Kicking off Creativity Week with a new Costa Rican author – age 9

Posted on by stanleyobando

Inspired by a recent conversation with Lora Whelan at the Eastport Gallery about creativity during the pandemic (the Downeast Maine gallery will be sharing the video on Thursday as part of their Literary Evenings series), I’m dedicating this week to Costa Rican creativity. Up today is a new talent on the country’s publishing scene: cookbook author Maya Paz Bays Salazar, age 9.

Maya is the daughter of the co-founders of Bodhi Surf & Yoga in Uvita, on the Pacific coast. Her parents’ amazing business is a B Corp that has been a font of ingenuity during the COVID-19 crisis, sharing online yoga and other ways to contribute to their enterprise now that they can’t receive international guests. So it’s not surprising that one of the younger members of the family followed suit, creating a downloadable vegetarian cookbook for kids. As the mother of a picky eater who is drawn to the idea of vegetarianism, I’m so thrilled to have a resource like this  – and I’m even more thrilled that my daughter now has a role model in Maya.

Her cookbook is creative on two levels: as a culinary creation by an amazing kid, and as a smart way of reaching out to new audiences on the part of her family’s rural tourism microentreprise.

Learn more and watch a video from Maya at the link below. The suggested donation is $10 (you’ll get a donation link when you receive your cookbook to download), and I can tell you that a donation to support Bodhi’s positive social and environmental impact is well worth your while.

If you download Maya’s cookbook, please let me know!

The Making of Maya’s Vegetarian Cookbook for Kids

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.

Our National Parks have a moment

Posted on by stanleyobando

If you’re lucky enough to be in Costa Rica right now, it’s definitely time to get to a national park. There aren’t many silver linings in this crisis for rural tourism, but one extraordinary thing about it – extraordinary and sad, because of the economic stress it represents, but extraordinary nonetheless – is the opportunity it creates to explore parklands without crowds.

It’s nuts to see the Río Celeste Waterfall and be the only group on the platform, as we did last week. I’d imagine it’s similar to stroll through the usually packed trails of Manuel Antonio National Park as if it were the remotest paradise. Not all parks are allowed to open and they have strict restrictions and health protocols, and not all people can safely get to them, but when it’s possible, it’s a real treat. It’s also an amazing way to support the parks system and, where feasible and safe, the small businesses that surround them and may be open these days.

If your Costa Rican park days lie quite a way down the road, here are some photos to help you dream of your return. Un abrazo.

That mystical point where clear river water meets the volcanic-gas-infused blue waters that make Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio so special.
The Blue Lagoon.
It’s so incredible to be alone on this platform.

 

Happy Costa Rican Tree Day – and thank you to forest champions

Posted on by stanleyobando

It’s the Día del Arbol in Costa Rica today, and in addition to taking a moment to think about some of my favorite Costa Rican trees, I’m tipping my proverbial hat to some of the many champions of reforestation that I’ve met over the years. One of these is Jack Ewing.

I had the pleasure of meeting this passionate tree champion last year at his reserve and eco-tourism center Hacienda Barú, just outside of the coastal town of Dominical. His defense of the environment and hard work to reforest the south-central Pacific coast are legendary, and for good reason: Hacienda Barú sold all its cattle in 1990 and proceeded to reforest nearly the entirety of its 350 acres. He proudly showed off aerial images of the area over the decades, and it’s extraordinary to see how this region, like

Read more about Jack here.

 

Golfito, where history meets the sea

Posted on by stanleyobando

On this day in 1949, Golfito became an official municipality, or cantón.

This Southern Zone town is a fascinating place. It’s part of a famously biodiverse region and home to rich indigenous cultures. It attracts tourism – normally – and crime. It houses the Depósito Libre where people come from all over the country to buy goods, and that distinctive United Fruit Company that tells the story of part of the region’s history.

Plagued by unemployment and poverty before the COVID-19 crisis, it is underoing even greater stress these days. Here’s hoping that this beautiful and quirky region has better days ahead.

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.

What’s your favorite Costa Rica sculpture?

Posted on by stanleyobando

At times like these, it’s nice to cast our minds back to some of the places we loved to stroll before this began, and will return to soon.

Does anyone know who created this sculpture in Parque Morazán? And what is your favorite sculpture in Costa Rica? Mine, without any doubt, is Chola al viento, by Manuel Vargas. But there are so many to choose from. Towering monuments, such the Monumento Nacional? The unmistakable curves of works by Jiménez Deredia?

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.

 

Standing with the Northern Zone

Posted on by stanleyobando

Costa Rica’s Northern Zone is struggling: partly because of an uptick in COVID-19 cases in some parts of the region, but arguably even more severely because of the effects of the suspension of tourism on this iconic destination.

