Tonight, I said my goodbyes to my family including my wonderful Tica mom, Rocio.

Saurday Night at Frankie Go

Last night, my older brothers, Carlos and Jose, took me out for one final blow out before I head home. We went to an excellent dance club with a group of Tico friends and some other friends who were in town from Guatamala. They orders bottle after bottle of rum and by the time we stumbled home, I was ready for bed and resigned to the fact that my time in Costa Rica had come to an end.

Last night was the second of the three night that make up my long goodbye from Costa Rica. The group met up at Club Bulivar in Heredia for a greasy bar food and beer tower pre-funk before piling into a rented tour bus for the drive to San Jose where we were deposited at an Indian restaurant. We sat at large two large communal tables and half gallon bottles of rum and vodka were brought out along with glasses of ice and mixers. Just when I thought I couldn't possibly drink any more, plate after plate after plate of delicious food began to appear. Pita bread and a dozen different dips and spreads followed by strips of lamb and chicken, kabobs and babakanoosh. Everybody laughed and ate and enjoyed each others company one last time. After dinner, hookahs came out and we all had a nice smoke as we were entertained by a bevy of beautiful, exotic belly dancers. After dinner, I caught a bus back to Heredia with some of the girls. We said our final "so long for nows" and with fairwell hugs, it was suddenly over. I feel really blessed to have had the opportunity to spend this time here and to have spent it with such an amazing group of people. You will all remain close to my heart.

Tonight, my Tico brothers are taking me and a few friends that are still in town out to one of the local clubs for a final night of partying. It will be my toughest goodbye of all.

On a completely unrelated note, I know that I have been very lazy about maintaining my political web site since I have been on this trip, but I have just added a couple of new posts, so those of you who are fans of The Freeman's Burden will be relieved to know that I will be rededicating myself to sharing news and analysis from a perspective you will not see on the news. I will also be updating and adding new links over the next few days. Thank you for your continuing support of my work.

"This is just tobacco, right?"

Bring on the dancing girls!

At dinner, Max presented us all with t-shirts to commemorate our experience. For our part, we gave him a t-shirt with his picture from the Ropa Americana party on the front and our unofficial motto on the back. For those of you who have seen Brokeback Mountain, there is a particularly silly line where one gay cowboy screams at the other gay cowboy, "WHY CAN'T I QUIT YOU!!!" Ben, and then others, started breaking this line out at comically timed moments throughout the trip and kept us all in stitches with it. None the less, I can't help identifying with that sentiment when I think about Costa Rica. Side note: Doesn't Emily look incredibly hot in this photo!

I wanted to do something nice for my family, so today I cooked my internationally famous fried egg sandwiches for everyone. Rolando ranked the sanwich a "12" on a scale from 1 to 10 and Rocio exclaimed "Esta rico!" I think they liked them.

Tonight was our Ropa Americana party and, sure enough, ridiculous outfits abounded. Ashley-Claire, Emily and I struck a mean pose.

Sarita and Amy were looking particularly fab.

My Program director Max was dressed to kill.

The tax payers of Washington, through their involuntary subsidies to the university, have paid for some pretty incredible things on his trip, not least among them, a mariachi band to play a house party.

In just 5 short days I will be back to Seattle. I can't say that I am looking forward to school, rain, cold, bills, obligations and rules, rules, rules! None the less, my trepidation is tempered by my desire to see my friends, my cats and, of course, to finish college. I am also buoyed by the knowledge that I will be returning to CR in August for a 5 credit program on the political economy of coffee. Already I am looking forward to the beaches, the sun, the beer and, most of all, the wonderful friends that I have made here.

Don't assume this means that I wouldn't still be posting on this site for a while longer. This weekend is going to be filled with a lot of activities. Not content to simply have a going away party, the group is going to have one tonight dubbed the "Ropa Americana" party. We have all gone to the thrift store for the tackiest outfits we could find and will be attired thusly tonight. Stay tuned for embarrassing pictures. Tomorrow is "The Marathon". We are going to meet at a local bar at around 1 and proceed to party into the wee hours. Finally, on Saturday, my brothers are throwing me a going away party at Vertigo, one of the swankiest night clubs in the country. I figure I will spend Sunday resting before flying to Phoenix on Monday and Seattle on Tuesday. After I get back to Seattle, I will scan my rafting and hang gliding pics as well as posting any other pictures that I like, but didn't post before. I hope everyone has enjoyed following my trip on this here little web site. Ain't technology grand? - Don

Down Week

Well I had big plans to go to Rincon this weekend, but alas, the fact that I had a pile of unfinished homework and was running out of time to do it dictated that I stay home and hit the books. That didn't stop me from stepping out Thursday night with my Tico brother Jose and my favorite girlie Ashley-Claire for a little club fun in San Jose. 2night.com snapped this picture at one of the clubs we hit.

Weekend in Nicaragua

Market Street in Granada

Well I am back from my weekend in Nicaragua and what an experience it was. We drove 11 hours from Heredia across the border, through Rivas and into Granada, the oldest city in the country. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the city and by the stark contrast of rich and poor. I later learned that Nicaragua has about 20% wealthy people and 80% living in poverty. Because of its history of colonialism, occupation, and corruption, it is still a country with virtually no middle class. On Friday night, and Saturday and Sunday for that matter, my friend Carrine and I hit the clubs and danced until the wee hours. We met a Nica (the term for Nicaraguans) who used to live in Kent Washington and he served as our guide, taking us to clubs and keeping us out of places we shouldn't be. On Sunday, the group took a boat through some of the 400 islands that dot Lake Nicaragua. Most are no bigger than an acre or two and are owned by some of the wealthy Nicas and gringo ex-pats. On one island, we saw the home of Violetta Chamorra, who's successful run for president in 1990 ended the rule of the Sandinistas and made her the first democratically elected female head of state in the history of the Americas. I spend most of the day on a resort island swimming, relaxing in the sun and playing cards.

This Spanish colonial church stands near the central park of Granada Nicaragua. It is ironic that that the brutal occupation of Nicaragua by the Spanish that set in motion her sad history is also responsible for the incredible architecture that helps make this country so beautiful.