Happy Friday, All!
You already know how we do it ’round here! “Put your hands in the air … and wave them like you sure ‘nough care!” T.G.I.F.! We live in a world where you can think what you want to think … and our thoughts are our “control panel” for our lives!! So think awesome thoughts … especially about yourself!
“Pick and choose your battles, boy!”, my dad “Big Ike” often told me when I had gotten in trouble at school or had some issues at work in my younger years. “You have to learn to walk away from some folks some times … they ain’t worth the trouble!” It took me a little while … like fifteen to twenty years and a “lock up” to figure that one out … I told y’all before that sometimes my Dad, “Big Ike”, with his “dropped out of school in 9th grade” education, spoke in parables!! Here was a man who pretty much “self educated” himself by “bumping up against” things in life and figuring out the proper response. He was one of those people who always had a newspaper in his hand as he sat back in his “easy chair” in our humble living room in Apartment 5A, 135 S. Lexington Ave., White Plains, NY after a long day of work on his feet with Pinkerton Detective Agency. I often found my way to his lap as he sometimes taught BOTH of us how to read some of the more challenging words in the hometown newspaper, “The Reporter Dispatch”.
So, here I am in Puerto Viejo, Limon, Costa Rica … waking up to a third or fourth day of rain … I lost count. It is not cold rain, though … The surfers are still out, and the tourists and locals are still mingling in the streets at the multiplicity of “sidewalk shops” that adorn the streets and the beach. It is quite the historical background for the blending of “Tico” culture, Jamaican folkways and mores, tribal remnants of a very proud people who lived in peace and subsistence in harmony with nature … What a concept, heh?!? I mean, it’s all cool to want to “harness nature” and control the world as some of our so-called leaders claim to need to do but we MUST NOT forget the “harmony with nature” piece … In case you haven’t noticed lately this winter yet … NATURE RULES!!
I have decided to tackle “retirement residency” here after getting this pretty cozy cabin/apartment in an prime location of town … and for ME! Two blocks to “Taxi Central”, three blocks from the beach and some oh so scenic backgrounds … and less than 50 meters to the store on the corner and the pharmacy/clinic next to it! Wednesday morning, I had an appointment with a “tribal doctor” of one of the local tribes called the “Bri Bri”. Barry Stevens had given me his name and number when we first met and I gave him a call the day after New Years as I sat at a beach side restaurant enjoying my first ever Caribbean lobster with coconut and some grilled vegetables and rice. Of course, I had two pina coladas of an intense nature on the side! Don Candido told me to be at “his office” at 8:30am the next morning. I got a taxi from “Taxi Central” around 9 and got to his property at 10am or so. Okay … so I dressed in some jeans, a typical shirt from Valencia, Spain, and some comfortable blue leather loafers I got in Barcelona for a sale price of 99 Euro. When I got out of the taxi, it was still raining, and Don Candido met us at the gate. He led me down a path through what could ONLY be called a “rain forest” complete with rain … and MUD!!! En route to his tribal doctor’s office, which you can see on “Youtube” when entering “Tururuwak Herbal Medicine” (Mr. Robert’s Treatment), through a menagerie of plants and trees and leaves … and chickens … I felt like I was being filmed in a documentary of sorts! In fact, one chicken was so nosey that it just jumped into the “doctor’s tribal office” while I sat there … and gave me the once over!!!
When I got back home, I washed my shoes in water and put some baby oil on the soft “baby butt” leather …. and then made my teas which Don Candido provided me with as part of the first visit with him which cost $50 USD. I just finished drinking one of the teas that he suggested I drink in the morning. Herbal medicine and alternative treatments don’t rely on prescription drugs and surgeries but seek to get the patient involved in their own treatment … from a thinking standpoint and a spiritual connection with ones own body, as well as the use of plants, herbs and natural treatments. By now, some of you may be thinking that I am a little loco! I have always sought alternatives to “taking chemical drugs” to heal my natural body, especially since some of them have the worst side effects!! So, I will return to visit him in a couple of weeks and call him tomorrow to let him know how the teas make me feel!
Have a wonderful weekend, stay dry and warm … and lift each other up, y’all!
To view Barry and Nancy Stevens website for “El Puente”, the correct website address is: www.elpuente-thebridge.org. Visit it today!
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Provides educational assistance, food, microloans, and training to people living near the poverty line as a step toward self sufficiency. Includes information about …
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Peace,
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 