Adios Liberia

As I recall reading somewhere, Liberia is a perfect gateway for a trip to Costa Rica.

It's big enough for an international airport...but I suspect that decision had more to do with the ocean- front resorts about ½ hour to the west.

But it's also small enough that my host Max seems to know almost every one in town.

It's also big enough for a major regional hospital...the establishment of which was a condition for the international airport designation.

And as well as countless high schools there are six universities...a campus of the University of Costa Rica, the state university and campuses of five private universities.

Earlier this week Max...who works for the department of education, teaches at two universities and is in the final stages of his PhD work...was appointed principal of one of the private universities.

But the city is small enough...only about 35,000 people...that neighbourhood dogs freely roam the street, playing with children, chasing cats while ignoring cars and bicycles.

The city is on flat plain, which makes it easy to cycle...without the need for gears on the bikes. So bicycles in one form or another are the most common means of transportation.

During the daytime the weather is warm and windy...probably due to the ocean to the west and the mountains, complete with volcanoes to the east.

We have often joked that the houses in our neighbourhood in Toronto look so much alike that the only way to tell them apart is by the actual street number. In Max's neighbourhood, the houses don't even have street numbers.

But that's OK...there are no street names either.

No wandering around the neighbourhood for this canuck!

This afternoon, I am off to San Jose, the capital city which has about 10 times the population of Liberia.

Max tells me that the bus fare will be around 3,900 colones (Costa Rican currency) ...which will be about $7.50 Cdn. Not bad for a 4 hour scenic motor coach tour.

The only problem so far is the total death of the four batteries that I brought to power my camera.

They cannot be resuscitated by battery charger, so will get some replacements in San Jose and start posting pictures.

Liberia has be a good start..but not yet ready to settle in to a place like this.

San Jose, here I come!

Web Check-in Is The Best!

“It's cool out there.”

Those were the among the first words we heard from a passenger on arrival in Liberia.

I'm not sure whether or not the man was serious. Perhaps because he saw how windy it was, he automatically thought cool...or cold.

After all when it's windy in January...it is usually cold too. That's typically the case in Toronto...but in Liberia, no way Jose!

In actual fact there was a temperature difference of 42 degrees Celsius between Toronto, which was -10 when we left in the dark...and Liberia, which was 32 degrees when we arrived at 10:45 AM local time (11:45 AM Toronto time).

Three Hours Before Departure

And speaking of arrivals, as prepared as I was, I was not quite ready for the scene that greeted me at the airport in Toronto.

As advised by my travel agent and the airline, I planned to be at the airport 3 hours before departure. I left by cab at 2:50 AM, arriving at the airport at 3:10 AM. So far so good.

But the check-in counters for my airline...Skyservice...seemed to be under attack by a slow moving line of would-be passengers.

But then I learned that these were the people who had not checked in online.

When I spotted the luggage check-in area for passengers who had checked in online, I headed in that direction.

A very eager agent waved me to the counter where my bag was tagged and I was told to proceed to security....which I did totally bypassing the stalled wanna-be passengers.

The moral of this story: web check in is a very good thing when traveling!

After joining the very small security line, an agent popped her head out of door and motioned for us to an area with 4-5 agents who had no passengers to check though.

Very easily and quickly, I cleared security. The time was then 3:35...what to do before my flight started to board almost 2 ½ hours later? The answer was obvious and so very Canadian...go to Tim Horton's.

It turned out that Skyservice had at least 3 flights leaving Toronto between 6:10 and 6:50. That would have been almost 700 people, most of who were checking in at the airport. Yikes!

Boring Flights Are Also The Best

Continuing the 'ahead-of-time' schedule, we left the gate 10 minutes early, but detoured for a de-icing stop (never seen that before) before joining the line for take-ff.

After I first noticed the line up 7 aircraft took off. As we were taking off, there were 8 other plans waiting in line behind us.

Our fight was the absolute best kind...totally uneventful.

When the cabin attendants were not trying to sell us one thing or another, they served a breakfast which was substantial and really quite good.

Not quite the porcelain and cutlery of days of old...more like foil wrapped breakfast sandwiches served from cardboard boxes and coffee in Styrofoam cups...but overall the 'meal' served its purpose.

When we arrived in Liberia, our aircraft...a Boeing 757...was the biggest thing around, including the terminal building itself.

