to authenticate the Texas documents now with me to take back to Costa Rica. The California documents (birth certificate with authentications) were mailed to the Los Angeles consulate. Connected my brother Jim to internet on his ancient Windows 98 computer after buying an Ethernet 10/100 card at Wal Mart and downloading updated software. Visited Dad and my sister Julie.
1/25 Returned with a carry-on 15 inch Magnavox flat screen LCD TV (model 15MF400T/37, $198 at Wal Mart) to serve as a monitor for the Playstation 2 game and DVD movie player; did not have to pay duty. Also bringing Polarguard sleeping bags for Jesus and Juan to protect them from insect bites when bunking in their room at Andarivel. Dengue fever is not a threat at the elevation of 4,000 feet but there are assassin bugs (not down at the cold riverside camp but above in the bodega). Charles Darwin describes how he was attacked by these bugs at the above link.
1/27 Finally completed linking the medium resolution (800 pixels long side) Andarivel photos, linked as small numbers below the Andarivel thumbnails (150 pixels long side). The internet link at the San Isidro apartment is only about one-third that of a good DSL line in Texas (25 KBps versus 75 KBps at Jim's office in Boerne). Therefore I went over to Internet Cafe Ensuenos this afternoon to upload the rest of the 800 pixel-width photos and also try out my new Koss SB-40 headset with boom microphone ($30). It passed the acid test: two families crowding around me on both sides elbow to elbow talking nonstop were drowned out by my tiny Creative MuVo mp3 player tucked in my shirt pocket. Later I made some phone calls to the States from the apartment using the boom microphone and the Skype program, very satisfactory (39 cents connect plus 2 cents per minute worldwide, clear sound, and no long pauses between send and receive). Taking a yagi antenna up to Daniel's family tomorrow and a Casio wristwatch to replace the bogus one we bought on a San Jose street on our Christmas trip last December.
2/3 Antenna worked, therefore bought a cellular telephone for Daniel's family, a major step forward in his education to connect with the world. Spending Fridays in the cozy apartment coaching Jesus for seventh grade exams. Soliciting a faster internet connection. Scheduled more diagnostic tests next week for continuing muscle soreness and cramps. California authentication documents for residency application arrived.
2/09 Finally submitted all required documents for Costa Residency including a notarized agreement to reside in the country for four consecutive months each year (however with the understanding that short trips out of the country during that period are not disallowed). Juan Flores told me to call back end of March. I had some blood tests done to rule out any pathological condition for my muscle soreness and nocturnal leg cramps. Doctor Geiner Zamora concluded nothing is wrong except old age.
3/20-3/23 Trip with Jesus to San Jose and Quepos. In San Jose we rendevouzed with Rosa at the American Embassy where she had been asked to come back for a second interview. I was not allowed to stand with her in the air-conditioned hermetic cell facing the consul window but I overheard the conversation from outside the door because the speaker was loud. The consul was the same person who had told her two months ago that he would approve her tourist visa. He announced that a computer check had revealed that one of her sons returned to Costa Rica on a plane flight from the U.S. last December. He went on to say that since she had denied having any children in the United States, her visa approval was rescinded. Rosa exited almost in tears. It was a bitter and costly ($200 in lost fees) disappointment. Later I remarked to Jesus this lesson to always tell the truth, with the exception of a hypothetical case where the truth might wrongfully harm someone else. On our San Jose visit we stayed at our familiar Hotel Gran Imperial and we visited the Museo Nacional.
