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 |   Enga mellom fjella: where from across the meadow, poems sing from mountains and molehills. |
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Enga mellom Fjella  Sentinel Marked as if you own me I bow before the Bitterroots and just like you my rocky soil, my withered grass lays prey to the empty sky. © Kåre Enga 2007 "Sentinel"   Reader's Choice of Poems: "Sentinel" "In Lagada, la vita" "In search of Iris" "Boise City" "Mauve Mavis" Reader's Choice of blog entries from my old blog "L'aura del Campo" :"Death of Jeannie New Moon" "Winter: 18 Mas'il (December 29)" "Even in chaos ... More hockey poems." "Holy day. Autumn in November. A mole." "Poems inspired by maps. Remember 1963?" FACES     PLACES            Kåre  Enga~ until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go. ~ Elizabeth Bishop The Fish |
| ...and more wind. Me: And noisy. Ticos don't mind yelling across the room, across the bus. Typical yelling from the pool behind me at this moment. The trucks... ...and the wind is noisy too. It's not that Ticos are that much noisier than other people. Missoulians aren't this loud though ... must be that Scandinavian influence. The Irish I grew up with weren't exactly quiet (lots of Irish in Western Montana). So I had to yell too. It took 6 calls on Skype (message machine, lost calls) to get through to someone in Montana to change my PIN number on my account as suggested. I had tried the bank ... nope ... on-line ... issues, so nope. I hope I remember the new numbers. If I don't I'm screwed. When I get back ... maybe a formal letter of complaint to the bank to encourage them to throw Visa and Mastercard over the cliff if they won't play nice. Is it only in America that you find this level of stubborn incompetence? I doubt it. But the card services need to be spanked. Ultimately they are the ones to blame ... more so than Target. In good news. Got to and from the beach without problems. Took the bus at 8:30, got to El Jobo at 9:25. Walked 3 km to La Rajada. Pretty beach but it was obvious that there was a riptide. Walked a ways, took some photos, decided to try going around the point. Talked to fishermen (fish and octopus). Around the point ... shouldn't have done it alone. The rocks, the gaps between rocks, no one in sight. Only fell once and that was in a safe place. Took more photos. I carried my water-proof Fuji. Saw the new resort being built at the east end of Playa Jobo. Fortunately the road was at the west end ... and mostly flat. Only saw one car parked, no people. Walked down a dirt road (no traffic = no dust) surrounded by sparse trees and lots of violet morning glories ... like the fields were covered! Got back into "town" (El Jobo) in time to buy a 2.5L bottle of orange juice. I had carried water but... Back in La Cruz by 13:15. Payed for another night. Washed out some clothes. Checked my phone (Colleen had called from Montana) and tried to find internet. Finally... So... day was not relaxing. Now to finish my coffee then back to my place. I want to go to the cemetery and see if José Luís is around. I'd met him 1 1/2 maybe 2 years ago and couldn't find him last time but ran into him at the library yesterday. Some people are just good people to know. Wish I could collect all my friends and put them in one place ... but headhunting and keeping a collection of shrunken heads is frowned upon ...  46.450 |
| I forgot to post my last blog. Had trouble finding it but finally did; by then it was past midnight WDC time. Oh well... Me: Went to two adjacent beaches ... just like yesterday. Visited Brasilito and Conchal. Conchal is absolute lovely and one can walk down a somewhat shady road. Believe me ... this matters. Walked a LOT. Brasilito is a nice beach too. The town is a bit tacky. But that's typical for beach towns. The hotel right by the beach is $49/night plus 13% tax if you pay with a card. My hotel in Nicoya is 8 per night and the bus there and back cost around 7. The not-a-highlight was an aggresive dog and near the bus stop a fight. I spoke with the police 3 times wondering why they had the young man in cuffs and not the older man who was wielding a knife. Hmmm ...the 3rd time they wanted to talk to me as someone said that I'd been assaulted. That really pissed me off... A culture of thieves, injustice and lies? So like the U.S. I could bore you with the images of sand, breeze, noise... but I won't. Yes, I took notes and even wrote a 'postcard'. That will wait until another time. I want to go to bed early, get up early, leave at a reasonable time ... where? Probably a couple nights in La Cruz. And maybe yet another beach! |
