Blog
Luminous Silence
Some time ago, a friend made a remark — or rather, a provocation: “What do you mean you haven’t been to Tajo Zulay? It’s like going to Mars!” His words lingered. I added the site to my top ten...
The value of education
A few days ago, the Ombudsman’s Office warned that the permanent reduction in educational funding is putting the right to education in Costa Rica at risk. Public spending in this sector fell from...
In Praise of Serenity
Annaeus Serenus was a young man with many doubts, like almost all young people. He was neither consul nor general; he left behind no speeches or poems. And yet he stands out as an eloquent presence...
The power of silence
In my long list of places to visit, there was one I had been waiting for the most: the highest gem of Costa Rica—Cerro Chirripó. For a few hours, that place offered me the company of insects, birds,...
The Celebration I Didn’t Attend
I find my father’s letter. I can feel the paper and its folds. The typewritten letters are themselves relics of another era, when paper set the pace of life. I don’t remember saving it, and yet it...
The Breath
It rained without pause, as if the sky were trying to wash everything clean. Doña Rufina walked barefoot along the steep path, through a night that dragged everything along with it. She had walked...
Fallen from the Sky
At 9:07 p.m. on April 23, 2019, in Aguas Zarcas de San Carlos, an uninvited visitor fell from the sky. It entered the planet on a steep trajectory at 14.6 km/s—roughly the equivalent of traveling...
Wearing the Trace of Time
. On a sunny morning, Greivin makes his way down to the Madre de Dios River with a sack slung over his shoulder. He is not alone: Jurgen, Memo, and I follow behind, trying to keep up as he moves...
The Journey of Blue
After several hours on the road, we reach Río Celeste, on the slopes of Tenorio Volcano. We protect ourselves from the downpour with plastic rain ponchos sold by some boys at the park entrance. The...
Widening the world again
I’m standing in line at a supermarket in San José. In front of me, a woman is pushing a cart with a massive box inside: a television. When it’s her turn to pay, she smiles and says to the cashier:...
In Praise of Resistance
I walk with Fernando and Jessica through the halls of the Federated College of Engineers and Architects of Costa Rica, in Curridabat. We arrive at a small central courtyard where a luminary shines,...
We´re all carbon on the move
I’m returning from the Irazú volcano when I see a dark-headed vulture gliding over a field. Curious about what drew it there, I pull the car over to the roadside. In the sky, other vultures trace...