Today is my last day here in Australia. Rachael, Jason and Maroubra Beach have been more than generous by providing me with one of the most relaxing vacations I have ever had, a good prep for the lifestyle that is soon to come... Thanks Rach & Jas! [View Full Entry]

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It takes 1,439 stairs to reach the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The recommended Bridge Climb Tour gets you there and it provides for an ultimate view of Sydney along with informative and interesting facts as you chill at the top. For example, one of the workers had fallen off during construction, he landed in the water, pin drop position but the impact was so intense that it embedded the soles of his work boots into his feet. Fascinating. Anyhow, seeing the city from that view enabled me to get a full city tour at a glance...the Opera House, Lunar [View Full Entry]

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So it's Thursday....Wednesday...Thursday, depending on whatever country you are living in, and I really don't have that much to say, except that here is where I am spending my vacation, and it is exactly what a vacation should be. I've done nothing more than...well, nothing really. Not that nothing doesn't feel like nothing, it feels like something. Sorta like negative space is positive space....sorta like when in Graphic Design I try to convince my clients time and time again that the WHITE SPACE in their ad does not have to be filled...the emptiness, the nothingness...it's a good thing. And [View Full Entry]

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39C was where I spent my Sunday night. No, it is not a room number, it was my seat number on an overseas flight to Australia. (By the way I have a bone to pick with whoever was sitting in 40C and thought that it was a good idea to play YAHTZEE throughout the night, who plays that anyway?) I guess I have some thoughts on this since I had about 30 hours to think about it. Anyway, it does weird things to your head, not to mention your body. Consistent exposure to dry recycled plane air makes blinking and swallowing [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend Sandy and I reconnected in Jaco Beach, and are now staying with Jimena. Sandy is experiencing first hand all that Jaco has to offer... the best is the wonderful tropical climate, amazing landscape, gorgeous sunsets and night skies filled with stars. And staring at those stars, I ALMOST regret not doing what I wanted to do first as a child. Before an artist, I wanted to be an astronaut. I remember clearly the day I rid the idea in my head, maybe about 5 years old. I excitably told my mom about the dream to which she replied [View Full Entry]

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Tomorrow I leave San Carlos and head down to Jaco, the surfer party beach town that I fled from 2 years ago. I am returning to visit the friends I left behind, OK, actually just one friend...Jimena. But I will also be reconnecting with Sandy. Sandy got sucked into the beauty of Montezuma beach last weekend, and there she remained the entire week, so I've been flying solo this week. Solo works well for me, I'd say a good 95 percent of the time, But then there's those 5 percent times, like this past Valentine's Day in which I spent the [View Full Entry]

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Happy Valentine's Day to all! Sandy and I spent the past weekend in Montezuma, absolutely my favorite beach here in Costa Rica. Apparently, Sandy shares my feelings as she is still there ...with my camera so we'll be posting visuals later (good idea, it has been pouring here). But for now I am back in San Carlos, and this morning I celebrated Valentine's Day with some of the students from the adult Special Needs Educational Center, where I am starting another mural. However, I'm not going to write about my new project yet, nor the weekend at the beach. I want [View Full Entry]

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This is my third year in San Carlos, I have no new reflections or impressions, just the strong reminders of why I love it here and why I come back. A few jotted reasons from my journal: PURA VIDA Being back on track...the running track. Surrounded by the mountains of San Carlos THE WARM SUNSHINE (I can also take the warm rain) The movie theater, still the equivalent of $3, add a large popcorn, soda and candy for another $2. Yes, the movies are current, in English with Spanish subittles The forced Spanish. In so many other towns here you can [View Full Entry]

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Four years ago, a group of local women decided to do more for themselves and their community in the small town of Santa Clara, Costa Rica. Besides being full time moms and housewives, these seven women initiated the association of women known as AMURECI. Using recycled materials, AMURECI started off by handmaking and selling banana paper made from the banana trees in their own back yard. Now AMURECI products range from handmade journals to earring made from the seeds of the rainforest. AMURECI recently bought and is slowly renovating a small shop on the road leading to the Volcanoe Arenal, [View Full Entry]

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Today we are invited to join the CCS volunteers and visit some of the other placements in San Carlos. We begin first at a boys only orphanage, 12-18 years. Once they found out Sandy and I were artists they ran to their rooms and got their collections of drawings and paintings. They huddled around and watched closely as we paged through colorful landscapes of volcanoes and palm trees and ocean sunsets, and ooodles of superhero cartoons that were meticulously drawn with care, the kind that all young teenage boys have in the back of their lined copybooks for school. I became [View Full Entry]

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