Van Boughner

Today I’ll be wearing a t-shirt. The sun will be out in force again
this morning on our walk and I’d like to avoid further burning. I
think what I’ve got now is manageable, and probably contributed to my
needing 10 hours of sleep again last night. It’s only really the tops
of my shoulders that got burnt. No biggie.

Sleeping 8pm to 6am felt pretty good. Everybody goes to bed early
here, because once it gets dark, it gets really dark, and there’s not
much to do on an evening like last night where the power was out.
Outages seem to happen for a few hours every few every day here.

The power came back on sometime between 2 am and 6am this morning. I
enjoyed being the first back into the main common room this morning,
but it was a bit cold. Stephanie came in and asked about the power,
and when I told her it was back on already she was surprised. She
said she had assumed it was still out, and didn’t even try it in her
room. Instead she got ready in the dark, and she chuckled at that.

This morning I can get back on the internet again. It was kind of
nice being forced off of it for a while when the connection wasn’t
working due to the power outage. It kept me feeling relaxed and calm.
Now when I go back on, I’m not planning to look at the yahoo news page
like I usually do. I don’t want to see the news in the outside world
right now, but I would like to see my email.

Breakfast was watermelon juice, watermelon, and cantaloupe. I think I
should have skipped the cantaloupe and not tried mixing it with
watermelon. I was feeling totally great until I did that. The
watermelon juice was delicious. They simply cut and blend the
watermelon, and run the juice through a strainer to remove the seeds.
Tasty. I can’t wait to make it at home.

Our walk was a longer one, and I think it was hotter and sunnier
today. We did the same loop as Monday, but added an extra loop
around the village of Los Angeles. That was quite a bit of extra
climb, but we saw a small soccer field, some extra river tributaries
(some of us decided to do push ups at each bridge, so I remember all
the bridges), and many more cute houses. This seems an idyllic place
to live.

There were a couple of cute, little dogs along the way, which of
course Phillip loves. I have to admit they were cute, and the dogs
around here don’t seem to bark much. Maybe they are really happy.

Lunch was banana smoothies, bananas, and lettuce again. Phillip is
really appreciating the banana smoothies at lunch time. It’s like two
bananas in a glass. Pretty easy to eat them that way. Oh, and there
was papaya too, which I really enjoyed. I love papaya, and it
mixes okay with bananas for me. Dr. Graham’s mother, Bea, sat across
from me and she asked if they would make some papaya smoothie for her.
I tasted some of that and liked it as much as the plain papayas. She
thought it didn’t have as much taste that way though.

Our lecture period after lunch with Dr. Graham was a good one. He
started it with a question and answer period, so he could learn about
us (due to the questions we asked.) And he read three more chapters
of the story he’s been writing, which is about walking in Costa Rica.
The story is a nice way to learn more about the local plant and animal
life, because he has filled the story with descriptions and
information.

Before the lecture, a most delightful thing happened - it began to
rain. It hasn’t rained since we arrived, and I was so excited I went
out to stand in the rain with my shirt off, letting the cool drops of
water land on my burnt shoulders. A delightful, cooling sensation.
Thomas came out there to stand in the rain with me and not long
thereafter Phillip walked up from the room. Steph got a picture of
the three of us in the rain.

At dinner they had rearranged the tables again. I asked about that.
They had noticed in the past that if they left the tables the same all
the time that people would tend to sit in the same place and interact
with the same people at every meal. This way gets everybody talking to
everybody else better.

At the other table I noticed that Robbie was asking Dr. Graham a lot
of questions. He is a very intelligent and passionate 19 year old,
who’s been on the raw food diet for over a year now to reduce his
dependence on insulin (Type I Diabetes). I understand he’s had a lot
of success so far. He eats A LOT of lettuce at dinner, a huge
bowlful, in addition to the mangos he’s eating.

Orange juice and mango smoothie. Much more orange juice this time.
Great for those of us who are missing our oranges. But our oranges
back at home are actually better. First time that had happened.

The rest of dinner was based around tomatoes and mangos and started
with a delicious soup. Tomato and mango blended together with little
chunks of mango in it. Phillip and I both loved it. The third course
was a cabbage and mango slaw on top of tomato halves in a bed of
lettuce. Nice combination and the cabbage made for a different taste
than the other parts of the meal.

After dinner folks watch a movie, The Peaceful Warrior. We’ve seen it
before, so I only watched a little. Instead I figured out how to use
a phone card and called my mother (it was her birthday, Happy
Birthday Mom!)