| ME ... moi ... yo ... Spoke to couple from Montréal, Quebec on the bus. A man from Bordeaux, France at the beach. Went to Playa Carrillo in Hojancha and then Playa Sámara. I love Carrillo. Coconut palms, fishing boats, no ugly hotels, no ticky-tack. All that and more can be found in Sámara, a Tico-Tourist-Trap with no shade on the beach. But it's a nice one with a wide calm white/grey sand. Carriilo is prettier IMHO, the beach an almost white sand with calm waves. I walked from one to the other. If an older man using two walking sticks can do it ... so can I (but he walked faster). My leg didn't swell much so it must be getting a bit better. I forgot to fill my bottle before I left so I bought a 'snow-cone' in Carrillo and a 3L Pepsi in Sámara. Thankfully the green Traroc bus was air-conditioned. Wonderful! On the beach I met a young shell-collector from Mounds (near Okmulgee) Oklahoma. I meet so many interesting people from everywhere when I travel. And on facebook! Had a nice chat with someone in Iran I met in Norway who's on his way to Grad School in Nevada. This is my life... Today:  Carrillo: "Cocodrilos en el estero" = crocodiles in the estuary (think manglar/mangrove). A dead palm leaf lurking in the water, its frond arched like spines. Small crabs waving claws. Another large one playing hide and seek in a small tide pool. Butterfly. Buzzing bug. Schools of small fish in the stream. An outlook: up the stairs, down the ramp, a view of rocks, sand and water from the benches. Fishing boats. A small port, houses clinging to rocks. Sámara: tire tracks across a wide stretch of alternating light and dark khaki bands (a memory of corduroy). The calligraphy of snails spelling out the day's menu. Remains of coral, oyster, pink clam shells. More fishing vessels, cool breeze. Bird tracks, flight of a golden dragonfly, pelicans. The searing heat without trees.  Wrote/partially-wrote two "letters" to Clay. He requested a postcard.  |
In a comment at the blog of Solivagus  I am easily stressed, depressed and overwhelmed. Trauma? LOL. I manage my anxiety and depression by not staying in my cave. Some days that means getting out to where I feel safe. Other days I stretch my limits ... but not too far. On days when I'm fine everyone thinks I'm normal even happy! The trick is knowing myself well enough to know when to walk away or distract myself with something else. I could share what happened last night but that would be b.o.r.i.n.g and nobody cares regardless. (Posted it on facebook and only got one commenter ... people want to know what color you painted your nails not anything bothering you...) Which adds to the stress. As for incivility? I need to learn to keep my mouth shut here in Costa Rica. Throwing garbage on the ground when there's a receptacle less than 3 meters away? Not stopping for stop signs (forget signaling)? One good thing: politeness is valued. Still, no one wants to hear the downside of their precious country and no one has much of an idea or care about a solution. (I'm not talking North American imperialist culture here. One instance: Panama and Nicaragua have good roads; Costa Rica not. Accidents take hours to straighten out. Between corruption and incompetence little gets better and Ticos just shrug.) I've had to ignore. To travel it's best to ignore. It's hard to ignore. As a writer who is trying to observe it's impossible to ignore! So ... ignore when I can. Let it go when I can't. If I find the solution I'll try to bottle it. Send you some. Me: Slept well after a stressful evening. Nights cool down enough here in December to sleep with a fan, turn it off by morning. And it quieted down after the celebration after the football championship game (penalties, after 210 minutes of play it was still 0:0 ) Almost boring.Watched game on the hotel's big screen tv. Nice, considering I have a fan a bed and nothing else in my room for $8/night. Also: shared services and internet. Yesterday, a coffee (depends who's working). No other news ... yet. I've only had one small cup of joe and it's still morning. |
| ...futbol championship; day of the iguana... Ganó La Liga en penales... Me: Saw iguanas or lizards on the ground and in the trees in Nicoya. Took a couple photos. Ate my gallo pinto (no iguana) at the market. Sunday is slow day. Bought turkey-ham and white cheese. Later wanted an empanada. The guy gifted me one (because it was "dead"). Talked with a Dutch couple. They're bicycling across Costa Rica. Got pissed off during/after a phone call. But I already posted that at facebook. The sad part? No one seems to care. If girlfriend breaks a nail, sure... but anything important? Was tired this morning so instead of going to a beach I stayed in town. So... two days in Carmona de Nandayure without internet didn't kill me, but it's one of the reasons I came to Nicoya. Carmona is a nice small town that reminds me of the small towns in Kansas that no one visits. Green this year ... last year it was in a bad drought. Tomorrow? I dunno. Beach? Call my bank? SCREAM? |
