Where Is Ron?
Mexico and Central America: October 2006-February 2007
Ron and Ellen at Agua Azul, Mexico, November 2006
Costa Rica and Panama
January-February, 2007
Afton, Virginia, USA
22 January 2007Dear family and friends,
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica, is another town I can't find on my map, but it is on the Caribbean coast, south of Puerto Limon and north of the border between Costa Rica and Panama.
While Ron is enjoying tropical temperatures with a mix of sun and rain, we in Virginia are finally having some winter. Yesterday we had our first winter precipitation, a mix of snow and sleet that didn't accumulate more than a couple inches, but has meant all the schools in the area are closed today; temperatures are still below freezing, so nothing has melted yet. Luckily we had no wind and no major accumulations of ice, so we haven't had the power outages that have plagued the unhappy people in the central US. When we do have power outages, our house still is warm because we heat with wood, we can cook because our stove is propane -- but the pump that brings water from our well is electric so we lose our water. We routinely keep several five-gallon and one-gallon containers of water as emergency back-up.
I was interested to hear from a friend in Moscow that yesterday also brought the first snow of the winter to Moscow, where temperatures have been so unseasonably warm that they have not been able to keep the outdoor skating rink open because the ice won't stay frozen.
Love to all,
Ellen
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica
To see photos of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, click on the thumbnail at the left.
19 January 2007Hello, my dear -
For several days and nights I have been taking it easy in the mellow black culture of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, on the Caribbean coast, where there are many reasonable priced places to stay and a large selection of restaurants to try out, many owned and operated by Europeans or North Americans.
First I stayed at a place to the south and outside of the town owned and operated by a nice German guy, but most of the guests were just speaking German with each other, so I moved into the large sprawling facility in the center to meet some other travelers. Actually a little cheaper and better, with a nice room with 5 large windows, a fan, a large bed, private toilet and a nice shower with hot water for $15.
The food has varied between the various places I have tried, but I have eaten a lot of fish and one night an all you can eat sushi dinner. Tonight I am going to have Pad Thai.
It is a special beach town, and it appears to me to have more tourists than local residents, with many of the jobs in the restaurants and hotels being taken by the travelers and tourists. The surfing here attracts large number of surfers from around the world for the waves on the beautiful beach in a wonderfully shaped cove. Beer, alcohol, etc is everywhere, all hours of the day and night. While I have met some travelers, most of the people I have met are either living here for a long time or are short term tourists, many who have returned for this year's vacation. Lots of Europeans, Americans, Canadians and surprisingly I have meet several Argentineans, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, a few in their 40s, making me very unusual. So I found it difficult to get to know people, spending a lot of time observing the local customs.
Being on the east coast I was quite surprised to see the sun set over the beach on the other side of the cove and had to take my compass out to be convinced. There has been a lot of rain, which seems to last for a time and then quit, and people don't seem to mind even when at times it is quite heavy. Parts of the day are sunny and other parts cloudy.
Sitting in a reggae music bar one night, I met a musician from Los Angeles who asked me where I was from, and when I said Virginia, he asked what city and I said Charlottesville, and he was most pleased since he is a big fan of the Dave Matthews Band and knew they were from Charlottesville. He said he always goes to their concerts when they come to LA and has been to 14 or more of them. After a while, I leaned over and gave him a nickel and told him there was someone else from Charlottesville even more famous [Thomas Jefferson] and his home was on the other side of the coin. He liked that.
The main gathering point seems to move around on different nights of the week. Reggae bar on Tuesday and Sunday, Sunset bar on Wednesday, Johnny on the Beach on Friday, etc...moving the crowd of gringos from one place to another throughout the week.
Around the bars and music, especially where there is also dancing, which often doesn't really get going until after 11 pm, there are many local black guys dancing in place and waiting for the lady tourists, and I observed lots of pairing up, especially with European women in their late 20s and 30s. While I observed some guys with some black ladies, mostly young couples, there were very few black women hanging around the bars and dance areas. I heard that most of the local ladies go to San Jose where the white guys go to the Del Ray to find the black and local ladies.
