Our first trip here two years ago was RAINY! Non-stop umbrellas and fog – and we never saw the freaking volcano! This time we saw Arenal volcano, in all its glory. We got lucky with a perfect day (a sad fact is most tourists will not see, for cloud, rain, fog etc, the volcano at many times of the year). As we drove from our base near Ciudad Quesada toward Fortuna we kept looking to the skies, anticipating clouds and ominous weather to appear. It never materialized. We saw the swirling smoke around the cone and enjoyed a great afternoon steak dinner on an outdoor patio near the base, and at night we hiked some trails and got to see the lava and rocks rolling down from the 1700 meter behemoth! We also got a tour of a river valley not many tourists ever see. It was the site of a hydro-electric project high in the mountains near Poas Volcano. FYI – Poas experienced an earthquake 9 months ago that killed dozens of people. Frank told us that he was trapped for two days with his daughter on a mountain road and had to be airlifted by helicopter! (We had visited the same site, near a major attraction called La Paz Waterfall Gardens only a year before). All along the river valley were fresh brown scars where landslides and waterfalls mingled It was an amazing experience (thanks Frank!).

After a couple days we headed west and south, arriving at our hotel, Byblos, in Quepos, on the Pacific Coast near the ultra-famous Manuel Antonio National Park. We hooked up with Paul from Manuel Antonio Expeditions for a mangrove tour. It was a great day of boating around the winding estuary in search of monkeys, amphibians and birds (Irina touched the monkey!). The following day Paul’s partner Edgar took us on a walk to Manuel Antonio. We saw white-faced monkeys (also called Capuchins) who entertained and came close (but didn’t beg or steal as we had been warned). We spent the afternoon on one of the lovely white-sand beaches. Quepos proved to be a worthy destination with many fine sights, hotels and restaurants (two that stood out for Pacific views and great food were Si Como No, and Barba Roja). One terrific outing was Henry Karczynski’s “Villa Vanilla,” a real working farm which offers tours and tastings of vanilla, cocoa, and cinnamon. The tour with Josie was educational and tasterrific! We decided to fly back to San Jose on our last morning because it was fast and convenient and our little Sansa Air 12-seater Cessna flight was a treat. What amazing views of the mountainous Cordillera and Central Valley!

Now we are plotting a third trip and wondering what fantastic new places await. Costa Rica offers some great diversity and the English-speaking, Jamaican-settled Caribbean coast community of Limon would make for an interesting destination. For the moment we reminisce and enjoy the memories. “Pura Vida!” (Gracias Frank, Paul, Edgar, Josie, Henry and all the other great Costa Ricans we met).

Cycling from High Park and along the lakeshore to downtown is a pleasure. We left here around 930 am and arrived about 11. The ride was relaxing aside from dodging the tourists in the downtown strip between Spadina and Bay, and watching out for the spandex speedsters who bomb the paths – surprisingly even in the twisty bits where it’s only a metre wide and weeds encroach on the fringes. There was quite a bunch of cars, pedestrians and cyclists at the entrance to the park. We passed a table where a man had some animal skins layed out (I realized later this was an educational display). We ventured forth down the road, joining the stream of cyclists heading into the scraggly wilds of the spit. Near the entrance a hawk or falcon glided around smaller birds, and later, at a first lookout / break site we saw another bird of prey along the water’s edge. I took some photos of the skyline – amazed that we were in this urban wilderness almost directly south of the core.

Further on we came to another lookout that held an amazing spectacle. Hundreds of black birds, cormorants as it turned out, were gathered in bare trees and flying overheard in occasional pairs. Something large splashed in the water near a footbridge and a lady observed to her children that it must have been an otter. Wow! This was amazing. Birds are definitely the major feature (according to Wikipedia):

“More than 300 species of birds are to be found, 45 of which actually breed on the headland.Among the birds that may be observed are the ring-billed gull, the black-crowned night-heron, the double-crested cormorant, the common tern, the Caspian tern, and the herring gull.”

It really doesn’t take too long to realize the sounds of cars and industry has long faded away and you are truly immersed in nature. At the edge of the spit there are bull-dozed areas reminiscent of a garbage dump, where the weekday trucks dump their landfill. this, and the fact there is a shuttle van, and dozens of people cycling along the path, are the only reminders of the big city. It is amazing and remote in feeling though. The only other place in the city where I’ve seen this much nature on display and felt far from civilization was Rouge Park near the zoo.