After the Embassy business done, we took an afternoon bus to Quepos. Checked into a dark, hot, squalid motel, then checked out again immediately to transfer to the more acceptable Sol y Luna Hotel. Then next morning we moved to a better Hotel Vela at Manuel Antonio beach. The beautiful sandy beach inside the adjacent national park was almost empty thanks to a park entrance fee. The steep incline of the beach caused chest-high waves even though the water was clear and calm just beyond them, where the shallow bottom could still be touched without even swimming. However Jesus was intimidated by the size of the waves and preferred to wade at the beach edge, to my disappointment. I bought him an exotic boar's tooth necklace. We wondered what kind of animal it could be from. He tried eating shrimp for the first time ever at our hotel restaurant, but I think he liked the grilled chicken better we got roasted on the public beach. The next morning we took a local bus to Dominical and finally returned to San Isidro in the afternoon, in time for a church meeting to plan his confirmation. It will be on Saturday, April 14th after Easter week, when he has asked me to be his padrino of confirmation. The godfathers and godsons practiced walking up the aisle in pairs, each padrino resting his right hand on his ahijado's shoulder to introduce him to the priest. After this foray into the outside world, our first long trip together, I think his self-confidence has improved. I made sure he called his Mom frequently on our cell phone, several times each day.
4/1 Spending a week at my apartment in San Isidro taking a break from Andarivel. Early this morning I stepped outside the door to greet my godsons Jesus, Juan and Daniel on their way to take the bus up to San Gerardo, the first time they will visit and stay at Andarivel without my presence there. I gave them some pocket money to visit the thermal hot springs and otherwise enjoy their Easter week vacation. Meanwhile I am trying to complete my awkward site upgrade started last November. There are still a number of corrupted text files to edit although all the photos have been done, both the andarivel photos and the personal photos.
4/1 NEW BLOG. Moved the remainder of my personal data from my andarivel.org root directory to a subdirectory named "private". My new blog links my pages of biography, favorite poems, mother's obituary, my relatives photos (Dad, brothers and sisters), my godsons Photo Index (numerous pages), Mineral Wells photos from 2002, my friend Gerald's web page, my sister Julie's Galveston website, travel notes from Thailand and India, and recent news pages for 2005, 2006 and early 2007. My Most Recent News page will be updated there.
I have not forgotten my long distance hiking pages on the Andarivel main page as well as all my links to spiritual topics. My andarivel.org website continues to link hundreds of photos of Arboleda Andarivel. All of these many photos, some of them unpublished to date, have been uploaded as fast thumbnails with higher resolution links clickable on the little numbers under each photo.
4/3 Moved hiking pages and spiritual pages from Arboleda Andarivel main page down to Blog.
4/6 Added year 2006 to Trees of Andarivel, including links (mostly to Wikipedia) for each tree. The number of trees grew last year:
2005 2006
Fruit Trees 146 173 Some trees were lost in 2006, not always for known reasons. A handful of them died after
Timber Trees 167 188 misguided application of a magnesium-based fertilizer in the dry season. Others for lack of water,
Total 313 361 others for poor sandy soil down at the river bottom. 29 olive trees were planted in mid year,
today 25 are still growing well although none are bearing fruit yet. The new nisperos are doing
well and most of the new cypress are growing. Several guitite were planted from the large
branch of a mother tree that fell down due to age, weight and choking vines. Some trees along the public road were not counted because of the underbrush growth.
I have been spending this Easter week in my apartment in San Isidro mostly playing with the computer. Barking dogs have
been annoying. To cope with the distraction, headphones and music helps, as well as the philosophical realization that nothing lasts in this life, therefore annoyances should be tolerated patiently. However I can't help but wish for a satellite broadband internet link at Andarivel even though priority is low since I have good access in town. More important for the moment is getting Jesus through his exams end of this month. The Buddha once advised a monk who wanted to move to another region where food would be more plentiful to bear it patiently because no place is entirely free from suffering, which in my experience is true enough. On the plus side here at this apartment, I was pleased to have the time to finish editing all my pages mangled by my yahoo upgrade to andarivel.org started last November. Finally that unfinished business is done. I also separated my personal pages from andarivel as part of a move to distance myself from too much personal identification there. I also tried out some new media such as a downloaded audio book of Moby Dick (6 hours), ordered some DVD movies and music CDs, and took a look at streaming audio and video on my broadband link. It's been interesting, but when regular public bus service resumes next week I will go back up to Andarivel to finish constructing a concrete safe deposit vault and a long-overdue public toilet for andarivel guests. Then on Saturday the 14th will be church confirmation for Jesus.
