Fantasy World

(7/7/11 @ 19:46)

I really just can’t get over how magical this place is. I couldn’t figure out the adjective for awhile, nothing seemed to fit quite right. But then I got it: magical.

It’s like it came right out of a fantasy book. Lord of the Rings or something (ha, ya, like I’ve ever read that). But it’s the kind of place that I can picture heroes of a book stumbling through in the middle of their quest.

The town of Llano Bonito really is right at cloud level, so there’s a 33.33% chance the clouds will be overhead and you can see the lush, green coffee valleys below. And there’s a 33.33% chance the clouds will be BELOW you, so that your mountain and all the other mountains poke out as if islands in a sea of clouds. And there’s a 33.33% chance that the clouds will be exactly on you, so that you will see – nothing. Literally living in the clouds.

Time and distance mean nothing here. I asked someone where the school was, and they pointed to a tiny blue roof way in the distance on a different mountain. Then we walked there.

All of the houses are bright and colorful. My house is bright green – inside and out. I feel like I’ve been shrunk down and am living inside of a bowl full of lime jell-o. Other houses are orange, purple, blue . . . A common get to know you question is “what color is your house?”

When I went on a walk today with my host-family, I had an “ah-hah!” moment about how Costa Rica (“Rich Coast”) got its name. Although I’m not actually on the coast, I did see the richness of the country, so I’m saying that it counted. We walked (hiked!) for maybe an hour, and we ate so much fruit. On every bend was a new tree, and in a heart-beat the kids were up there throwing fruit down. So much fruit that I’ve never even heard of before. There was this one fruit that looked & felt like a green egg, and when you break open the hard peel there are a whole bunch of pomegranate-like seeds inside. You have to suck out the seeds, because you can’t eat the shell/peel. I kept asking myself: how is this real?

I think I get kind of annoyed when people wish different worlds existed (except Harry Potter. That one is an acceptable wish . . . and Narnia). But when people just watch movies and wish for the world to be like those in the fantasy movies, I want to tell them to get off their butt, go outside, and open their eyes.

If we had fairies, would we appreciate them any more than we do humming birds? If we had Avatar’s tree-network, would it get any more attention than the already existing networks of red woods? If we had plants that light up, would we care about them any more than the plants that close when you touch them? If we had dragons, would they mater more than fatty, 10m long crocodiles? Would we care about mermaids any more than we care about fish & whales & sharks & dolphins? Is Atlantis somehow more majestic than Machu Picchu or Angkor Watt? The whomping-willow compared to giant carnivorous plants?

Anything you want,* we have a version of.

I wasn’t planning on this being a “save the trees” kind of blog, but I do wish that people realized that their actions have consequences. And while they’re spending their time day dreaming of a different, somehow better or “cooler” world, they’re chipping away at the already amazing one we all have right under our feet. It doesn’t make sense to long a different world while simultaneously destroying one that is pretty close to fantastical.

Sometimes I just want to shake people and buy them a plane ticket.

*Except for a) talking plants/animals, & b) flying animals that you can ride on, which I think is our greatest short coming.