It seemed that all ground personnel...regardless of what they doing...were dealing with the aircraft and or the passengers.

No sign of any de-icing equipment...or other aircraft big or small...for that matter.

Heading To Liberia To Veg

On the flight, I also had the pleasure of sleeping with a very attractive young woman.

Actually, truth be told, Debbie slept in the middle seat and I tried to doze leaning against the chilly window wall of the cabin.

Turned out that Debbie is an epidemiologist, in recovery from her role in managing the H1N1 virus issue.

Along with her husband...who scored a bulkhead seat with lots of leg room...with a great view of the 'forward lavatory'...was headed to Liberia to veg.

Debbie, if you read this and want to add your side of the story, I will include your comments...subject of course to my editorial discretion. You know what writers are like.

Instead of Shopping...

In the past, when preparing for holiday or extended trip, I have found myself involved in pre-departure shopping.

You probably know what I mean...new clothes, topping up supplies of such things as toothpaste, deodorant, sun block and so on.

Not being an avid shopper, this round of buying has always been a downside of travel for me.

This time round, I am consciously resisting the urge to buy that new underwear or those extra socks that some little voice is telling me that I might need.

I offer three reasons for this change in approach.

One of these reasons is related to me and what I like...and the other two relate to my destination.

Good For The Soul

As a child, I wanted to be a garbageman.

Looking back, I now realize that what appealed to me about being a garbageman was getting rid of things.

In all honesty, I enjoy getting rid of stuff as much as many people enjoy shopping and acquiring new stuff.

So that is one way in which I have been preparing for the trip: packing up tired old winter wear for delivery to Value Village...purging business and personal files...it's all good.

Letting go of stuff is so good for the soul.

Once I get to Costa Rica, whatever I need, I can buy there...without hauling it through a couple of airports.

And besides, with the cost of living estimated to be 80% lower in Costa Rica than in the US, it's likely that the prices in San Jose are much lower than they are here in increasingly expensive Toronto.

Pura Vida

The reasons that relate to my destination are more interesting.

First, the New York Times has recently identified Costa Ricans as the world’s happiest people.

In his blog post about the New York Times report, the Costa Rica Guys says:

“I can attribute this elevated experience of happiness to one cause in particular, a decreased sense of materialism.”

I am comfortable with that explanation: I see a decreased sense of materialism as a good thing.

So good in fact that I recognize that I really do not need that new underwear or those extra socks.

The second reason relates to what many people consider the national motto of Costa Rica: Pura Vida.

Once again according to the Costa Rica Guy,

“Literally translated it [Pura Vida] means:

'Pure Life.' Contextually, it means 'Full of Life,' 'Purified life,' 'This is living!,' or 'Going great!'

In his post...#88..he goes on to explain:

“...By 1970 everyone used the expression on a daily basis because the words conveyed the state of happiness, peace, and tranquility that political stability and freedom bring to Costa Ricans...”

Try as I may, I simply cannot understand how that new underwear or those extra socks can add anything to the sense of happiness, peace, and tranquility that I look forward to experiencing in Costa Rica.

Instead of shopping for more stuff, I gotta get me some of that Pura Vida.

Be Careful What You Dream For

Although my last four posts, seem to be examples of what might be called 'compulsive disclosure disorder', rest assured that was not the driving force behind them.

I have named this blog Yet Another Learning Experience. In one respect, that reflects one of my father's favourite expressions: “I don't have problems, I have experiences.”

It also reflects the value that I place on experience as learning potential.

My personal experience has consistently been that our own experiences...as well as the experiences of others...is the absolute best source of learning. An individual's collection of experiences is his or her story.

My intention writing the past four blog posts was to start to tell the story of my Costa Rica experience.

Hopefully, this will help me...and anyone else who is interested...make sense of my experience past, present and yet to come.

Happy Talk

At this point, I am reminded of the song Happy Talk most notably sung by Bloody Mary the character in the musical production South Pacific. The lyrics include

“...You've got to have a dream

If you don't have a dream

How you gonna have a dream come true?”

Funny thing about dreams...they really do seem to have a way of coming true.

On the other hand, if you don't have a dream, you might become subject to the outcome of someone else's dream. That's not always a good thing.

Puzzle Pieces Coming Together

Although I am not sure when or how I became aware of this phenomenon, it seems to me that whenever we are facing decisions, all around us are signs that point to the best and right answers for us.

