Selected Posts
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The Eagle Has Landed
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The Finest San José Dorm Room That 9 Bucks Can Buy
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Untitled
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So Begins the Eight-Hour Busride to Puerto Jiménez
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Still Chuggin’ Along
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How's That for a Change of Scenery?
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...until the baby across the aisle from me decided to throw up everywhereIt Was All Going So Well...
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Why does everyone keep laughing when I tell them where I'm going?Only One More Leg to Go
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I Don't Think I Want to Ever Sleep in a Bed Again
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Ondas centroamericano 😎Morning Coffee
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Now Just for the Famous ‘Agressive’ Walk
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All of my bones have been rattledGetting Through These Roads at About 5 mph
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I had to hike up a mountain and cross a river but my 4-day journey into the jungle is finally over 😎¡Soy Aquí!
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Well, it's Not Called ‘the Rainforest’ for Nothing
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Gets Pretty Dark Out Here
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Not a Bad View to Wake Up To
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(Which I have all to myself at the moment)Mi Casa
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These cool little guys have been carrying leaves across the floor of the dorm since I got here. What are they building? Only the ants know for sure...My Roommates
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This is inconvenientMy Phone's GPS Antenna Appears to Have Died
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The tracking app was having a moment, it shall be fixed mañanaFYI I Have Not Made 2 Return Trips to Arizona in the Past Couple Days
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Taking the ‘Bus’ to Dos Brazos
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Rice and Beans by Candlelight
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Funky Lil Fungus
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Gentle Stream
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GPS is Fixed Now: Percussive Maintenance to the Rescue!
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Get a load of this moustache-twirling nightmare fuelThe Worst Bug Ever
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Bats Roosting in Our Storage Room
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The hammock is part of my learning processLa Hora de Estudiando
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Apparently it was harmless but I shall be in no rush to go near the next one I seeIdentified the Nightmare Bug
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This Book Was 100% Written by a Tailless Whipscorpion
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Misty Mountain
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Sounds Like the Howler Monkeys Are Awake
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[Insert Thrilling Jungle Photos Here]
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We Now Return to Our Regularly-scheduled Shitposting
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ToucanTime
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Pure Wes Anderson Ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ
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Puffball
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(Almost) the Whole Gang
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Puffball #2
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Golfo Dulce
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Some Less-Than-Friendly Monkeys
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Bothering Some Crabs
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For Such Pretty Birds, Parrots Sound Absolutely Hideous
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Monkeys Munching
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Shirmps with gusto, no less!Oh Boy, Shirmps™️!
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Are They Free-range Mexicans, at Least?
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I, for One, Support an Immediate Rooster Genocide
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Chilling in an absolute dive with my new German pal whilst the teenage-looking barmaid tries it on with himBar de la Purraja
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Golfo Dulce at Night
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Storm Clouds A-brewin’
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To paraphrase Pat the Bunny:I Genuinely Only Realised it was November Yesterday
I haven't [shaved] in months, but you know it's not because/I've been [doing it for Movember], I'm just lazy and I'm young
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Me llamo es Leon Thot-sky
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Me llamo es Pube-lo Escobar
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Notice: By viewing this picture you hereby agree not to save it to leak to the press if I ever decide to run for political officeMe llamo es...
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I'm Sure This is Fine
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...with some Germans, in Costa RicaWatching Germany v Costa Rica...
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Untitled
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Imagine the sound of a hundred rusty gates swinging in the breezeThe Sky is Full of Parrots
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Thinking About the Krabby Patty Secret Formula
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Lonan
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Kostas on the Coast
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Kostas on the Coast
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Out with the Gals
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My Aspirational Veganism Now Includes All the Chicken I Can Eat
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I somehow managed to make my already-strange-looking toes look even strangerBtw Did I Mention That Both of My Big Toenails Fell Off?
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Tu es mannequin?
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The Cat Decided She Wanted to Be Involved
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Persistence
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Finally Caught a Little Bounce on Camera
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It's like a pacifist Christmas: celebrating the day in 1948 when Costa Rica abolished its entire army, redirected all their defence spending towards education and went on to have the best 20th and 21st centuries of any South or Central American country.¡Feliz Día de la Abolición del Ejército!
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That line is from former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias’ Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. I figured it was hyperbole until I had to explain to the first 20-year-old Costa Rican I met that other countries have armies (and no monkeys; it's hard to tell which was more of a shock).Mine are an unarmed people, whose children have never seen a fighter or a tank or a warship
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¡Not-so-pura-vida!
