We have moved from the Four Seasons to the Paradisus Playa Conchal Resort about an hour away by car. The trip here gave us a chance to see the country a little bit. The road is a two lane asphalt road without shoulders. Cars pass people on bikes riding on the edge of the road with only inches of clearance. But, the speed limit is 40 mph and our driver averaged 37 mph so it wasn't too bad. This was a Rural…
It's a little hard to report on events in Costa Rica when you only leave your room for meals, but since this room has an outdoor patio looking out over the water and a dip pool there is little reason to leave. Yesterday, at daybreak, Lita got a driver in a golf cart and had him take her to where the Howler Monkeys were making racket. She took some pictures of them and she was thrilled she saw them up…
"Pura vida" is literally translated as "pure life." In Costa Rica it is a greeting and good by common phrase. For Costa Rican’s it implies a philosophy of a happy spirit, difficulties overcome and life enjoyed leisurely. Our unit is above the beach. It has a patio outside and a small dip pool. So, we spent the entire day there reading and doing nothing Monday. We went to the lobby only for lunch and dinner. The rest of the day…
Today is Monday March 23rd. We are in Costa Rica. We are at a Four Seasons Resort about a one hour drive from Liberia at Peninsula de Papagayo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We left about 6:00 am Sunday and after a two hour layover in Houston flew on to Costa Rica arriving after dark. The time difference is one hour ahead of Seattle. On arrival our luggage was off quickly and clearing customs was quick. People from the resort were waiting and transferred our…
It’s reported this week that Pope Benedict XVI, flying on the papal airplane to Africa, told reporters that condoms were not the answer to Africa’s problem of HIV. He claimed that the Church was "in the forefront" of the battle against AIDS and that the Vatican’s answer to this problem was "sexual abstinence. The Vatican hasn’t budged from its position that the use of condoms is immoral since the1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. As recently as 2003 a Vatican document Values…
Here is a report of some books I’ve recently read. Zen and the Art of Anything Hal W. French has written Zen and the Art of Anything and, in it, he tells about his teacher Edwin Prince Booth, who told a story of his childhood. He had been on a picnic with his father and had wandered unto a train trestle when a train whistle sounded. It was too far for the father to get to him in time so …
My maternal grandfather Peter (Petar) Babarovich was born April 12, 1861 in the village of Splitska on the island of Brac in the Adriatic Sea. He died in Anacortes, Washington March 5, 1935. Peter was the second child Ernest Babarovich and his wife Louise Setelich. The family exported wine and olive oil which they grew in their vineyards and olive orchards. He married Marija Mattia Vulic) in 1888, who was also born in Splitska. Peter's wife, my grandmother, was born September…
This is my selection of excerpts from the world of writing. The first was a favorite of my father in law, Hollis Barnett. Having watched pelicans feed it makes sense. Limericks A wonderful bird is the pelican. His mouth can hold more then his belican; He takes in his beak enough food for a week and I’m damned if I know how the helican Jabberwocky One of the stanza's from Carroll's poem has always come to mind when I am about to…
A helpful reader has shared with me additional information on the story I reported about five young men who disappeared during a storm while fishing in Hawaii. (The Mystery of the Sarah Joe https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2009/02/the-mystery-of-the-sarah-joe.html ) The reader has directed me to a website and a report written by a friend of the missing men about the situation. For more information on this tragic mystery see "Phantoms: a true story" at http://www.writersbeat.com/showthread.php?t=1628. And thank you to the alert reader who found…
I admit to having a deep seated dislike of the Wall Street Journal as a biased in favor of big business and the rich. However, I don't like passing up a free gift, so when the paper was delivered to us at our hotel in Hawaii while we were there I read it – reluctantly. Every article confirmed economic disaster on every page as well as an intense dislike of our new Democratic administration. So, why am I telling you this? Well, because I want…