Unfortunately, not every one is aware of these signs, let alone how helpful they can be.

Perhaps we have become so conditioned by the scientific method that each and every problem or decision must be analyzed into submission.

Or it may be that we are so totally engrossed in our own daily affairs and activities that we are totally oblivious to what is around us.

We become so totally focused on our own little tree or bush that we don't see the neighbouring trees, let alone the entire forest and what lies beyond it.

At this point, the signs around me seem to be nurturing my dream of living and working somewhere else.

No, I'm not talking about a religious calling or anything like that.

It's more like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle coming together to offer another image...or vision if you prefer... of my dream.

Subjectively, my plan to go to Costa Rica feels as good as it does right.

And given the events that I described in my previous four posts, objectively the plan also makes sense.

If there is a message here, it's to be careful what you dream for...you might just get it.

Out Damned Fear...Out!

In her book Feel The Fear, But Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers tells us that fear is a normal reaction to any change or new development. She explains that the best way to respond to to this fear is to take action...and that in all likelihood, the fear will not be a great as we had anticipated.

To me, this sounds very much like going swimming in cold water at the cottage. The very thought of it is very scary...but it's not so bad once you get used to it.

Although not consciously following the advice of Susan Jeffers, what happened when I recognized the fear that I felt...along with the excitement...about going to Costa Rica did in fact confirm the wisdom of her words.

In order to get on with the process of 'just doing it', I started by booking my flight. That's kind of like making the commitment to run into cold water. Once it's done, it's done and can't easily be undone.

Initially the travel agent tried to book a mid-afternoon flight from Toronto to Miami and after a 3 hour layover in the airport, taking a flight from Miami to San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica.

However, after experiencing problems booking that flight, we switched to my taking an early morning flight direct from Toronto to Liberia, a mid-sized city in north west Costa Rica.

Definitely not my first choice...but by the same token, seldom is swimming in cold water my first choice.

The next day I got an email from Max, who had seen my profile on a website. Max said that he lived in Liberia and offered to answer any questions I had about Costa Rica.

When I replied and asked him to recommend a clean cheap hotel in Liberia, he responded by inviting me to stay at his place instead of a hotel, an invitation that I quickly and gladly accepted.

Since then Max has referred me to his friend Joseph who is a North American (aka 'gringo') teaching English in San Jose. Joseph has been super-helpful in helping me learn more about teaching English in Costa Rica. I plan to meet Joseph soon after I arrive in San Jose to continue the job search.

As for Max, it turns that instead of just staying with him the first night that I arrive, I will be spending three nights at his place before heading to San Jose. Already he has lots of plans, including introducing me to some of his friends who teach and work at various schools and other learning institutions.

This whole Costa Rica experience continues to look like something that was meant to be.

Out damned fear...out!

The Germination and Growth Of A Seed

At one stage in my working life, I assisted clients with their strategic planning.

In practice, among other things this meant helping them define and set goals, representing their desired outcomes or results.

Visualization

Inevitably, the most enjoyable and energizing stage of the process was visualizing what success would look like for them. At this stage I encouraged my clients to dream about what their success would look like and feel like when they achieved it.

Whether lawyers, financial planners or or work-at-home Moms, clients enjoyed the visualization exercise as much as I did.

In developing content for my website, it was only logical for me to include material that reflected visualization as component of strategic planning.

When looking for new visualization content, I came across the concept of a vision board...so based my web content about vision on developing a vision board.

A vision board is simple...yet powerful.

It contains images of goals...or results...that we would like to achieve. As part of writing about a vision board, I decided to try it out.

My Vision Board

In March of 2009, I came up with 31 goals that I wanted to achieve by December 31, 2012. The only magic in that date was that it was then almost 4 years in the future.

I then searched Google images for images that reflected each of these goals, printed copies and posted the copies on my vision board.

My vision board remains on the wall to my left, a visual reminder of my goals.

With my goals set and captured in images posted beside me, I got on with other things.

Although I was constantly aware of the montage of images, I did not pay much attention to individual graphics.

Year End Reflections

About the middle of December '09, a number of seemingly unrelated events started to unfold.

As I started to reflect on the images on my vision board, I realized that I had made substantial progress on 7 of these goals. Not bad from a standing start.

When considering which goals I wanted to focus on for 2010, I identified the 15 that made the most sense. Many of these 15 goals meant living and working somewhere else. Hmmm.