Another night I met a couple, a 19 year old guy from Argentina and a 27 year old woman, originally from San Jose. She moved from San Jose to the beach when she was 22, met a European guy, age 42, who opened and operated a large hostel type facility, stayed with him for 5 years, having two kids in the meantime, before they recently decided to divorce. Her current boyfriend is the 19 year old guy from Argentina, who is quite spacey and has some most interesting conspiracy theories that even outdo most of mine (for example, the first American President was black and not Washington, who was the eighth president). She couldn't have gone for a more opposite: from an older business type guy to a younger spacey guy. Another day she and I were walking with her niece who was 14, and my friend explained that her sister got pregnant at the age of 14. I looked at the young niece who was the same age now and wondered if the pattern would be repeated.
Yesterday and last night I hung out with two women from Victoria, one 33 the other 18. In the afternoon the older of the two and I rented bikes and made a bike ride down the coast. They left mid-day today, after we had a late breakfast together, for the Pacific Coast and the sun on the Greyline Bus for San Jose. They were both lesbians and we enjoyed each other's company. The older one has had a massage by Brenda [a friend of ours in British Columbia, with whom Ron traveled in South America in 1970-71] and thinks she is a really advanced masseuse, knowing lots of advanced techniques. Such a small and interesting world.
May hang out another day or more here before heading south into Panama. Just depends on who I meet and when the spirit moves me.
Love and miss you,
Ron
Afton, Virginia, USA
1 February 2007Dear Family and Friends,
Ron has reached Panama City, his farthest place from home on this trip. The first message below is the one he sent for distribution to the list, but I added after that another message he sent me about his visit to the Baha'i Temple because I thought others would be interested. Our daughter Sharon and son-in-law Derrick are Baha'i; if you don't know anything about the Baha'i faith, look at the Baha'i Web page.
It has been very cold here in Virginia; today I have both wood stoves in the house going. We were spoiled by the unseasonable warm weather in December and early January, but now we are paying our debt.
Everyone please take note: we have a new postal address. No, we have not moved - we are still in the same house we've been in since September 1974. But a third house has been built off of our long driveway, and the rules of the local emergency 911 system say that if a driveway has more than two houses on it, it has to have a name separate from the main road where the driveway starts. So, our driveway now has a name. Our old address: 9994 Rockfish Valley Hwy. Our NEW address: 395 Goodwin Creek Trail, Afton VA 22920 USA. Change your address books, please.
Love to all,
Ellen
Panama City, Panama
To see photos of Archipielago de Bocas del Toro, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of Isla Bastimentos, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of the trip from Almirante to David, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of Panama City, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of the Panama Canal and Isla Taboga, click on the thumbnail at the left.
January 2007Hello, my dear -
When I left Puerto Viejo, in Costa Rica, I went south across the border to Panama and continued by boat from Changuinola to Archipielago de Bocas del Toro where I stayed first on the main island, Bocas del Toro, and then moved to the smaller Island of Isla Bastimentos, a ten minute boat ride away.
Bocas is much larger, full of tourists and has a few vehicles that arrive by ferry while Bastimentos is much smaller, more laid back, and has no vehicles other than a few bicycles. I enjoyed my days of doing little, just walking around, meeting a few people and reading. The pictures may give you a better feel for what both Islands were like.
From Bocas I took another boat to Changuinola [on the Caribbean near the Costa Rican border], a bus to David [to the south, near the Pacific coast] and another bus to Boquete. While I didn't want to stay long in Boquete, I did want to see it as it is now because I think there is going to be major growth in the near future. It supposedly has the best climate of any place in the world (not a claim that I can verify, especially since I was rather cold at night - but then most places I have been lately I have found to be way too hot, and cold was a very nice change) and is expected to be a major place for wealthy gringos and retirees in the future.
From Boquete I took a couple of buses to get to Panama City where I am now writing this report.
As far as large cities go in Central America, I think I like Panama City the best. It feels safer, prices seem reasonable, lots to see and do in and around the city, and I have enjoyed meeting the few people that I have met, most of whom are visiting here also.
A naval architect from Holland whom I met while catching the bus to take me to the Canal locks told me how he was beaten, kicked and robbed of his day pack by 4 young men in their early 20s while he was one block off the main road taking a picture of a church. In the old city I was stopped by people in a car and told that it was not safe to go down one road. Perhaps I am lucky, but then I am also alert and careful. I still feel safer here than I did in San Jose. I have done a lot of walking, along the waterfront, in the fish market, in the old part of the city, and in the new section of town with all the big hotels and banks. I took the ferry to Isala Taboga [in the gulf of Panama] and sat on the beach, and took a bus to the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal and watched the large boats go through, including a large container ship which paid $220,000 to use the Canal.
