We Are Snails

Today, we leave central America to head back “home”. It’s funny to use the word home because so many places have been our home over the past three months.

Carrie likes to say that we are snails.

Why?

We take our homes with us.

And being with Carrie feels like home to me. It has almost since the first time I met her.

So being with each other, and taking a backpack and a suitcase around the world, we definitely do take our homes with us.

At the same time, Colorado is where we both grew up, and no matter how much we travel, America is where we are from. We both envision having “homes” around the world, and there are places we’ve been that feel more like “home” than others. So far though, the United States will always be the place where I identify myself most, and Colorado still feels like home to me.

Read the rest of this entry »

Continue reading "We Are Snails" »

Podcast #4: San Jose to Granada, Nicaragua

Gold museum
Rental Car (cheap meant $42 + $12)
Day 1 thwarted activities (Irazu)
Guayabo National Park
-rain
Awesomeness of Suzuki and mud bogging
Day 2 thwarted activities (Poas + La Paz)
Day 3 activities (Poas) sloth – led to La Paz waterfall gardens (great – incl. butterfly garden)
Awesome brief view of Poas crater, awesome brief view of lagoon at upper crater
Thanksgiving
Work day Saturday
Checked out Sunday
Dropped car at airport
Kenneth from Vetrasa rental car brought us in to San Jose, which was great.
Stayed in Costa Rica backpackers hostel – thought would be good b/c close to station for Ticabus, but not really.
Slept at 11:00 PM, caught taxi from hostel at 2:15 AM
Got to bus terminal at 2:30 AM and got last 2 seats on bus.
Lady detained at border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Ticabus to terminal arrival to UCA Managua
Guys fighting over Jonathan’s bags
UCA to Granada city center, taxi to hotel Terrasol, since we didn’t know where it was.
Hotel Terrasol
Granada – a nice surprise, beautiful, fells safe.
$15 massage
$1 drinks
Meeting up with Martin at the old market, getting to new market
Fort against William Walker
Volcan Masaya

Read the rest of this entry »

Continue reading "Podcast #4: San Jose to Granada, Nicaragua" »

Top 10 Most Influential Books

We have been get a lot of questions from people about how we’re able to do what we do with traveling and working.
There are some very specific how-to things I can teach on this topic, but I think as important is the mental process which has to take place in order to achieve whatever you want in life.
I was given some excellent philosophies to start off with in life by my parents, and those grew, at least in part, because of the books I read.
So, here are the books I consider the most influential in my life up to this point.
The Giving Tree
My parents used to read this book to me a lot. If you haven’t read it, you should. And then you should read it again.
When you think you’ve given all you can give, there’s always a bit more that you can offer. And even though marketing makes the world go ’round, love makes it a worthwhile trip.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
A high school counselor told me I should read this book. Then a successful business person told me I should read this book. Then an administrator at a college told me I should read this book. When a massage client told me I should read it, I bought a copy on Amazon that day. Rich Dad, Poor Dad changed my thinking about work and about what my role is in working (and really, in the world). It also helped me understand the value of an asset, and what an asset is. I’m still working on putting these concepts into action in my life (and hope I will do a better and better job of that every day).
Rich Dad, Poor Dad started this process for me.
Cashflow Quadrant
This is a better book than Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and offers more practical and concrete things you can do and use. But you need Rich Dad, Poor Dad to get the foundation which will get you to this one. HIGHLY recommended.
Think and Grow Rich
Napoleon Hill spent a large number of unpaid years studying the 500 most successful people of the 1910’s and 1920’s. he summarized his findings, and what these people had in common, in his still best-selling work “Think And Grow Rich.” Lots of people don’t like this book because it’s a bit challenging in terms of the language used (for the time period… there are a fair number of things that are considered sexist by today’s standards, but were normal at the time). Also, I think it’s a bit repetitive. But it reached me at exactly the right time in my life for me to read and apply its message. Think And Grow Rich is absolutely worth a shot to see if it will do the same thing for you.
Atlas Shrugged
I had to read this book three times before I could get into it. It’s over 1,000 pages and has very small print (at least in the copy I read). If you want the shortened version, try Anthem (also by Ayn Rand), but you will miss something about the value of decision and self-governance if you do not read this book. There is a section at the end that is absolutely brilliant and kept me awake reading it for quite a few hours/ I highly recommend Atlas Shrugged.
Anatomy of the Spirit
If you’re not open to opening your mind into different ways of thinking about sacraments, chakras, spirituality, and what connections between cultural and religious traditions mean in light of the bigger picture of humanity , then don’t read this book. If you are open to it, Anatomy of the Spirit could be as spiritually awakening for you as it was for me.
Molecules of Emotion
Did you know that chemically, emotions move 16 times quicker than logic (as in the actual physical electrical and chemical responses in your body)? 16 TIMES! (That doesn’t give you permission to react emotionally in inappropriate times, but I learned the 16 times part from this book.) People didn’t used to know this. Candace Pert, PhD. walks you through the process of how it was discovered that there is a chemical basis for emotions. How does she know? She’s the one who discovered it and was nearly given a Nobel prize for her discovery.
(Read some of my favorite excerpts)
The Celestine Prophecy
Perhaps this book also reached me at the right time. I was in 8th grade, starting to learn about my own spirituality. Looking back on it, I was trying to reconcile a conflict of feelings between my Catholic upbringing with feelings of nautralism and transcendentalism I was naturally experiencing (even though I couldn’t have expressed that conflict at the time). My dad gave me The Celestine Prophecy. It helped me a lot in my recognition that there is a higher power which guides us all, and that we can tap into that higher power at any time we choose, and do good works in the world through choosing this power we all have within.
The Four Hour Workweek
Based on my recommending this book heavily, several people have expressed that Tim Ferriss created for me the vision of what I wanted to do with traveling and working. But that’s not the case at all. I knew what I wanted to do – I just needed Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Workweek to have permission that it was okay for me to do it. I don’t know why I needed the permission, but the explanations of why and how, and reading a book by someone else who’s done and is doing it, gave me the example I needed in order to take action on living a location independent lifestyle. This book comes highly recommended, but I recommend you at least read Rich Dad, Poor Dad before reading The Four Hour Workweek.
The Prophet
I think, from the writing on the inside cover of this book, that my mom’s friend Pam gave this book to my dad sometime in the late 60’s/early 70’s. I must have found it in the basement and started reading, although I remember it always being a part of my books. The Prophet has carried me through some times that I had no answers, partially because it’s forced me to take a step back from my life, and partially because it’s offered wisdom and a voice for me that I’ve never found anywhere else. (One of the readings for our wedding was a modified chapter/teaching from The Prophet.) Without this book, I would feel that my library was incomplete and lacking in something fundamentally basic to humanity.
Where the Pavement Ends/The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
There are books which have been more influential on my thinking, but these two have recently been very inspirational to me.
Where the Pavement Ends
This is about a 27 year old woman named Erika Warmbrunn who decided to travel from the South of Russia, across Mongolia and China, to the sea south of Vietnam. (Through the magic of Facebook and the Internet, she’s now following us as we travel and blog our experiences. You’ll see her comments in various posts on the site.) She didn’t have any plans for where she would stay, she didn’t know anyone in those countries, and she only spoke Russian, French, and English (not Mongolian, Chinese, or Vietnamese) at the outset of her trip. One thing I haven’t mentioned: she traveled exclusively by bike. (I don’t want to do what she did, mind you.) I found her story highly inspirational.
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
I’ve talked about this one recently on GreenJoyment. William Kamkwamba survived drought-starved Malawi and built his family a windmill using a few books he found at a library. While being called possessed, crazy, and demonic by those around him, he took action. He built his windmill out of an old bike, PVC that he melted and pounded flat, some trees that he and some friends chopped down, and a dynamo that was used to light a bicycle light. I found his story highly inspirational and look forward to meeting him someday.
So that’s 12 books (sorry… couldn’t do just 10).
There are many more I could add, but these have formed a lot of foundational principles in me.
They have also helped me believe both in my own ability to accomplish what I want in the world, and given me the practical tools to go out and get things done to work towards what I want to accomplish.

