Deep in rural Costa Rica, there is a monthly trail ride known as the Cabalgata. During this event, hundreds of people meet in the morning, drink beer and eat while showing off their riding gear. Then, they ride for an hour into the mountains, stop and eat and drink more. A bit more riding, followed [...]
I often suspect this is the case. Two runners were jogging in the surf this morning, going opposite directions. I was walking through the sand, on my way to the beachside restaurant where I chose to work today. The joggers met each other and embraced joyously, and from fifty yards away, I could see within [...]
It’s interesting living in a macho culture. After living in Portland, where skinny man-boys wear dresses and makeup, living in a Latin culture with traditional machismo stereotypes has allowed me to revisit what masculinity means. The perils of Macho. I was surprised to hear something said offhand by a parent here in [...]
Taos Gibson MacTavish Huntress. Born on January 8, 2012 at 11:11 am. 7 lbs, 7 ounces, 20 inches long. Taos @ 6 hours old. Taos was born at home, in an unassisted waterbirth. Johanna began having contractions on my birthday, Saturday night, around 10 pm. After five hours, the contractions stopped completely, so we slept [...]
After waiting for nine months, we are ready for the baby. Any day now. The holidays are done, the cradle is set up next to the bed, we have a supply of diapers and blankets; now we are just making minor tweaks to our plans. This is our third child. After going through [...]
This weekend Heather Gamewell (Indilea's ballet teacher) and I put together a surprise baby shower for Johanna. The cover story: I told Johanna I was being interviewed by a reporter from El Financiero, the Costa Rica's version of the Business Journal. I left in the morning to set up the party, and called [...]
It was within predictable circumstances that I achieved a moment of enlightenment. The house was silent, and I took a scalding hot bath, soaking for half an hour. I spent the time feeling grateful for my life, from the grand unexpected circumstances that brought me to living in Costa Rica, to the small [...]
Like many people who are energetically sensitive, I had a hell of a last few weeks. I don't know if it was something in the stars or general October rainy blues, but I was in a funk for a couple of weeks. So I shook things up. I pulled my desk out of the bedroom [...]
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It’s a nice excuse for a day trip, and it’s exactly the sort of bureaucratic bobbing and weaving that is essential to living in a socialized country. Today, we bought bus tickets that we will never use, from Costa Rica’s border town of San Vito to Panama, for 90 days from now. These will replace [...]