Fifth Time In Costa Rica, 9

Well, another day, another blogpost. It keeps me busy. I didn`t do much today, which is kind of my purpose for being here. Tourists are everywhere, and I have to admit that they all look kind of sad, lost and incomplete. Even the older ones have that look on their faces of kids who got lost in the mall. I have long held that there is a difference between travel and tourism. Sometimes the differences are very subtle, but they are there, nonetheless. Tourism does not encourage engagement. By its very structure and nature the tourism industry seems to do everything it can to prevent engagement. Tourism is, after all, a multi billion, multi trillion dollar industry. I just asked Uncle Google. Tourism, it turns out is globally a 7.6 trillion dollar industry (2016), and accounts for one in every eleven jobs worldwide. But if you look at tourist brochures and websites you will see that what the industry is really promoting is a set of illusions, myths and beautiful fictions for the gratification, pleasure and escape from everyday reality for the overworked and exhausted gormless tourist. But to actually engage with the other countries, with the people who live in them? To learn the language, become friends with the locals, learn about what everday life is really like in those far away paradises and tourist traps that pander to our own sense gratification, casual curiosity and our need to take awesome selfies! To learn about the work culture, the poverty and social inequality, the environmental issues, the influence of the military (none, here in Costa Rica, thank God!) the every day struggle to stay alive, to learn about the pride they take in their country, their families, their friends, and their culture. Who has time for any of that, and really, the industry wants to keep the fictions and myths and illusions alive and well if they want to keep raking in their trillions. The other side of the argument, of course, is that entire national economies are dependent upon revenue from tourism in order to stay afloat. If everyone decided to travel the way I do, the whole industry would be bankrupt within a fortnight! But I refuse to be a sucker for that kind of blackmail, and I will follow my heart and the call of the Spirit into places known and unknown in order to do my part to help build global community. That does sound a bit pompous, self important and high faluten, maybe, but I really believe, Gentle Reaqder, that every small but meaningful step we take as individuals will and does make a difference. And, no, this does not make me better than anyone else. I am simply trying to follow the path that I believe God is setting before me, and one more time to my readers who don`t believe, just chill, willya? and instead of God just try to imagine the highest possible good that you could ever conceive of, then try to go even higher than that, and we might even find ourselves on the same page. This has been rather a dull, uneventful kind of day. Following breakfast and a couple of hours of doing artwork in the breakfast room, I went out walking. I stopped in Stella`s, a bakery cafe that has turned into an overpriced tourist trap, was not served, so I walked out. The waitress did apologize when I told her that the servers at the next place I was going to were nicer. And again, I had to remind some of the locals that I speak Spanish, and that race does not indicate language. It does appear to be sinking in, but really, there are so many French, German and other European visitors here, every bit as Caucasian as me, who speak little or no English, not to mention that Spaniards and Argentinians who come here are also white, and yes, they too often end up getting spoken to in English. Because of race. You can`t win! So, I did stop in the next place, a bakery cafe called Cafe Jimenez. Unpretentious, affordable, and the lady there warmly welcomed me back since I was gone after last year when I was a regular there, and I felt like I was home again. No, it isn`t polished and elegant and so nice like Stella`s, and neither is there a beautiful garden full of flowers and birds, but the people there treat you decently, so I`m going to keep going back. They have a TV screen, usually a bain to my existence in coffee shops, but I don`t care this time. This place and the folks there are salt of the earth. And there was some interesting programming on the telly today. Bollywood dubbed in Spanish. Seriously! An East Indian (deal with it, politically correct thought police!) soap opera with Spanish dubbing. I also walked to another cafe for a fruit smoothie and more art making, then walked back, taking care to stop and rest on one of the benches at the lookout point to the Nicoya Peninsula, both on the way there and back. Now I`m back in the breakfast room at the Mariposa where I just dined on leftover pizza from yesterday. A big hug to all of you.