There is something amazingly liberating, at least to me, about taking to the highway. I have always enjoyed just going. The “where” never really mattered that much. That is, until I ended up “there” and then began the process of wondering why I ever made the journey. Why? Because the “joy” is in the journey. One of my all-time favorite books is the Jack Kerouac “beatnik” classic, On the Road. It is about nothing much except just just going and all the strange and wonderful events that transpire on the journey. I remember in the book Kerouac describes the frequent day-dream of holding an impossibly long “scythe” out the window of the car and mowing down the countryside as he whizzed down the highway. The amazing thing about that is that as a kid I would always have the same daydream as I peered out the window at the passing scenes on a long journey. Amazing how human minds are so interconnected as to capable of having the same strange thought, isn’t it? For two completely unrelated people to have the same bizarre thought or dream seems to reinforce the whole notion that “thoughts are things.” It is as if there is some great metaphysical reservoir, or primordial soup-bowl, of thoughts and dreams available for each of us to draw from, and some times two people may actually end up with the same thought, or even the same dream. Pretty cool, huh, or as Kerouac might have said, groovy man! And, no, I am not smoking anything this morning (yet), thank you. Well today is an exciting day because I once again get to take to the highways. And there is no place more exciting and adventurous to do so than Costa Rica. Today the destination is “la frontera” or our northern border with Nicaragua. It is not a pleasure trip so to speak, because I am currently “illegal” and have to go there to renew my passport and be “legal” again. Beyond the border, I will probably end up in San Juan del Sur or Granada sipping Flor de Caña (Nicaragua’s excellent rum) and talking with the locals of the most recent exploits of Daniel Ortega. I love traveling like this because it always provides the time for some deep reflection. I seem to do my greatest thinking either in the toilet, or on the road (sorry for that mental picture). And I never travel the “conventional” way. You know the main highway. No for me it is always those delightful and pot-hole ridden back-roads. Those are the places where real discoveries can be made. And it never hurts to stop at a few local watering holes (with Pablo doing the driving, of course). What is the “unconventional” route that we will take today? Well we will travel the Pan-American for a short distance from San Jose to San Ramon. Then the real fun begins. We will exit the highway and drive north towards the Arenal Volcano. We will pass the gorgeous primary cloud forest of San Lorenzo in route. Once we arrive at the volcano we will continue on a northerly course to Upala. Upala is actually very close to the border, but there is no “official” crossing there. However, once I crossed the border near Upala with my friend Yuri. We rode about four hours through the jungle to Lake Nicaragua, me riding on the back of a “buey,” or ox, and Yuri on a donkey. And that is the god’s honest truth. This time we will cross in a more orderly and legal fashion at Peñas Blancas. We will take a dirt road from Upala over to La Cruz and along the way pass by the Rincón de la Vieja volcano and many other beautiful sights on this peaceful, but very bumpy, back road. The journey will take about five hours, but maybe for us longer due to frequent “refreshment” stops along the way. I am so excited just thinking about it that I must stop writing and start packing. One of the real joys of living in Costa Rica is being on the road, again. Hasta luego!
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