Reblogged

I think this is the first time I’ve ever posted something someone else has written. This was done by Kris Cunningham, another expat to the area. I met Kris and her husband, Joel, a year or so ago when I had my motorcycle up for sale, and have spent some time talking to the two of them at some functions held by a Yahoo Group called “Gringos in David.”

Kris and Joel are having WAY too much fun down here. Recently they visited a remote hostel deep in the rainforest in Costa Rica, Rambala Jungle Lodge. I thought my readers would find her post interesting, so click on this to see how some people live down here.

http://blog.thepanamaadventure.com/2013/12/13/living-simply/

There are a lot of people here in Panama that live in the same conditions that Javier does. It’s true that most people in the States wouldn’t choose to live like this, and most would look at Javier’s living conditions with a bit of horror. And while I wouldn’t choose to live like this, I also feel that he’s a lot better off than the homeless in the States. He has a place of his own.

It has a touch of Thoreau’s Walden Pond abode to it. It instantly reminded me of a quote by Sterling Hayden from his book, Wanderer:

“‘I’ve always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can’t afford it.’  What these men can’t afford is not to go.  They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of ‘security.’  And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine–and before we know it our lives are gone.

“What does a man need–really need?  A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in–and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.  That’s all–in the material sense. And we know it.  But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.

“The years thunder by.  The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience.  Before we know it the tomb is sealed.”