In a couple more days I will probably leave here and head north towards a Pacific beach or two and then San Jose for my return flight home. And it will be wonderful to be home again with you.
Love and miss you,
Ron
Panama City, Panama
To see photos of the Baha'i House of Worship in Panama City, click on the thumbnail at the left.
30 January 2007Hello, my dear -
Sometimes there is not really much to report, especially now that I am sort of taking a vacation from travel, just sort of hanging out doing almost nothing.
Today, for example, I ate a rather dull buffet, rode a lot of buses, discovered my friends from Sweden have moved on, earlier than expected, and visited the Baha'i Temple to take some pictures for Derrick and Sharon.
The Temple was rather interesting; it was the only thing, other than a couple of administrative buildings, on top of a small mountain, with a rather long private drive. The "book" [Lonely Planet guide] was wrong on where to get a bus, and it took me a couple of different rather long bus rides to get there, approximately 11k from town. Getting back was also complicated. But I did learn quite a bit about some of the bus routes in the process.
The temple was quite beautiful, a dome-like circularly shaped building, shaped as a 9 pointed star, with each point having a large open entrance. The grounds were very nicely landscaped and I took lots of pictures from different angles. And I saved the brochure they gave me for Derrick and Sharon.
I don't have my camera with me at the moment, so will have to send you pictures later.
Tomorrow I may leave for David. Perhaps.
So, if I leave Panama City tomorrow, then I will be starting my trip home. At least it feels like that. Lets see...8 days ... next week.
I do love and miss you, and look forward to coming home.
Ron
Afton, Virginia, USA
3 February 2007Dear Family and Friends,
It took me three days to process the ~80 photos Ron sent from Panama City and organize the report, and just after I sent out the messages from Panama City I received another account, this one from Dominical, Costa Rica, a town on the Pacific coast about halfway between the Panama-Costa Rica border and San Jose, Costa Rica. So here is a short update.
Love to all,
Ellen
Dominical, Costa Rica
To see photos of Dominical, Costa Rica, click on the thumbnail at the left.
1 February 2007Hello, my dear -
Tonight I am in Dominical on the Pacific coast in southern Costa Rica. Yesterday I left Panama City by bus and spent the night in David, northern Panama, where I had a wonderful fish dinner of ceviche and covina in blackened butter with capers. After dinner I discovered an indoor soccer game with a court about the size of a basketball court, perhaps a bit smaller.
Today I took a bus [from Panama City] to the border and crossed into Costa Rica with very little waiting and no problems. I had heard that there were long lines and long waits, but experienced neither. However there was no bus, and I would have to wait for about 4 hours for the next one. However, I met a German guy I'd first met in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca at the German-run place where I stayed, and he found a taxi that would take us to the next city of Nelly for about $1.40 each, and in Nelly we caught a bus up the coast.
He got off in Uvita, a small place, and I continued up the coast until the bus stopped in Dominical and went no further until tomorrow. The trip up the coast was an interesting ride: often I could see the water, small beaches and resorts, and I watched a wonderful sunset over the palm trees and tropical vegetation as the colors of the sky and clouds changed as the day ended.
Actually, Dominical is a neat little beach town, so maybe I will stay a couple of days. Many of the places were full and the first room I found was $75, but I finally found another place with bath and fan for $20. [On 2 Feb Ron said, "My room last night was like a sauna. The fan just moved the heat around. So today I moved to a room on the beach, with two large windows and a fan. Paying $30, and it is worth the extra. The view and sounds are wonderful, as well as the breeze. Maybe I will stay another day or two instead of going to Jaco, the main beach. After tonight, allowing for the last night in San Jose, I have 4 more nights unplanned."]
My last couple of books are probably not on your "to read" list. A double feature by Colin Forbes: Deadlock, and Year of the Golden Ape, and the book I am still reading, The Day After Tomorrow, by Allan Folsom. Both thrillers. There are two more I have in reserve: The Accidental Asian, by Eric Liu, and Ahab's Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund. Have you read Ahab's Wife? [Note from Ellen: I want to read both of the "reserve" books, so Ron has promised to bring them home to me.]
