A review of a book written by one of Uvita Costa Rica's long time expatriot residents

   An introspective journey on the part of a man that has lived a life that many of us now dream of.

   The world around us seems to be in a state of decay. We humans are inclined to think that "humans know best" and so we, with great abandon, strive to alter nature to suit our own comfort.

   Our human nature is such that we'd like to put a positive spin on the way things are going on Planet Earth, but it is getting harder to do so.  This is the author's account of moving to Costa Rica in 1973. That year witnessed the early stages of sweeping cultural and ecological changes. Some of these changes were brought on by the war in the north in Nicaragua, and others by vast development resulting from Costa Rica's open door policy to immigration. In the simple telling of the tale, one looks for optimism, but fails to find it. This is not a criticism. I think that had he tried to irrationally shine that apple, I'd not have felt nearly as compelled to write this review.

   I have been in Costa Rica since 1999 and feel very much at home in the potent nature of this wild little country, all noisy in its orderly chaos. I have always felt like I got here to this planet just a little bit late. I used to go to the coast in California USA and look out at that beautiful coast line with its few fortunates that get to live on the cliff overlooking the beach, and with it's highway running all along it, and I'd feel like I had missed it.

   I used to visit Yosemite, one of the most astoundingly beautiful places on the globe, and see the banks and the McDonalds and feel that I had missed it. The Indians got to enjoy the earth in its pristine quality and us modern folk only get to imagine what it must have been like.

   My neighbor is Abuelo, meaning "Grandfather". Abuelo is 74 as of this writing. He has adopted me. I love to talk with him about his childhood and younger years. He tells me tales of his grandfather's escapades of living in Costa Rica, a time prior to the big trees being cut down. This obviously goes back a ways.

   More recently Abuelo has taken me out into the jungle behind our homes and he shows me the residue of what was once his family's home, where he and Abuela raised their kids. The family has moved closer to town, and the jungle has reduced the once family home to a dark spot on the jungle floor.

   I like to ask Abuelo about tales prior to when the trees were cut down, and he obliges. I am fascinated to hear about a culture that lived in and among such profound nature.

   "The Gringo's Hawk" is about this time, but as told by one of my own kind, a gringo, who opted to walk away from the comforts of electricity, hot water, and a controllable environment and chose to live in the inaccessible jungle and dominant nature of Costa Rica, and with it's people. I'm fascinated.

   Mr. Marañon seems to have known what I wanted to read about. A nature that cannot be dictated to but that dictates, and humans that frantically try to negotiate this fact. Well, over the years, by shear extermination of the trees, it would seem that man has achieved his objective, although as the planet rots out from under us, nature is likely to have the last laugh.

   The experience of living in Costa Rica has been truly life enriching, although I have a feeling that I have a few extra lines on my face that perhaps wouldn't have shown up for a few more years yet had I stayed back in my home land. A large part of the journey has been learning a new culture. Learning to speak a whole different code of communication that we call language and using this knowledge to try and actually stand in the shoes of the other culture and see life from an entirely different paradigm.

   I don't know if it is arrogance or simple human nature to assume that the point of view of those that live in other lands is somehow similar to, or shares the basic tenets of our own point of view. It is a revelation to realize that the new culture is not based on, and in fact, is hardly influenced by anything having to do with our own country. It is this point that makes living in a land different than the one of our birth so fascinating, and challenging. (Granted, this has changed dramatically since our arrival here. The U.S.'s influence is now clearly present in Costa Rica.)

   The Gringo's Hawk catalogues the cultural struggles and joys that are to be expected when one moves to a foreign land. But after reading the author's experience, I'm inclined to think that Costa Rica serves up a unique flavor of culture shock when compared to other lands.

   I think that it might be, in fact, that moving to this land also involves some virtual time travel. When we moved here in '99 (click for my story), it felt like we were stepping back into a time that preceded my birth in my home land. To put a number to it, maybe 50 years back in time, which made the move for us just that much more enjoyable. To read of the author's move here in the early 70's is wild stuff. It is like stepping way back into a remote past when one might not be surprised to see dinosaurs walking the land, or men running through the jungle with spears.

   So at this point you, dear reader, are probably wondering just what the heck is in "The Gringo's Hawk". Enough of all this commentary.

   Access to the author's neck of the Costa Rican woods was by small aircraft and then boat. Once there, nature's wonderland opened wide: "I took in the surrounding scenery and found that I was deeply attracted to everything I'd encountered since my arrival in this corner of Costa Rica - the unspoiled ocean, beaches, reefs, forests, the thriving wildness, and the simplicity of the residents' lifestyle. It seemed as if I'd finally found a place that was real, where people knew how to live for life's sake, not for misleading and eventually disappointing diversions".

   We have to look harder now to see these things, but to a limited degree, this will be a visitors experience when they visit this little country, even now. But the book is not a glossy view of life in paradise restored. Quite the contrary.

   Early on we are introduced to the reality of a witch's vindictive power and how the forest people cohabitate with such elements. The author passes through various endeavors in the struggle to "make it" here. Cattle ranching, chocolate and coconut farming, furniture making, eco-tourism, attempted murder, violence, and scandal. Financial, emotional, spiritual, physical, familial; all aspects of life are dealt with in "The Gringo's Hawk". I particularly enjoy the author's intimate understanding of nature: the trees, the insects, phases of the moon, and the marine life that figure so prominently into life here on the coast.

   Some will say that it is my own experience of living here that makes me regard this book as such a good read, but I don't think that's right. I think that the book reads well, moves along at a good pace, and perhaps most importantly, is a microcosm peek at what we humans are doing on a global scale.

   Recently, Time magazine featured a cover that read: "Be Worried, Be VERY Worried". It talks in the featured articles about how we have hit the "tipping point". In the past, global warming was debated as to whether it was actually happening, I guess because the phenomenon was subtle enough that some could deny it. Among the proponents of global warming it was thought that, since nature changes at a glacial pace, there would be time to find the remedies and then implement those remedies. The "tipping point" has changed the landscape on this topic a bit. I guess that now, no one is denying the reality of global warming. The rate at which the Earth is heating up is catastrophic. I think that having this microcosmic peek into the footprint we leave on this planet is of interest to a lot of people out there, perhaps with a view to learning how best to proceed.

   The book does not leave us on any sort of an optimistic note. I know the eco-lodge where the author and his family have re-forested and the trees are gargantuan and well populated with all sorts of arboreal creatures. Unfortunately, the acres owned by the author stand as an oasis in a sea of development. Granted, I have had a number of Tico's thank me for the fact that our kind are here buying up all the land, since they feel that they made a royal mess of the whole thing, and we foreigners seem given to conservation. Even so, the ocean still turns red with mud from the runoff after a rain due to all the new lots and roads that are being built up in the coastal mountain range.

   The Gringo's Hawk merits a read, even if one's interest is not in Costa Rica per se, but for anyone that would like to read a modern account of a man finding his way on this planet and discovering the clear fundamental truth that, left to its own, nature does indeed know best.