Here and There and Back to Monteverde

It's August, three months since I last posted anything here, and we're back in Monteverde. What started out as decidedly a one-year adventure has become a two-year adventure. Why stay another year?

Well, on our first day in Monteverde after summer travel, we met two bugs we had never seen before. That alone is a reason to live here.

We couldn't move back into our rental house right away, but staying with my great-aunt Sue and cousin-once-removed Richard we were made to feel right at home.

I started again teaching English to the seniors' group in town, with Alia my assistant.

Alia was all smiles on her way to the first day of first grade, knowing it will be a year of many firsts.

Unlike in kindergarten, this year she'll stay until 3pm, and she'll start each day with all 100 first- through twelfth-graders in the morning asamblea.

It's good to be returning to some routines and starting new ones. But before this, we had a fun and fascinating summer.

It started when school let out with more free time to explore the cloud forest here.

Then we met friends Nilofer, Shashi, Zara, and Anushka in Cuba. We enjoyed the rooftops of Havana.

We rode in a few '50's cars to explore beyond the city and learned from taxi drivers about life in Cuba. On father's day, it was nearly impossible to find a taxi because the drivers all preferred to be home with their kids.

One taxi -- bought new by the driver's dad over 60 years ago -- needed a repair along the way. The bodega by the side of the road had the part, and the driver had it installed in no time.

We found signs of the days when the USA had a big commercial presence in Cuba...

... and, in the Museum of the Revolution (Alia's top-pick attraction in Havana), homage to those who dreamed and fought for a better way (and some scorn for the cretins who didn't)...

... and roadside declarations that the fight isn't over.

Art everywhere...

... quiet evenings in front of the television...

... the countryside...

... and the sea all around.

Then we were back in Oakland, amidst the delights of family and friends, familiar places, favorite foods, free time to play, fun at Papa's stained glass studio.

After nearly a month in California, we found ourselves missing some things about Monteverde. Like the birds. Then I saw this poster outside a vegan ice cream shop:

I guess we could stay in the Bay Area and still savor the essence of parrots and raptors. But we decided to return to Monteverde for one more year anyway.