Of course, the reality of living without an Army is a little more complex than just
everyone decided we were too nice to hit
. Unlike elsewhere in Latin America, Costa Rica hasn't really ever seen the kind of leftist leader who threatens US corporate profits with the possibility of expropriation and wealth redistribution,* so Washington was never compelled to support right-wing death squads, military dictators or genocides here. It's easy to be a happy little hobbit when you're not drawing Sauron's gaze.Plus, Costa Rica has had to bend the knee to the US a mumber of times, such as backing the Contras in Nicaragua under Monge. This marked the end of the Reform State period, and since then Costa Rica has followed the neoliberal economic line. Not unrelatedly, the generation of artists and writers stretching from the 1980s to now is known as
the generation of disenchantment
.So, Costa Rica's peace and prosperity is a little more complicated than it may first appear, and some of those contradictions are likely to intensify as Chinese investment in the country ramps up, threatening its thusfar successful strategy of
play nice with the local nutcase
. Like Japan, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for their constitutional pacifism to become a subject of debate.* There kind of was a leftist leader in Calderón, elite resistance to whom led to the civil war which resulted in the Army's abolition in the first place. His rival Figueres did have some shady dealings with the CIA, but he's a very complicated guy who basically ended up instituting all of Calderón's reforms anyway, plus when the
bloodiest event
in your Latin American country's history is a war that only saw 2,000 people die, you're doing pretty damn well for yourself. -
But, today, I walked the dogs along the beach and spent the rest of the morning painting the kitchen to the sounds of Israel Kamakawiwoʻole and toucans outside. It's about 30°C, there's barely a cloud in the sky and on this day 74 years ago, Costa Rica made a very cool decision and hasn't (yet) looked back; I think I'll celebrate with a beer on the beach.¡Pura Vida!
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🤓 Further Reading for the Keen 🤓
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King of the Hill
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I'll be back for you, PuntarenitasMisjudged the Tides a Bit
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Shame about the rising waterNice Secluded Little Spot
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It's Just Me and the Crabs
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You would not believe the patience that this shot requiredShy Little Crab Dudes
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Fly, Tiny Helicopter-Plane-Thing, Fly
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December Weather
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Storm's A-comin’
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Untitled
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Ay Bird
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Doubleeeeee Rainbowwwww
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Who Let Kubrick in Here?
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Neooooooowwwwww
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My Turn to Cook
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#Squad
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Puntarenitas
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Puntarenitas 2
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Compensatey the Crab
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Bright Night Sky
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That was not so fun32-hour Townwide Internet Outage
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Chow Time
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It's all about Lila the big brown slugForget Clifford The Big Red Dog
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Another Day, Another Weird Spider
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Plaintive Meowing
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Victory
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Beach Outing
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But of course this would be the one time I didn't take a first aid kit, and so had to wrap it in notepad paper and cycle all the way home like that. First aid kit 1, doubters 0.No Pain, No Delicious Coconut Meat
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Very funky-looking and, judging by Philippe's reaction, incredibly painful to brush against.Some Sort of Owl Butterfly Caterpillar
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Home Assistants Are the Worst
Okay Google, turn on the fans.
Okay, turning on loud French Disney music.
What? No. Stop.
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Why can none of the three remotes turn the volume down.
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Google, why?
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I can haz educashun? (not dating myself with that reference at all)Study Buddy
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Gotta keep these hot dogs cool29°C but Feels Like 36°C
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Gotta keep these hot dogs cool29°C But Feels Like 36°C
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Look at This Fuggin’ Moth
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Festival de la Luz 1
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Festival de la Luz 2
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Christmas Tree
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I ❤️ PJ
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Post-Seshtival Pizzas
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The Waves
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Back to the Beach
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Tiny Hermit Crab
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Untitled
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Doing normal bug thingsJust a Normal Bug
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Doing normal bug thingsJust a Normal Bug
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The World's Neediest Dog
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Last Day at Work
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Cooked a Risotto
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Good lord my camera autofocus was not working with me on this oneCute Lil Gecko
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Ezra is a Strange Dog
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Ezra Has Too Much Energy
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You Spin Me Right Round Baby
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Back in Bolita, Baby!
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Time for a Spot of Birdwatching
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Walking the Rio Tigre
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Funky (and Weirdly Flat) Spider Dude
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Drinking Like a Tico
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Gecko
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Hungry Toad
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Hungry Toad
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Cosy Volunteer Meals
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Cicadas Are a Trash Insect
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Untitled
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Beers with a View
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Noisy AF Birds
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Night Hike
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Bolita Sunrise
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Sunrise Timelapse
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View from Big Banana
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The Hawaiian-shirt-clad old Canadian guy who owns this jungle hut place looks like Santa, and as far as I can tell he has a side hustle going on where he takes videocalls from children just after Christmas as ‘Santa on holiday’A Spot of Christmas Cheer
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Leaving Puerto Jiménez
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Leaving Puerto Jiménez
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¡Colectivo a la Frontera!