Now I am going to see if I can find a fish for dinner!
Love and miss you,
Ron
Afton, Virginia, USA
4 February 2007Dear Family and Friends,
Ron is obviously enjoying the final days of his trip, lounging on the beach and eating freshly caught fish! He's right when he says I would have enjoyed this part of the trip. However, it is a real problem for both of us to be gone during the winter. We heat our house only with wood stoves, and have pets (canine and feline) who can't be left outside (or inside) all the time, and need to be fed. Some of you may remember one of our cats, Supervisor, and be as amazed as we are that he is still with us: he will be 21 years old in March. He's totally deaf, a bit arthritic and shaky on his feet, but still quite demanding about being fed -- often. He used to supervise everything we did (hence his name), but doesn't do that any more. We aren't sure if it is because we finally learned to do things according to his high standards, or because he decided we were unteachable.
Love to all,
Ellen
Still on the beach
Dominical, Costa Rica
4 February 2007Hello, my dear -
Each day I decide to stay another day [in Dominical], and wonder about tomorrow.
While I have made some long walks, much of my time is spend in a very small area along the beach where my room overlooks the waves and beach; a couple of building to my left is a wonderful restaurant, and around the corner is a store and an Internet cafe.
This morning, believe it or not, I was on the beach before 6 am to watch the fisherman. The weather in the morning is wonderful, it gets hot in the middle of the day, and the evenings are cool again, but not as pleasant as the morning.
The beach in front of where I am staying has a section of nice sand, then an area covered with drift weeds, leaves, sticks but not much litter, then some more sand, then small rocks. But when I went in the water I discovered the bottom was quite rough, with lots of small and large rocks. The under-tow was very strong and trying to get my footing in the rocks was quite difficult and uncomfortable. I am told that further down the beach to the south it is sandy, and this afternoon I will check it out.
I sit on the beach, or on a log under the trees next to the beach, while I read and watch the surfers ride the waves. The surfing is quite good here. I have watched some of the surfers ride some long distances as the wave travels along the beach, and can appreciate the lure of the sport. Perhaps if I were a younger man I would enjoy the challenge also.
Last night I shared a log to watch the sunset with a 71 year old man from Argentina, originally from Costa Rica, who reminded me of Wilfred. His great grandfather was President of Costa Rica and one of his relatives was the Chief Justice of their Supreme Court. Now his whole clan lives in Argentina, but he and his brother were visiting Costa Rica to take care of some property the family still owns here.
We had a very interesting discussion about economics and then had dinner together at my favorite restaurant - Tortilla Flats. We were talking about the difference between the sunset and moon rise on the East coast and the West coast. He told me about one time when he was sailing up the coast of Argentina and saw two buoys floating in the distant water which confused him because he couldn't figure out where he was. The buoys turned out to be the two tips of a new moon.
I am between two and three times older than most of the travelers and tourists here, and as a result have felt quite alone and lonely at times. While in many parts of the world younger people find me interesting, I can't say that is true for Central Americans.
But I have met some older folks who have retired here. One man I met started traveling by going to Afghanistan when he was 18, and then went back with an English van. He married a Dutch lady and now live in Massachusetts, but they are moving to Costa Rica as soon as he finishes building a couple of houses here. On a boat he crewed, he worked with a couple of guys from Costa Rica whom he liked and came to visit, and has been coming back for 20 years.
There are others who have retired here and live along the coast. A younger couple, Canadian, from upper British Columbia, live in the mountains back from the coast. He is a computer engineer who can work anywhere and likes the weather here better than upper British Columbia. He said it was going to cost him $350 a month to get high-speed Internet access in his house. Seems like the government has a monopoly on the phone and Internet services.
I have met a Costa Rican couple who make jewelry from various seed pods found along the coast, and today I had lunch with a woman from Israel who has been in Central America for more than 5 years and lives in a Chevy Van with her half Jewish Costa Rican boyfriend. They also make and sell jewelry.
The fishing is quite good along the beach and I have heard stories of some large fish being caught. I have had a mahi-mahi fish sandwich, grilled fresh tuna medium rare, snook and clams over a bed of rice and corn, talapi, fried fish, and one I never found out the name of. Of course I didn't catch any of them.