A group of local business and community leaders have launched a fundraising campaign to help meet the needs of some 1,500 families who have lost their income because of the crisis. More on this in the coming days, but you can read more here. If you or someone you know loves La Fortuna, please let them know about this effort.

Wishing you as much peace as possible this Monday evening!

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.

No one has the luxury of an unbroken heart

Posted on by stanleyobando

I have an inspiring story of U.S.-Costa Rican friendship to share with you, but today, the U.S. side of my heart – and the Costa Rican side as well, since so many Costa Ricans are watching events in the United States, aghast – just can’t look away from what is happening there.

I’ll just share what a wise educator said on Facebook this week: No one has the luxury of an unbroken heart right now. Sad words, but also as comforting as anything could be at a moment that is, and should be, essentially comfort-less. Our grief is at least a reminder that we are alive and paying attention. May it also be a reminder that action is required of all white people in the United States at this time.

All together now.

 

Time to look in a toucan’s kind eye

Posted on by stanleyobando

Oof! It’s been a tough week, folks. Are you feeling it? This is one of these days where all I want is to come face to face with some lovely wild creature that exists outside of all our human madness. Since the squirrel in the tree outside isn’t bringing me any particular solace, here’s a face for us to admire.

I’ve got a lovely story for you, tomorrow.

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.

A new way to connect with Costa Rican cafés

Posted on by stanleyobando

I had a stomach virus for several days, which means that I wasn’t able to drink the Elixir of Life – or, at least, not in appropriate quantities. Today I was back to my beloved morning joe, and in gratitude, I’m dedicating today’s Boost to a local effort to support coffee shops.

Un Café para Seguir (A Coffee to Keep Going) is a lovely website that features a number of coffee shops and allows you to buy a gift certificate from them that you can use when the pandemic eases (many cafés are open now in keeping with government guidance, but at the same time, many families, like mine, are still staying home). I found it through a neighborhood spot I absolutely love, Santo Café, which I’m eager to support through this crisis, but learned about some other great spots by browsing the site.

I hope this new effort continues to grow, adding new shops, perhaps allowing us to buy specialty coffees and other services, and helping tourists find great, unique places for a cuppa once things improve.

What’s your favorite place to have a coffee in Costa Rica? Besides, of course, any quiet porch during an aguacero.

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.

Alexandra, Daritza and the righting of wrongs

Posted on by stanleyobando

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The arrival of marriage equality in Costa Rica will provoke pushback from the many people who oppose it. So while, on the one hand, it is a shame that the mass celebrations that were being planned for the big moment – last night, at midnight – it also felt like a blessing that this historic moment took place in privacy. No protests, no demonstrations. Each of us was free to connect with the people for whom this meant most; watch their joy in the distant, yet strangely personal online setting that has framed so many of our interactions during this pandemic; and marvel in our own way.

To paraphrase a certain Book, we treasured all these things, pondering them in our hearts.

The major networks, public television and Sí, Acepto Costa Rica joined forces for a special broadcast that counted down to midnight (if you missed it, it is worth checking it out). In this way, it was like a New Year’s broadcast, but it felt more like Christmas because of the quiet, and the waiting. So much waiting. It is overwhelming to see all the faces: face after face of couples who have waited to marry, activists who have waited to see the fruits of their labor, allies who have walked with them along the way. All the marches, all the legal battles, all the bureaucracy, all the suffering. Several people mentioned all those who were no longer with us. They waited until their time ran out. The weight of what was owed to them, and never paid, was almost palpable. It was their pressure, however private or personal, against the closet door, their pressure against hatred and rage, their pressure on behalf of love that finally broke through with the force of millions.

So many of the struggles that preceded last night’s celebration were private, silent, lonely. It seemed right, somehow, that we marked this occasion from our homes. It seems almost miraculous that people who have been denied their rights and been excluded for so long were able to open a computer in the middle of the night, connect to thousands of others, and see that situation change before their very eyes. Maybe I’ve been spending too much time reading the Harry Potter series to my daughter, but it felt like a magic portal. I guess that’s what the law can do.

As it was before the first Christmas, some people are afraid. They will be heard, I know. But for this one moment, it was pure joy. Even through a grainy Zoom call, each participant a tiny square on the computer screen, you could see the exhaustion and release of the moment on many a face. Faces of the waiting that was finally rewarded.

“The people who will enjoy these rights are not strangers. They are our daughters and sons,” said President Carlos Alvarado in a video message. “All they want is space for the respect and dignity that every human being deserves.”

Congratulations Alexandra and Daritza, the first couple to be (publicly, at least) married after the clock struck midnight. As your wedding gift, I wish with all my might that the president’s words will come true: “May empathy and love be the compass that allows us to make it through.”

I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section, updated regularly – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.