4/18 In David, Panama, again. Confirmation with Jesus was finally accomplished. The delay of several months was due to waiting for a visit by the bishop. The seating arrangements for the confirmants and the padrinos/padrinas was unexpectedly changed from our rehearsal of several weeks ago, with the result that the padrinos were asked to walk up the aisle on the right side of the confirmants, therefore with the left hand on their shoulder. Whereas I had wanted to present my godson to the bishop with my right hand on his shoulder, because it is written that the beloved son sits on the right hand of the father. In general, the right hand is the hand of honor and the left hand is unclean. This tradition is very strong in Asiatic countries. However I decided not to make waves and embarrass Jesus who would have been truly mortified by attracting attention. This is the shy boy who skipped a music exam because of being afraid to sing a song in front of the class. So I whispered to Jesus standing beside me that we had already done this (in practice) with the right hand, moreover he is my godson by whatever hand, and so we followed the local custom.
I decided to move my computer from the apartment back up to Andarivrel to make it available to Daniel to learn touch typing. Jesus was using it quite a lot to play games but not for much study. I intend to keep the apartment as a study hall for Jesus if he needs it. Meanwhile the concrete vault was completed in the sala at Andarivel and now my godsons have access to Playstation 2 and the offline computer on the long table. Sunday afternoon when I came up from my after-lunch nap by the river, I found all three of Jesus, Juan and Daniel playing their favorite games. They stayed until the very last minute before going down to the bus and when they left, they shouted back promises to come again next week. The order of Sunday activities is usually breakfast, 10 minutes of breath meditation seated on pillows in the chapel, two hours of work, then swim in the river, lunch, video games, and finally wages from Banco Andarivel.
5/10 San Isidro, Cafe Internet Ensuenos. Jesus was not allowed to take his seventh grade exams which started end of April even though he had a written confirmation of forms submitted, signed and sealed by the regional Ministerio of Education office last February. When he arrived at the test site, he was informed that his name was not on the list of candidates. When Jesus came up to Andarivel on the next day (Monday) and delivered this devastating news to me, I called a taxi and we immediately returned to San Isidro to inquire. His mother met us at the regional office. We learned that his application had never been sent to the San Jose main office because it had never been separated from the receipt which a substitute employee had given back to us. The reason for this error came to light when we located the employee who usually works in the book sale office, not as a counselor. He said that he detaches the receipt only when the paperwork is complete, but that he was expecting us to return an additional form called a Letter of Adecuacion, which gives special privileges to disadvantaged students, such as the right to use a calculator, take more time and take the test in a separate room. On that day in February when we submitted the application he mentioned the Adecuacion option to me, therefore I immediately went over to Jesusīs former school to speak with the coordinadora, who said that she was too busy to attend to this until the last day of the matriculation period. I then returned to the regional center and spoke with the regional Secretary of Adecuacion in her office. We reached the conclusion that adecuacion for Jesus was not really necessary, based on his diligent preparations in home study the past months. I told her then that we would not be applying for this special treatment, but I did not think of returning to the downstairs application office to repeat this, since I already had a receipt in my hand signed and sealed confirming his matriculation. The book sale employee later explained that he only wanted to save clients the time of waiting in line twice, therefore gave them the receipt in advance. After all of us finally understood what had happened, the counselor said it was regrettable but he did not have authority to admit Jesus to the remaining four exams the following week, even if the regional office was at fault. At my insistence he scribbled down the location of the main office in San Jose and the name of the director. Then I took Jesus with me on the three hour bus ride to San Jose. We arrived at the office in the afternoon in time before closing (the scribbled address was not correct but the local taxi driver knew where the building was). It was urgent because the next day Labor Day would be a holiday. But our hopes for an emergency resolution to the problem, such as permission authorizing Jesus to take the remaining exams at least, were crushed by a highly obnoxious bureaucrat woman in a dingy interview room of chairs without a desk. She was not impressed by the signed and sealed confirmation receipt except that she did take the precaution of confiscating it over my protests to destroy any evidence for legal remedy. She ripped Jesusīs photo off the formulario and accused us of failing to use common sense. She berated Jesus for not paying attention even if his padrino as a foreigner did not grasp the situation. The scene was bitter but final. We returned to San Isidro the next morning defeated.