Last night there was a full moon party down the coast at Uvita and a lot of people went there if they had transportation. It seemed to be a private affair. Perhaps I should have stopped there.
Tomorrow I will make another decision on when to return to San Jose, but today I will enjoy another afternoon on the beach, reading and a swim, hopefully with soft sand underfoot, another wonderful sunset over the Pacific and a different fish for dinner and then a moonlight walk on the beach. So routine... You would love it here.
Love and miss you,
but will see you this week!
Ron
Afton, Virginia, USA
13 February 2007Dear Family and Friends,
It's wonderful to have Ron home again! We've been enjoying each other's company and catching up on news we didn't share via email -- and I'm really pleased to have someone else helping to keep the wood stoves going and let cats and dogs in and out.
Ron wrote the final report below from home. His flight was from San Jose to Charlotte NC, and from there to Charlottesville, and he was supposed to arrive here in Charlottesville at 11:25 pm, but he didn't even leave Charlotte until 11:55 pm. Which meant he arrived in Charlottesville at 1:04 am. Luckily, I didn't need to leave home for the airport until after I could see on the Web that the plane was actually in the air and on the way. Many of you will be aware that 11:25 pm is way past my bedtime, and 1:04 am is just totally beyond any reason for me. I think it was worth it, however, to have Ron home!
Many of you have sent comments and questions to me in response to the messages I've sent out, and I've enjoyed receiving your messages (and your general news), and have passed many of the messages along to Ron.
So we are now up to date on photos and accounts of this trip.
We'll be in touch again for our next trip, which we are already planning: Russia, beginning in July.
Love to all,
Ellen
Afton, Virginia, USA
To see photos from San Jose, Costa Rica, click on the thumbnail at the left.
12 February 2007Hello, my dear -
My friends, the two brothers from Argentina, gave me a ride back to San Jose, and invited me to stay at their house. On the way, we stopped at what they said was the most beautiful church in Costa Rica, and of course I took lots of pictures, one of which you can include on the web site.
This visit to San Jose was certainly different from any of my other visits since I was staying in a private home instead of a hotel or hostel.
The older brother, 73, is a doctor and a homeopath. He returned to Argentina while I was visiting. He is also a devotee of Sri Sathya Sai Baba from Bangalore, India. We had some interesting conversations about Sai Baba and homeopathy.
The younger brother, 71, takes care of most of the business, and in San Jose that includes developing an old coffee finca, which now lies within the greater city of San Jose, into lots for middle class housing, as well as managing a lot of rental properties in downtown San Jose. We spent a lot of time together, walked over the land he is developing, as well as the campus of the University of Costa Rica which adjoins the property. I very much enjoyed my time with him and we had some fascinating conversations.
On a visit to downtown San Jose we walked to the National Theater, and he told me that when his great-grandfather was President of Costa Rica he put a tax on coffee to pay for the construction. There was a lot of opposition to the tax, so he closed the congress and put a "for sale" sign on the congress building -- and made his son-in-law the new President.
When I took a formal tour of the theater the guide showed the picture of the President who started the Theater and the President following him who completed it. The guide talked about how the latter President was re-elected, and was considered a fine president since he built hospitals and schools. As we left the room with the portraits, I asked the guide if it was correct that the second President was married to the first President's daughter, and she said I was correct. (Of course, she had not mentioned this fact.) At the end of the tour I asked her if I was also correct that the first President closed congress and put a "For Sale" sign on the building? She didn't know about that and said she would research the question and let me know.
I left my friends' house in a taxi at 11:30 in the morning of 8 February, and got home to our house in Afton 1:45 am. There was a major delay in Charlotte as the plane had some unexpected maintenance.
Coming from the sunshine and heat on the beach at Dominical to the snow and cold of Afton Virginia was quite a shock to the system. The cold was welcome for a while, but now I miss the heat. The days in San Jose were a happy medium.
After 105 days, it is nice to be home - with you, family, friends, our own bed, an icebox that I can raid at all hours of the day, and my own computer where I can listen to Sleeve [our son's radio DJ name] on the radio.
Love being with you again,
Ron
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Last updated: 13 February 2007
