Para mi sobrina Molly - Viajar in Costa Rica...

March 08, 2005

Para mi sobrina Molly

Hola mi sobrina, Molly!

Yo no say exactemente que tu necissitas para escuela, pero yo voy a tartar. (I don’t know exactly what you need for school, but I will try.) Yo no tuve la opportunidad para estudiar los plantos de Costa Rica mucho. (I haven’t had the opportunity to study the plants of Costa Rica much)

Porque hay mucha agua y sol en Costa Rica, hay muchas flores tambien. (Because there is a lot of water and sun in Costa Rica, there are many flowers as well) Ayer, cuando camine de trabajo, yo me siente el flor de un arbol de naranja. (Yesterday, when I walked home from work, I smelled the flower of an orange tree) Lo se siento tan bueno tan la fruita (It smelled as good as the fruit). El arbol usa sus flores para attractar insectos. (The tree uses its flowers for attracting insects). Los insectos ayuda el arbol hace naranjas. (The insects help the tree make oranges).

I hope this is helpful. I’m sure that some of my verb tenses and spelling are incorrect!

Love,

Tu tio, Vaughan

Posted by Vaughan on March 8, 2005 04:05 PM
Category: In San Luis

Comments

Hola Tio Vaughan (Is that right?)!

Gracia for writing me a note. I will take this to school. Can you take a picture of the orange flower? When I first came to the Caribbean I had mosquito bites all over my body too! Love. molly

Posted by: Molly on March 11, 2005 03:52 PM

vaughandi,
whats up? i just was checking out your page, nice stuff. im glad the framing went well. sounds like your getting your self a nice international experience going on.
things in maine are well. we are presently getting a major dumping of 6 to 20 inches. this winter was great when you left and has only get better. 90 inches so far.
im sure you probably heard the news, but deering has made a rule because of the greatest championship[ team of all time. only one teacher per team now. it was too unfair i guess.
about the costa rican buses, all latin american buses are very cheap by our standards and to my knowledge it has nothing to do w/ our govts (theyre not subsidized). it has a little (very little) to do w/ underdeveloped compettiive adv. (lower salaries for employees, lower/no insurance), and more to do with barriers to entry. at least thats how i see it. a bus can just pop up when it see a need in the market (very capitalistic). and if you think about it, at say a bus that is full (which they always are somehow down there) has 40 people on it, each paying $2 an hour or something, thats $80 an hour. gas is $10 or something, the driver is $2, thats a ton of money profit (yes profit).
the chinatown bus (from boston to nyc) took advantage of that opportunity and was able to do the trip from boston to nyc for 1/4 the price of greyhound (literally). they saved primarlly by always having full buses, not paying for unproductive routes (liike greyhound), and not using a terminal.
i have spent way too many hours on buses in latin amer contemplating just this. we have to do better, but i dont know if its practical on a large scale here w/ peoples love of personal cars and disgust of public transporation.
see if you can figure something out,
enjoy life down there,
take care,
borland

Posted by: the rza on March 11, 2005 08:51 PM

Jeff -

Sorry to hear about the 3 on 3 rules. It's quite understandable after our run last year.

I understand the money generated here, but the cost of a bus is enormous. From what I've heard, vehicles cost twice what they do in the states for initial cost and maintenance. Add to that the condition of the roads and you're talking about a quick depreciation of capital. I guess that helps deter cars. Hell, maybe we should just rip up the roads in the U.S.! It would be nice to see SUVs used on the terrain for which they were designed.

There may be a difference there... government subsidies to highway projects and the like. Or (if it is true) the 50% tax on vehicles brought to Costa Rica (if it is true, que bueno!)

ANyone else have some thoughts?

Posted by: Vaughan on March 16, 2005 01:15 PM

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