Iīve been talking with Jesus and his mother Carmen about his future options. He announced a few weeks ago that he did not want to study his Maestro en Casa books for the eighth grade level, at least that he did not want to study alone. He said he would rather go over to the public library. Therefore I decided to give a monthīs notice on the apartment since he will not be using it. He only used it to play computer games and I personally prefer to stay in a downtown hotel as more convenient on my city visits. He may have an option to learn a trade after reaching age 15 this coming June first, if he can get admitted to the government INA vocational program. We donīt know of any private schools suitable for him and he is definitely not a motivated student. He knows that he can come up to Andarivel whenever he likes and earn money there. He misses being in a group of other students and regrets dropping out last year. But since the public school year begins in February, he will have a long time outside of class until then. The next session of seventh grade exams is way off next November or December, and he will not be as prepared for them then as he is now.
I am learning that I can not plan someoneīs life for them. I donīt even plan or control my own life successfully. I cannot really criticize Jesus for laziness when I have been so remiss in practicing meditation at Andarivel. Instead of sitting watching the breath and the rest of the universe connected to the breath, I have diverted myself for years in physical activities, pushing my body to the limit, and creating my vision of an arboretum/tree farm, but whether it makes much difference in the course of things I cannot say.
Other news: More than fifty new trees have been planted, see New Trees May 2007 and Other Shots May 2007.
The public toilet was finally completed. Some little minnows and goldfish were added to the America Pond. My Costa Rica residency application was promised to be finalized by end of June. Leg cramps come and go, they correlate with eating at night and dehydration. Body is getting more stiff.
5/21 San Isidro. Three separate Andarivel projects are currently underway: a rain water collection platform and bodega retaining wall under construction with Jesus, a trail with Juan, and a gazebo platform with Daniel. Each project is reserved and named for each godson for when they come to work. Jesus has just spent an entire week living alone in his room in the bodega and raking in a pile of cash which he mysteriously would not say what for. (It was for a microwave oven gift to his mother). Meanwhile I still camp down by the river. Since Jesus and Juan here have hardly any social contact except with their cousin Daniel, they use their free time to play on the computer in the sala or the PlayStation2. I would be surprised if Jesus does not get bored fairly soon with the lonely routine, but then he does not have much else to do anyway, now that he has dropped out of school and home study and has not enrolled in any vocational program. Mainly I suspect he passes the time babysitting his two little brothers at the house and watching TV, but I do not really know. (He said he has begun varnishing the walls with proceeds from his new income). I managed at least to get him to agree to study while staying at Andarivel, for three hours per day, his Maestro en Casa eighth grade level books, even if he has not passed the seventh grade exams yet. (We have since compromised on counting any reading at all as valid for study). Here is our Andarivel Regular Schedule (not for Sundays): 5 am wakeup, 5:30 breakfast (usually hot oatmeal), 6:00 meditation and work, 9:00 merienda (brunch), 9:30 study (2 hours), 11:30 free time, 12:00 lunch and free time, 2:00 study (1 hour), 3:00 free time, 5:30 supper (optional and self-serve), 7:00 meditation and goodnight. We have watched two DVD movies: 400 Blows (in French) and The Seven Samurai (in Japanese). Juan has not come up for awhile, instead his father took him to church last Sunday.
6/04 San Isidro. Jesus had his 15th birthday on June 1st. He got a Creative Zen V Plus mp3 1 GB player from me when he and Juan came up for one day last Sunday. He seemed to be pleased with it, even gave me a hug, which is rare for his undemonstrative self. He started exploring all the options. Later he showed me how he had figured out how to attach the lanyard. He wanted to know how to make inline recordings and we figured it out together. Today Monday I came down to buy Juan some pants and shirts now that he has started a growing spurt. It does not look like Jesus will be staying up at Andarivel much, as I expected, even though I have not been leaving him alone to spend nights by himself in the bodega, which he said he does not like. When he is there I move my camp up from the river and stay in the chapel next to his room. That way I can personally knock on his door to wake him up in the morning to get ready for breakfast.
