Looking for Johnny Muir

Oh Danielle. This poor page has been left undone and unloved for too long. I will do my best to sum up what brought us to Guanacaste four years ago.

I wanted to take the boys to the water, and hoped to work with ocean life, restoration, recycling and clean up- anything that introduced them to this other real part of our planet. I found the Oceanographic Institute in Guanacaste and had a really easy email rapport with its founder. Their work at the time of our conversation focused more on water conservation and the plight of drought pitting farms against big government. Her institute would house the boys as well, despite their young ages. I thought it might be a great way to enjoy the water and learn about another reality, so we booked.

The boys and I learned some pathetically basic Spanish, and packed to sustain ourselves on freeze dried foods and treated water. We packed swimsuits, hiking gear in case, and cameras, and set off.

In Costa Rica there is a strict but blatantly obvious divide between the locals (farmers, natives, and the government and tourist industry. The money taken into the country via tourists coming to see the world’s biodiversity and some untouched lands, fuels and keeps the economy afloat.tge lustrous resorts with indoor pools, manmade waterfalls, spas, and waterfront condominiums, stood in stark contrast to the card houses made of sheets of discarded copper or tin, pallets of wood, and wired fencing. Chickens and children ran freely through humid, sun filled days, and rode on bikes with a pool of hop ons sitting on the handlebars and off the back wheels. Families from every country pored into hotels next door to these humble homes, with yoga mats and designer glasses, seemingly unable to see the juxtaposition between their white toweled lounge chairs and the green colored homes with poster board doors. The institute investigated and protested the notion that such tourist conglomerates pipe water in from local communities and farms, leaving local businesses and livelihood desperately dry and devoid of product. Our summer was spent with some of these farm owners and towns in protest, as well as lying in the hot mud spa of an endless led rewarding ocean. The boys learned to ride the waves, swim the ocean, sail, and drink from coconuts. They also learned the value of natural resources, and the harm such malicious acts of money dreams and greed can have on everyone involved. This was our summer.