Lair Davis (Our Man in Costa Rica)

Not all adventure occurs when you are young. Retirement also can be an adventure — a little scary perhaps but wonderful, both anxiety-provoking and exciting. I have begun the adventure of making my “gay golden years” glitter. There is not much support out there for gays in their senior years (mature years? prime time? Oh, please! Who are we kidding? Old! I can deal with it, so would everyone please stop trying to come up with a non-offensive word for me! The word “senior” works just fine. Just like a senior in high school, I am a senior in LIFE school.) I am still here! I am retiring! I am celebrating! Every Friday...I’m gonna send Annie a column to share with readers. Enjoy. Please feel free to interact.

December 10, 2004

Sharing My Adventure

My sister has come to Costa Rica for a two-week visit. She is my first houseguest since I moved here last June. We are having a great time together.

Lois lives in a fairly rural area of East Texas, so rural Costa Rica is not such a strange environment for her. This is her first time to travel outside the United States, however, so at age 67 she is experiencing something new. It is never too late for something new.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early (well, early anyway — not so bright unless I wrap this up fairly soon and hit the sack) we will head for the small town of La Fortuna, about four hours away. Situated where the mountains meet the San Carlos Plain, La Fortuna is the nearest city to Volcán Arenal, a living, breathing volcano.

After many years of sleep, Arenal erupted violently in 1968, wiping out one village and killing its inhabitants. Since then, the volcano has continued to be active on a daily basis. Usually there is merely a stream of smoke rising from its summit. Occasionally during the day or night there is a boom and the ground shakes and a few smouldering boulders come rolling down the mountain’s slopes. Sometimes, Arenal becomes even more violent, although not without some warning. Since it continues to be so active, Arenal is one of the most studied and watched volcanoes in the world. Should something big be imminent, tourists are evacuated.

From Volcán Arenal hot rivers flow. It is possible to dip oneself in this hot running water for a refreshing experience. There is nothing quite like lying in a hot running river, with toucans and macaws and parrots fluttering and chattering all about. We’ll do that on Tuesday.

After a couple of days at Arenal, Lois and I will travel to Monteverde, an area (not really a village) that was settled by Quakers from Alabama early in the 1950s. These peaceful folk started dairies and cheese factories, and bought up acres of cloud forest to preserve their water sources. A schoolteacher heard of their work, visited the area, and soon her class and classes all around the world were helping to collect money to buy more acreage. The result is El Bosque de Niños (The Children’s Forest), one of many preserves in the area.

Monteverde is a beautiful place that has become so popular with tourists that it is threatened now with being overrun. Some would turn it into Disneyland South unless the Quakers can succeed in slowing down the onslaught. I thought long and hard about visiting at all, but like everyone else who comes to Costa Rica, I have found it hard to resist visiting at least once. So Lois and I will go there for a couple of days.

At the end of the week, we’ll return to Grecia here in the Central Valley in order to wash off the mud and rest up before our next adventure.

We’ll go to Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast next week.

It´s nice having someone utilize my second bedroom, and to share this country that I love. My next group of visitors from the States have already reserved. Anyone else?

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