I am concerned about gradually increasing muscular pain and fatigue but reluctant to make a trip to the modern Clinica Biblica in San Jose for a better diagnosis. I have dropped any idea of traveling to Spain. But in any case my routine will probably be interrupted in a few weeks by having to go renew my three-month tourist visa in Panama because my residency application has still not been approved, now pending for almost a year. Last week Juan asked me if I believed we would be angels with wings after death. I explained that death is a stage in a continuous natural process of change in which our mortal bodies feed worms which feed bacteria which feed grass which feeds cattle which feed humans ever and ever again. I told him that while I do not believe in a soul apart from these natural processes, many religions do, and there may be angels for all we know. He also asked me who punishes evildoers and I explained that evildoers inevitably suffer from their own sins. Personally I feel that if I could actually realize that my ego does not exist except as a mere concept it would dissolve a knot of anxiety and I would feel quite at ease regarding death or whatever pains line in store for this body. When I consider that I will not live to see the full maturity of the trees I am planting or the maturity of my young godsons, I appreciate the gift of every new day.
6/12 Paid June 15 estimated income tax online using eftps.gov. An unattached little dog named Boby, formerly a pet of Daniel's family, has begun living at Andarivel more or less. He is absent some of the time but shows up for meals. His leaves dusty footprints on the long cocina table. Unlike the case of the big husky Lobo when I felt an obligation to the absent owner to keep him chained so that he would not run away, which he did several times, a restraint which both of us hated, in the case of Boby I leave him free to come or go as he pleases, which both of us like better. Some shelves have been built and painted in Jesus and Juanīs room. More guitite stakes salvaged from the downed tree were planted and most are sprouting leaves. I gave a couple of tree stakes to my neighbor Ana Chavez and family. The banana cabeza heads planted several weeks ago are sprouting with the daily rains. The bodega foundation wall and water collection platform under construction with Jesus is nearly finished. When I think about leaving all this my little paradise to go visit Europe even for only a few months, for example to investigate retiring in Spain where medical care is said to be better, I tend to put off making any such decision pending further information. Some travel guide books have been ordered. I have never been bored here, or anywhere else for that matter. My motive is not Ulyssesīs hungry quest to go beyond the setting stars but rather find some relief from prosaic aches and pains. Even our father now bumping up against age 90 demonstrated surprising mobility by moving from Galveston to Boerne. I might, however, take a few days at least to get a complete checkup at the modern Clinica Biblica in San Jose.
7/02 Projects completed: rain collection platform and bodega foundation wall with Jesus, planting of eight almond trees, planting of 20 timber trees (8 Guayacan and 12 Amarillon, both very tall canopy trees with very heavy and valuable wood, lower ramp of Juanīs path including delivery of cement, sand and eighty cement blocks for the remaining construction up to the highest Andarivel level, excavation of the sixth terrace level. Projects almost completed: Improved rubber gasket seal of the public toilet hatch cover with a cement block platform base, excavation for planned gravity water tank platform uphill under the avocado tree, provisionally called the gazebo platform. New project starting today: Planting ten more Guayacan (Tabebuia Guayacan) and forty more Amarillon (Terminalia Amazonia) trees in four areas: the east fence line, the main entrance path, the river bottom and the talus cliff skirt.
Two weeks of July school vacation for Costa Rican students have begun and Juan is spending the first one at Andarivel playing a lot of Playstation2 games with Jesus or Daniel and generally enjoying free time, except for my insistence in his practicing touch typing. On the few nights when Jesus is not here, Juan goes to stay with his cousin Daniel. Our companion the little dog Boby has received a new name "Suchi" based on his cylindrical shape as in Japanese "Sushi" but with a crisper ending as in "Chispa" spark because he is a valiant spirit. Suchi faithfully stays near me most of the time but his habit of barking at creatures near our riverside camp during the dark of night obliges me to tie him to his pad below the camp kitchen table until the early morning hours around 4 am when I come over to release him by flashlight. [This was discontinued later]. Then he quietly joins me under the camp tarp curling up sleepily against my folded meditation legs while we wait for the light of dawn together.
