Fifth Time In Costa Rica, 5

Details that ordinarily don`t capture my attention in the every day have a tendency to get really magnified when I am travelling. Even if it´s a place I`ve been to five times, my senses seem still much more heightened than when I`m going through my daily routines in Vancouver. Other people seem more present than usual, and I find myself, well, not staring at them, really, but certainly observing them rather closely. Sometimes making judgents of them, but also questioning oftener those judgments I tend to almost instinctively make of others. I imagine we all do this to some degree, and I have also noticed that those who carp and crow loudest about not being judgmental, are usually some of the most judmental people I have ever come across. It is also easy to judge others by their behaviour. On the bus to Monteverde yesterday I found myself silently cursing every single young and able bodied traveller comfortable in their seats while a young woman with a three year old girl had to stand. (yes, I was also standing!) So, I took action. Three times, in Spanish, I announced that the child was needing a seat. No one budged. The poor child was seated on the floor, crying. It was only after I called them all a bunch of ill mannered idiots when one guy actually did give them his seat. I will do this sort of thing on buses in Vancouver as well, if necessary, hang the consequences. On the whole it was not a very pleasant ride. I had to stand most of the time, and today my hands are still tingling a bit (I have mild carpal tunnel) I was waiting in thirty four degree sun for over an hour, as the bus was very late. (I actually hadn`t even known it had been that hot during my four days in Alajuela, until someone told me yesterday, but it still did`t stop me from hiking all over the place. I guess I should thank my maker that I didn`t get heat stroke!) Then the driver threatened to not let me on, because I didn`t have a ticket (no one had informed me that this is now required. It wasn´t last year.) Then he said I could get on, if I didn´t mind standing all the way, or, for four hours. A young man in the seniors`section kindly gave me his seat, which was greatly appreciated, since I was tired from standing in the hot sun for an hour. Then a frail elderly woman came on, followed by the young woman with the little girl. Noticing that no one was budging for the old woman, I asked her in Spanish if she had a seat. She looked clearly distressed so I gave her mine immediately. Then there was the dilemma of that poor child, which was quickly resolved after I refused to shut up for a bit. Of course, none of those selfish wastes of young DNA enjoying the comfort of their padded seats was going to offer one to me, a man nearly old enough to be their grandfather, but I decided not to care, held on tight, and made a new friend with the fellow standing next to me. He lives here in Monteverde and today gave me a very friendly ``hola Aaron!`` from his motorcycle. Much later, during the last and most difficult stretch of the journey, someone left and I was able to take the vacant seat, where I made another new friend with the tech engineering student sitting next to me. The manager of the bed and breakfast faithfully waited for me for almost an hour to give me a ride from the bus station. It was drizzling and cool, sweater weather. What a difference a change of altitude can make in the climate in the tropics. The family that owns this place has been very welcoming to me and it feels like being among old friends. I didn`t have the greatest sleep (I usually don`t the first few days while travelling) and was up at the crack of dawn and enjoyed an early morning walk, then breakfast, followed by an hour or more doing art work in the breadfast room, then I went down for a long two and a half hour nap. Then I went out walking again, saw all sorts of beautiful birds, and was threatened by an aggressive and huge off leash German Shepherd, so in excellent Spanish I told both dog and his two humans where to go and how to get there. Last year when I was nearly attacked by an offleash pit bull in Vancouver, I caved into fear and was traumatized by the experience. This time, I refuse to give into fear. I told off the dog, after standing up to him, then told off his humans. I feel vindicated. I also saw a Morpho butterfly. They are huge and a shimmering blue. Google it and you`ll get an image, if you`re not too lazy. Then I sat in an elegant and very expensive cafe on a balcony overlooking the tropical forest, feasting on a hot browny covered in chocolate and mora (local wild blackberry) sauce with ice cream and a cup of decaf coffee. The price? A cool fourteen bucks Canadian! Well, I was there almost two hours with my sketcbook and I was going to get my money`s worth. I wandered around for another couple of hours, got into a brief but decisive argument with the waiter in a pizzeria about the unreasonable high prices, then went to the cheap soda where I usually ate last year, and was really warmly welcomed by the folks there and feasted on a vegetarian casado (beans and rice, salad, cooked vegetables, fried plantains that melted sweetly in my mouth and cheese. It`s like coming home. This region is incredibly beautiful with towering vine festooned trees and the most splendid tangle of tropical splendour one could only imagine. The wind is majestic, awe inspiring and a little bit frightening especially the sound it makes in the trees, like the near approach of judgment day. I am glad to be back.