| Yo: No tengo hambre ... ni tengo hombre tampoco ...  Well, since I set you-all straight  about that ...So ... there's no man in my life and I'm not hungry either (a loose translation that doesn't quite say the same thing). Of course I don't mean to say that I'm not hungry to have a man in my life ... But I do have friends. Wrote a short song in Spanish. Wasn't sure of the grammar. So Fabian and his friends helped me this evening. They liked it, tweaked it ... soon it'll be polished enough to be a gift for someone. I also ran into Mari this morning so I'm staying in town, meeting her at 5:30 tomorrow evening and going to the writers' dinner. Now ... what to bring? 30 minutes in line for the ATM (only 3 of 4 machines were working). Everyone got payed yesterday so everyone was at the bank today. A madhouse. Fortunately I had my umbrella (sombria) for the hot sun. I took out double the money ...LOL. I'm writing everyday. So far nothing today (except blog, postcard and journal). There's a big game at 8 ... maybe then? I guess it's okay to have accomplished little. The song is a big thing for me however. For breakfast: coffee and toast with strawberry jam and butter. Free. For lunch: white rice, black beans, fish, meat and potato, picadillo de palmito de pejibaye (palm heart chopped up), green salad (lettuce and cabbage) with tomato. $4.40 ... which isn't bad. For dinner: filled sweet pepper and coffee. $1.80 For snack: a large smoothie of papaya, banana and orange. $2.40. I'm such a big spender. |
| Me: I went to the beach because I was bored. Cloudy, stormy day. Surf's up! Ants cross the drying sands. Clouds hover. In town, puddles. Humid. Hot. Waves come in and sink into cinnamon sand. Puddles disappear in seconds. Bubbles burst from the small holes of the ghost crabs. Las huellas de los animalitos, pájaros, perros ... y los nuestros. Cómo herimos la playa; cómo las olas lo sanan. A lines of pelicans in flying formation, the Tico Air Force out on maneuvers. (David Barash) Jumping insects and still brown leaves, sharp rocks. I watch every step, afraid to turn an ankle or fall. I go slow in the heat of the day ... slower. Alarm-song of the neglected car: vengavengavengavenga ... oyoyoyoyo ... Now a stiff breeze, incoming tide, light rain or spray? The angry ocean is jealous of the sand, tries to take it back. Morning glory and walking-grass try to trap it. The crabs in their own littoral way ... don't care. Had a hamburger for supper. Overall, a blah-blah day. |
mi mi mi... The writing group gathered last night. I was even prepared, but I guess only one person has the key and he didn't show... Frustration by all? Yep. They need a second key-holder. So, I went to the concert. Over 60 kids with recorders doing Brahms' "Hungarian Dance". The symphony followed. They did music from the Hobbit (with a video backdrop) and Game of thrones. The Big Band was best though. Ticos don't seem to have much interest in strings ... but brass? Hell yes. Plus it was rock music and music that swings. They have a very good drummer, trombones, trumpets, clarinets and a great solo clarinet player. Awesome. Also liked the singer who sang "Vivir mi vida" (check out Youtube ... Marc Anthony). Very nice event although Ticos believe in intricate discourse and therefore become long-winded (and many times boring as "more words" spun eloquently and repetitiously is the vogue). I went for the music ... and because I was there, dressed for the occasion, had the money ($7) and wasn't looking forward to being bored otherwise. A good evening. In other snews: yes, I'm taking notes every day and writing every day and been too busy and worn out (not feeling good) to post. Also, my INR (warfarina, coumadin, rat poison) was 1.5 (it should be between 2 and 3) so I'll have to increase dosage. Not a problem. It cost $10 and I had the results in less than an hour! I was impressed. A final note: had a massage ... (shoulders and feet). Woe is me.  45.384 |
| me: So I went to market, saw a bunch of folk. Sat in the park with a depressed friend. Chatted with a Dutch couple. Phoned a friend who lives by the Panamanian border. Ate mora (berry) pie. Pejibaye/curry "hummus". Gallo Pinto. Coffee. Saw a rainbow and snapped a picture I posted at facebook. Washed out clothes (daily when I can). Got black licorice to friends. But I still think I should be doing more? Shoot me now ... |
| Me: Yes, I slept well and long enough. No, I haven't done anything strenuous. I'm just listless today. Plus, it's hot and the heat drains me. And the noon day sun burns ... so I stay out of it. Yesterday I started a new folder for postcards/letters written here in Costa Rica. Only has one entry at this moment but soon ... I even wrote a song! It's about wanting rice pudding and having to wait till Friday. So I'll need to do a wash (clothes dried quickly last time!) and then either sit on the balcony or find a spot. Down by the river? The cemetery is a climb. A bus station? Tomorrow is farmers' market. Plenty of doing nothing on my to do list. |
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