Tommy Thompson Park is open on weekends and holidays. Take your bike and check it out!

Once upon a time when I was launching a clothing company and website portal, I brainstormed for marketing slogans and hit upon “strong and free.” I registered the aforementioned domain, printed the slogan up on some t-shirts and proceeded to spread the message – my clothing was “strong and free.” It’s catchy. And I held on to the trademark I registered for nearly a decade, before abandoning it because I had long abandoned the clothing line. (If you’re curious it’s at strongandfree.ca/sick).

These days I am knee deep in the same kind of pondering because I make part of my living as an English teacher, instructing ESL students including temporary visitors at “visa schools” and recent immigrants in “LINC schools.” I learned early on to be careful about debating the positives and negatives of any country, and that was senstive territory on those first few “warm up” days when everyone was getting to know each other and the topic of “how does my country differ from Canada” came up. I was always pretty even, tempering any praise with some strokes of cold, hard reality. If a student offered the observation that “Canada is a clean and natural country” I would recognize the point, and then offer the devil’s advocate view; Canada is also a world-leader in producing everything from household garabge (even outranking the U.S.) to contributing massively per capita to global warming. In short, yes the Rockies are incredibly beautiful, but the “tar sands” are lurking just downwind! In this area I suggest that we are highly deluded if we think that buying a hybrid Prius is really an “eco-friendly” act (among other innacurate terms). Canadians aren’t very green. In that regard we’d rate a “C” at best. We are red enough for my liking though.

Where I can get positive is about our social safety net and the overall inclination towards the basic tenents of socialism (exluding forays into super-right territory by Mike Harris and Stephen Harper Tories). We have a system that is presently producing more and more homeless and other “have nots” but is basically keeping most of us afloat (again I play devil’s advocate and dabble in the grey nuances). I’m happy about tolerance and pluralism. I might even believe that, especially in my neighbourhood and other progressive urban centres, that ”multiculturalism” isn’t just “once a week” to an ethnic restaurant or “once a summer” to the ____ festival or ____ parade. I think there’s a really strong multi-everything vibe that permeates most people and places in Canada. Especially in the young people. In this day and age, with satellite, broadband, TV and Internet linking everybody to the newest fashion, music, and lifestyle media, there’s an awareness of connectivity where “thinking globally” is deeply embedded in the DNA of the “digital natives” as some would call the Net Generation. On a political/social/cultural level I rate a (little generous) “A.”

Overall, Canada, in my eyes, rates a “B.” If I had to go further I’d even say a “B-.” We’re just hanging in though. Much of the rest of the world views Canada as a green, progressive, multicultural paradise. We’ve got a ways to go. With the continued support of the Tories after a century of more centre-left Liberal rule we are sliding toward a “C+.” If we don’t sign and then work to implement the “KyotoPlus” environmental protocol then we’ll be sliding faster and further into the oblivion of a solid “D.” We need to get into the trenches and lift up the poor, abandon our delusions that the “Prius” will really offset the “SUV” in the neigbours drive, and begin a fundamental movement toward strong cities with progressive policies on transit and recycling/composting/”really living green.” If we can do that then just maybe we’ll maintain that “B-” which, I’m proud to say, is still lots more generous than the mark I’d give 99% of the rest of the countries of the world.

Happy Canada Day!

High Park is wonderful at this time of year. The mixed Carolinian forest with it’s stands of trees blending with Oak Savannah (a prairie grassland) is a sight to behold. Added to the abundant flora is the brief appearance of the magical cherry blossom. I explained to some Chinese students that the Korean and Japanese students like to gather with friends for little outdoor spring picnics under these beautiful blossoms. “Oh,” said one, as we looked at the photos, “sakura” – the Japanese word for these trees. A little international spirit and culture mixed with the vibrant parklife of Toronto – a magic combination that will arrive in the next week or so.

Most of these trees, a gift from Tokyo in 1959, can be found on the west side of the park. Maps of High Park can be found on the City of Toronto website.

On a related tangent, the City of Toronto announced the “Green Roofs” plan which is inspiring but also getting mixed reviews. Mandating the construction of green roofs for new buildings seems progressive and in-line with what Mayor Miller has been hyping as the future of a ‘new Toronto’ but the plan has its critics.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090415.GREEN15ART2239/TPStory/Environment