Category: Recollections
Stories about events that happened well before the time I wrote the story. Mainly recollections of earlier travels before I started posting on Facebook.
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THE FIVE CENT BELT
At eight years old, I found myself living aboard a leaking boat in Alaska, taken suddenly from my mother by my father. In that strange and quiet world, a five-cent belt became more than just something to hold up my pants—it became a small anchor of comfort in a drifting life.
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THE WRITER’S DEN
I had a good job in 1984 at an agricultural research center called CATIE in Costa Rica. I was tasked with writing a complete textbook on agroforestry. It would have taken a year, maybe two. It was a secure job at a very reputable international center. I quit the job after about five months. I […]
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BOLIVIA 1989
When my folks told me that an exchange student from Bolivia would be living with them at the family home in northern Wisconsin I knew right away that a time would come when I would make it truly an ‘exchange’. In July of 1989, I gripped my seat on a plane landing at La Paz’s […]
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WEEK ONE AS A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER
Forty years ago today, I set foot in Costa Rica for the first time. I arrived as an altruistic, just-out-of-college, cleanly shaven youngster who was determined to save the world from an impending environmental disaster. I figured I could do that in two years as a US Peace Corps Volunteer. Those two years evolved into […]
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JASMINE MEMORIES
Human beings have a remarkable ability to remember aromas. All of our senses can be connected with memories but perhaps none evoke nostalgia as much as smell. The olfactory bulb has easy access to a part of the brain known as the amygdala, which plays a role in evoking emotional memories. Yesterday I got a […]
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THE PAPER ROUTE
There’s been talk in our household lately of our first jobs. Joseph just secured his first job. He’ll be helping in the fight against world hunger by feeding students at a university burger shop. It’s perfect for Joe as he’s right on the university campus and allows him to save up for that coveted possession […]
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THE TOUGHEST JOB YOU’LL EVER LOVE
It was 35 years ago today that a bunch of recent college graduates in agriculture, forestry and environmental education and I landed in Central America to begin our two-year Peace Corps Costa Rica Volunteer assignments. We all got to know each other a few months earlier in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. The Peace Corps flew […]
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COME TO CORN ISLAND
My Nicaraguan counterpart, Juan José, and I were real amateurs at our jobs. The Institute of Tourism sent us on a mission to go to Corn Islands to bring back some great pics and promotional material. We were really out of our league. As I recall Juan José had a degree in commerce but he […]
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THE NANCE VENDOR
To most viewers, this image in Masaya would just be a simple snapshot of a typical Nicaraguan street scene. But I see a whole capsule of Nicaraguan history and culture. The vendor is selling nancite (or nance) fruit. This is a small, sweet and yellow fruit found in tropical America. This photo was taken in […]
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