Meanwhile, on another front, I had been trying to sell my car since the middle of September.

After virtually no serious interest in the car, on December 13, I finally got an interested purchaser that led to an agreement to sell the car. The agreement was subject to a safety check, which I did not expect would have been a problem.

On December 15, I learned that the mechanics who had serviced the car since we got it were not prepared to certify it. Damn!

In frustration, I went to the local passport office to get my passport renewed. Fortunately the renewal process went smoothly and I was advised that the new passport would be mailed on December 31.

When I got back from the passport office, there was an email from a Costa Rican friend whom I had met online. An issue had arisen that he wanted to discuss with me.

Instead of trying to discuss it by email, I suggested that we discuss it by phone, which we did the next morning at the agreed time. Happily, the issue was satisfactorily addressed.

I then checked my email and found a message from another potential purchaser for the car.

After a brief exchange of emails, I reached another agreement to sell the car 'as is'. We agreed to complete the transaction on Saturday.

Later that same day I heard a knock on the door and was mentally preparing my 'get-lost' speech for what I expected was yet another door-to-door canvasser.

Instead of one of these pests, I was absolutely delighted to see a young man whom I had met back in the spring of 2009.

Although I forgot his name and was too surprised and embarrassed to ask, I did remember that when we first met, he was in Toronto studying English. From Costa Rica, he wanted to say good bye before heading home. Wow!!

Before the sale of car was completed, two other people expressed interest in buying it as is...one for $300 more...if the planned sale fell through.

Happily, the car was sold the car on December 19 as planned. It went to a very happy new owner. Nice!

The following Monday, December 21, I received my new passport...10 days before it was even to have been mailed. Amazing!

On December 23, having lunch with a friend, we had a great server with a delightful Spanish accent. When my friend asked him where he was from, he answered with a proud smile...Costa Rica.

Costa Ricans studying in Toronto...who knew?

The Intersection of Three Themes

At that point, three themes were starting to come together:

1. my planning process suggesting the time was near to live and work somewhere else
2. with a new passport, I could travel
3. all signs seemed to point to traveling to Costa Rica

This coming together seemed to tell me that that the Costa Rican seed that was planted in March, 2008 had germinated and was starting to grow.

As well as being very exciting, it was also very, very scary.

The Planting of A Costa Rican Seed

In my last post, I wrote about having too many options in my plan to to winter in Costa Rica.

Although I cannot finalize my decision until I actually get to Costa Rica, I have managed to prioritize my preferences.

This turned out to be a easier process than I had thought.

All I had to do was to connect each option with my reasons for going to Costa Rica...and bingo. The priorities easily fell into place.

A Vague Dream

Several reasons led to my decision to go to Costa Rica.

Way back when, when I graduated from school, I had a vague dream of living and working somewhere else.

Instead of pursuing that dream, I got involved in other pursuits...practising law, raising a family, earning a living and so forth.

Those aspects of my life worked out very well.

For the most part, I enjoyed practising law. Raising a family has been a real source of pride and joy.

As for earning a living...that is still very much a work in progress. I have been blessed with the ability to do many things well...but cursed with the lack of of resources to do exceptionally well at most of them.

Returning to Puerto Vallarta

In January, 2007 I went to Puerto Vallarta for a couple of weeks to visit a friend from the past.

I had been to PV before...but among the souvenirs I brought back was typhoid fever. Not good!!

However, this time in 'PV' or 'Vallarta' (as the locals call it), was quite a different experience.

For starters I came back healthy.

However, my long-ago dream of living and working somewhere else had be revived. I met many 'gringos'...non-locals...who were happily living and successfully working in PV.

I thought if they could live and work in a different country, so could I. But definitely not PV...somewhere else warm.

As so many of us do, I denied this dream and got on with other things.

Panama!!

In the summer of 2007 I happened to meet someone who was very excited about Panama, a neighbour of Costa Rica to the south.

He raved about the great opportunities available in Panama and suggested that 'if I was thinking about living and working somewhere warm' (which was in fact an idea tucked away at the back of my mind), I should consider Panama.

When I repeated this conversation to friend...who had a condo in Fort Lauderdale ...he told me that he had friend from Costa Rica, who as it turned out was staying with him in Toronto at the time.

