i just finished eating a dinner of raddichio, red and green cabbage, tuna, white beans, avocado, tomato, cucumber, shredded carrot and beet, and an egg, with balsamic and salsa lizano dressing. in a moment i will go downstairs and have half or possibly a whole pineapple for dessert depending on how gluttonous i feel, but first i will sit in the rocking chair upstairs on the balcony watching a lightning storm pass. the flashes are intensely bright, but the following thunder lacks the initial transient high frequency crackle my ears associate with close lightning strikes. the surrounding trees might be softening the sound, or the falling rain.
i had an observation about the sounds here as i came home during the first stage of the storm. i had a bag with avocados and mangos hanging from the handlebars and was walking the bike for a change so as to not bruise up the groceries. one thing i have learned is that patience is a virtue in costa rica. riding the bike home with a basket full of groceries might get me to the house quicker, but there is almost certain to be road-churned guacamole or gravel-pothole mango purée covering everything in the bag when i get there. besides, enjoying the walk in the cool of the tropical dusk with an electrical storm lighting the way is an end in itself.
i am walking along listening to the sounds of crickets, frogs, birds, cicadas and the usual other jungle noises. in a previous post i had mentioned a “sounds of the rainforest†meditation record i recalled from childhood, but tonight i remembered another place i have heard these noises reproduced: the pirates of the caribbean ride at disneyland.
or at least i am fairly certain they are reproduced there. memory plays tricks, and though it is my favorite ride and i have been on it probably 30 times i am still not sure.
half a pineapple later.
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