Through the Looking Glass

I realize we still view our life here with an outsider’s perspective. We’ve only been here for two months and as much as we’re starting to feel like residents, we know we still have a lot to learn and experience compared to those who have been here all of their lives or for many years. All of the locals we meet here have very grounded, generational, and deeply-rooted connections and feelings of love and appreciation for the area. And all of the foreigners we meet have their own individual, sometimes positive, sometimes cynical, sometimes predatory, sometimes pedantic, take on the town, the country, the people, the way things are, the way things should be, and the way things used to be. We’re still neophytes here and not yet jaded by our paradise -- paradise it still is to us and hopefully paradise it will stay (with all the caveats and underlying cautions that should be acknowledged in even calling it paradise to begin with). The reality is that this is still reality and despite our tropical surroundings and lax schedule, we still must deal with all that life entails every day (jobs, parenthood, housework, bills …). So whether it’s paradise or paradise lost, it’s simply home and we’re seeing it with new eyes all of the time. The seedy underside makes itself apparent as often as the shiny outside, as it does no matter where you live. We simply hope to never forget to be grateful for all of this.

Being grateful comes easy especially when we had a day like today. It's Wilder’s birthday and he wanted to go to the hot springs. So Chris and I did some work this morning, then headed off to Fortuna with Wilder to soak and swim. As we sat in there in the shadow of the volcano, under the cascade of a waterfall, drinking a cold one, looking at the jungle around us, we could only say, “It’s Tuesday!” How far have we come to have a weekday like this?