A Waterslide Proposal

A BEAUTIFUL WATERSLIDE COURTESY OF WORLD WIDE WEB

Back in the little town of Drake I look for Sergio who promised to show me the rapel course he is building over a waterfall. He's nowhere to be found, but David, a 22 year-old enterprising gringo from Florida is lying in his hammock overseeing two men cutting wood for David's soon-to-be sushi restaurant. It will likely make Drake the lowest per-capita-sushi-eating-town-with-a-sushi-shop.
David saddled up his four-wheeler and took me on a tour of the forest where we found Sergio in the midst of building his zip-line and rapel course on David's step-father-in-law's farm. (David married a Costa Rican woman, Rebeca and they have a baby boy. Like I said, he is a very enterprising young man.) On the way back, David and I have a beer in his favorite jungle-perch cantina. The bar's deck pokes out over a steep slope with views to Drake Bay. David explains his dream of building a children's waterslide park right here off this deck. A few slides here and there, pools at the bottom, a sandwich and drink bar up here. For $15,000 I could get $2,000 a month once it's up and running. I consider the current economic climate - also a slippery downward spiral - then run a quick cost-benefit analysis. I finish my beer and pass on the Great Waterslide Proposal of Drake Bay.

EX-PATS WAY OFF THE GRID - The day ends as I paddle a sea kayak across silvery, calm Drake Bay with Sean in a boat beside me. Sean and his wife and daughter paddle sea kayaks a half mile up a clear, canyoned river to their simple home in the jungle. They've lived up the Aguila River for years and raised Star there. Sean is a surf and kayak guide and leads unique free-dive excursions into the marine-rich Pelagic Zone (where the continental shelf drops off and the big fish hang out). Their jungle life shocks me on one hand with its raw extremeness and on the other with its normalcy; I realize that despite the kayak commute, river baths, thatch-hut kitchen, and no electricity, it is a life far more routine and predictable than mine.