1-8-11

I didn't work today. I could have- and probably should have- but Pura Vida! I didn't want to. It was snowy outside, and Dan lit a fire which made it toasty inside, and I drank coffee and worked on updating my blog with lots more photos from my recent trip. Check out all the new photos I added!

My trip has indeed changed me somehow. I want to tread even more lightly on the earth. I want to work less and live more. I want to boycott plastic and make my own cotton bags for shopping for produce, and only buy meat wrapped in paper. I want to use less water and cherish being with my family and friends more. I want to live a happier life. I want to help people in other countries who have less access to education. Did you know that in Costa Rica the children are only required to get a 6th grade education and that reading is only taught 15 minutes a day, and there are no books, and there are few bookstores (we saw one, but it was closed, and I have heard they are really stationary stores), and fewer libraries (I saw only one from the outside in the city). I want to learn Spanish and meet some of the immigrants here from Central and South America who are here for a "better" life. I want to return to Costa Rica next summer with an agenda- to not be so much a tourist, but an educator of some sort. But really, I hope to spread some Pura Vida here at home. In the snow.

I ate pineapple for breakfast. It was a Costa Rican pineapple. I cut the green part off and put it in a dish of water on my windowsill, and look at it thinking, "This grew first in Costa Rica. I ate it. Now it's growing here."

 

Italian pottery on a Costa Rican tray.

 

View out the front door this morning.