Fast Living in Paradise

BT50 Gusanos bonitos, Fast Living in Paradise: Things grow here fast. Plants, trees, dogs, my nailsFast Living in Paradise

~ by Perry Gladstone

Things grow here fast: Plants, trees, dogs, my nails.

Especially now in green season, it’s an explosion of life, consumption, and re-birth. Energy changing from one form to the next as fast as it can. Perhaps that explains the casual, “pura vida” attitude locals have about life, there’s no way to keep up with it all, so the best is to just do your thing and let life take its course.

In fact, there is great wisdom in this. Knowing that, given the chance, energy seeks to change quickly; you can take the slow path and get the same or better results.

Put differently, living in Costa Rica is like a cup of too hot coffee.

Hot coffee cools quicker if you leave it alone for five minutes and then add cold milk. This is because heat exchange takes place faster where the difference in temperature is greatest. Adding the milk first lowers the temperature differential, and therefore, the rate of heat exchange. After five minutes, coffee with milk added last will be cooler than when added first.

If, like me, you are in Costa Rica to experience what it’s like to live in paradise, then why not relax and let the coffee do its thing? Same goes for the bank, the mechanic, and the garden.

An example of fast living is the Plumeria caterpillar (tetrio sphinx moth) who eats up to three large leaves in one day. In groups, these colourful horn-tailed creatures can finish up an entire shrub or tree in less than a week. Yes, my Frangipani is leafless after, but it almost always grows back, and in the meantime, I get a front row seat at the paradise theatre’s production of the cycle of life.

*Perry Gladstone is a professional advisor, president of Lifeguards Costa Ballena and a director of the Costa Ballena Chamber of Tourism and Commerce (CACOBA).

INFO: perry@perrygladstone.com

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