7/09 Planting of the Guayacans (16 in total) is finished and the remaining Amarillons are in process including clearing of river grass in some new areas. Two of the 52 total Amarillons were enthusiastically planted by Jesus and Juan as their "own" east of the camp kitchen between the bird nest guitite and the peeling bark jinote yesterday morning even though actually all of the Andarivel trees are theirs per the deed. My godson Kenneth has invited me to his wedding next weekend on the 14th. The day after I expect to go down to Panama again to renew my visa leaving behind several days of food for Suchi. He is content now with his snug cardboard dog house below the camp kitchen table. It is padded with soft rags and gloves and his dinosaur bone and keeps him from shivering in the cold river night air. He does not have to be tied there any more. At Juanīs insistence during his vacation stay last week, we sacrificed one whole morning of work to watch a movie on our DVD player: Titanic, as good a movie as Looking for Nemo seen with Jesus several years ago. Juan was amused to notice a few tears on my cheeks at the end of the movie when the old lady dreams of reuniting with her long lost lover in the brightly illuminated salon under the approving gaze of all the applauding passengers. The rain this season has been much less than normal forcing use of the backup perennial spring instead of tarp collected rain water. The rest trip to Panama will test whether muscle soreness is caused by over exertion.
7/14 Continuing clearing areas and planting the Amarillons. About 16 remain in their little black plastic bags. I am hoping to finish all of them before leaving for Panama on the 18th. Some sites require so much work such as constructing terraces or moving rocks that only two or three seedlings get planted in one morning. Then light afternoon rains and my fatigue prevent further work for the rest of the day. Today will be the afternoon wedding of Kenneth with Gladys Nunes Porras. My blog page was moved today back to my geocities andarivel.org root index page.
7/19 David, Panama. Three new andarivel photo pages have been uploaded (Guayacans, Amarillons and Other Shots July 2007) and the page of Kenneth has been updated with 10 wedding photos. All 16 guayacans and 51 amarillons have been planted with room for even a few more, such as two guayacans reserved for pickup at Vivero La Bonita on my return Costa Rica next Saturday. On the whole I am satisfied. The bus trip was an uneventful familiar routine. Internet access in David is not as rapid as before, probably due to increased demand. I found an older internet site farther from the town center with fewer people. The downtown plaza reconstruction has finally been finished. Beautiful old trees still line the perimeter above long curving benches of stone, however the people do not sit on the hard benches without backs. By comparison, the individual benchs with more comfortable backs in the renovated San Isidro plaza are full of people. At Pension Fanita I was welcomed by Lourdes the maid who remembered my name.
8/11 San Isidro. Visited San Jose yesterday with Jesus to buy him and Juan a desktop computer (HP Compaq Presario SR5015LA) and find out the reason for chronic pain in shoulders and arms. The X-rays at Clinica Biblica suggest that the pain might be caused by osteoarthritis in the neck vertebrae, the same osteoarthritis which is knobbing my fingers. There is nothing wrong with the shoulder bones. The space between vertebrae C3 and C4, as well as between C5-C6-C7 has been reduced by cartilage erosion to the extent that the lower vertebrae appear almost fused together. The gerontologist remarked that the damage was fairly advanced but that I could still live a "normal life". He prescribed a couple of expensive medicines (arcoxia and neurontin) which will be worth it if they work. Before leaving for San Jose I snapped a couple of pages of new pictures, see 2007 08 Update and 2007 08 NE Fence.
9/10/07 In San Isidro on the way to a medical appointment at Clinica Biblica in San Jose. The pain medicine worked halfway but I believe the muscle pain is being caused by something other than osteoarthritis or pinched nerves. I privately suspect a metabolism problem such as the elimination of waste products by the liver or kidneys. Apart from this issue, but connected to it, is my decision to leave Andarivel. See this link for a fairly long letter about it.
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