W
hen life expectancy hovers around eighty years, it is
hard to grasp geologic time—the eons of subtle shifts in
the land, air, and water. As the Central American isth-
mus was forming, the open waters between North and South Amer-
ica were closing, permanently changing the planet’s ocean currents,
weather, and temperatures. This land would become home to coun-
tries like Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua, some of our newest
neighbors on the American-continent block. For me, taking up resi-
dence eons later in Costa Rica, and then being awakened and shaken
by earthquakes, watching red lava spit from the bowels of an active
volcano, and being drenched by storms and blown by trailing hurri-
canes as they lashed this lush paradise, were continual reminders that
what began five million years ago still carries on to this day.
One fall afternoon in 998 , in the safety of my home outside San
José, I stared outside and saw dark clouds open up and torrents of heavy
rains pour down. As rainwater surged off rooftops, streets were flooded
and embankments were washed away. I was witnessing the fringe of
the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since 780. At its worst, rain fell at
Chapter 11
Live and Learn
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have
to worry about answers.
— Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s RainbowKevin D. Walker, The Grand Food Bargain: And the Mindless Drive for More,
DOI 10.5822/ 978-1-61091-948-7_11, © 2019 Kevin D. Walker.