The next thing I knew, I was chatting on the phone with Colin who runs Banana Azul on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.

Although we started talking about Panama, it was only a matter of time until we started to talk about Costa Rica...and it sure sounded good.

A Low Cost Cruise

In the bleak mid-winter of 2008, I was sharing my thoughts about living some where warm...and the apparent attractiveness of Costa Rica with another friend, who worked for a travel company, specializing in cruises.

Some time later, he invited me to go on cruise with him.

He had found a really cheap fare on a 10-day Caribbean cruise, but it was based on double occupancy and invited me to be the other half of the double.

The clincher for me was a full-day stop in Costa Rica.

Like many people visiting Costa Rica for the first time, I fell in love with the country.

After leaving Costa Rica, we spent a day at sea, traveling to our next port of call...Cristobal, Panama, the port on the eastern end of the Panama Canal.

The Planting of A Seed

During this day, I spent a lot of time chatting with Patricia, another passenger, who as it turned out, had been in Cristobal before.

Several years before, she had taught English as a second language there.

During this conversation, Patricia suggested that I could probably “...teach business English in Costa Rica.”

The Costa Rican seed was planted...and planted in fertile soil.

Too Many Options

As a writer, I have often found that the best way to sort out issues that are bouncing around in my head is to write about them.

Putting a contemporary spin on this process, blogging is also a good way to figure things out.

So here goes...some thinking out loud...in my blog.

For many reasons, I have grown to love Costa Rica. I am not going into any details...yet...about why I love Costa Rica. Without a doubt, I'm sure that as I write more of these posts, I will start to articulate my reasons. If however you need some reasons for loving Costa Rica, check out 365 Reasons I Love Costa Rica. More than anything else, that blog has nurtured my love for the country.

When I made the decision to winter in Costa Rica, I planned to continue to manage and develop my website. That was a given.

After all, one of the reasons that I started the site was to have an online business that I could run from anywhere I wanted to be...especially when I wanted to take a pass on winter in Canada. Been there, done that and have a bunch of great-looking, warm jackets and sweaters. But enough already, enough!

OK..so in addition to continuing to develop and manage my online business, what else to do?

Teaching English is the easiest and most obvious option. There is a huge need for people whose native language is English to teach the language to willing and eager Costa Ricans.

There is also a huge number of organizations offering training to help people like me teach English and find jobs in the country. All for a fee of course, ranging from about $200 online to thousands of dollars for residential locations in exotic locations.

Possible...but not so sure about the fairly structured class-room set-up and curriculum. Not really a great fit for my style of helping adults learn.

It's also possible to tutor business people in English. Much better fit, with more flexibility. That might work for me.

While thinking of tutoring business English, the thought occurred to me that I might be able to teach business courses in English, similar to those that I have taught here in Canada. Now there is an idea that really appeals to me. And what a great way to get clients for the new coaching service that I have just introduced to my web site.

Suddenly I have too many options to consider. Yikes!

Fortunately, no decision is required for a few weeks.

Think I'll let the ideas sit and continue to gather information.

Once in CR, the best approach would be discuss these various options with the people whom I know there.

Yes...issue resolved...at least for now.

...And Yet Another Blog

I have just completed my first (almost) full year of blogging.

In my first post of 2009, I wrote about the rebirth of a blog.

In my last post of the year, I wrote about the most enriching element which about was achieving the benchmark level of 100,000 points on ActiveRain, the site on which my blog appeared.

Between my first blog post and my last many things happened.

By the numbers, I posted 338 entries, upon which 2256 comments were made by readers. That feels really good.

But what feels better is what I learned from my experience of blogging over the year. What an incredible learning experience!

Without going into detail, I have learned how energizing and enriching blogging can be. In fact, blogging is so energizing and enriching that I have decided to start another blog...this one.

As the title suggests, it will be about learning experiences. And what experience does not offer learning potential?

I want to keep things simple. What I have in mind is simply to write about life experience, big or small...either mine or some one else's, ...and reflect on what learning we can extract from the experience.

That way we can learn from each other's experiences...with out paying the same price or dealing with the fall-out from making the same mistakes.

At this point, I'm not sure where this blog will go. Guess we will just have to wait and see what I and other people experience along the way.

Any and all comments will be welcome. I will acknowledge all comments, either in a post or by email.

Thanks for reading this first entry...welcome aboard for the rest of the ride. It should be fun.