Continue reading "Top 10 Most Influential Books" »

Slides From Presentation

I did a presentation tonight using GoToMeeting for a Prepaid Legal Group in Loveland, Colorado, and Sue asked me if the slides would be available, so I’m posting them here in case anyone else wants them as well.
They’re pretty basic and mostly just pictures of our travels over the past 3 1/2 years, but for anyone who wants them – here they are.
Download slides here:
ppt
pptx (vista)

Continue reading "Slides From Presentation" »

We Have Bugs

We were explaining our mosquito bites to someone today and Chris happened to be nearby. (Chris is the really nice guy who let us borrow his car to go to the hot springs in Caldera).
Chris said something to the effect of “Do the bites start at your ankles and kind of work their way up?”
Jonathan: “Ummm… yah… well, sort of.”
Chris: “Those aren’t mosquito bites. Those are mites.”
Yep.
We have bugs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Continue reading "We Have Bugs" »

Cooked Dinner For Boquete Gourmet Last Night

Last night, Carrie and I cooked dinner for David and Cora. (We’re renting the Casita from them.)
You can read more about it at the Boquete Gourmet web site:
http://www.boquetegourmet.com/a-special-visit-from-carrie-and-jonathan.html

Continue reading "Cooked Dinner For Boquete Gourmet Last Night" »

Video: Achieving Your Dreams

This is a video of a presentation I gave on September 26th at a Pre-Paid Legal event near Denver, Colorado.
I hope you learn as much from watching it as I did from giving it.

Adam was nice enough to film this speech for me. The audio is a little hard to hear, but hopefully you can get the idea.
I actually wrote the speech October 1, 2003, but didn’t give it until September 26, 2009. I wrote the speech nearly 6 years in advance, anticipating the day I would give it.
Initially, the speech was supposed to be 15 minutes, but I was asked to shorten it at the last minute, so I scrambled a bit to hit the important points.
Hope you enjoy and get something from it that you can use in getting to your dreams.
Summary of talking points:
Lucid Dreams & Waking Dreams
3 Steps to turning your sleeping dreams into your waking dreams:
Belief (through repetition and practice)
Writing it down (makes it concrete)
Taking massive action
Thank-you for watching this video and for joining with us as we are fulfilling one of our dreams of traveling around the world!

Continue reading "Video: Achieving Your Dreams" »

Travel Podcast #1 – Costa Rica and Panama

As we are traveling the world, Carrie and I are planning to do a weekly travel podcast – as much to keep track of what we’re learning and enjoying as to inform other people what we’re doing.
Who knows? Maybe we’ll have all of these transcribed and turned into a book, or turned into an audio travel library or something.
In any case, here’s Podcast #1, where we talk about Panama City, Playa Coronado, David, and Boquete, Panama and what happens to packages when you ship them into Panama using standard mail.
Listen to the podcast or download it below.
(If you use the player, after you click the play button, it may take a moment, so please be patient or click the download link.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Continue reading "Travel Podcast #1 – Costa Rica and Panama" »

From David, Panama to Boquete, Panama

The Wheels on the bus go round and round!
We took a school bus from David to Boquete. You can see the bus station in David, Panama, and the bus stop (at the city park in Boquete, Panama) on the map below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Continue reading "From David, Panama to Boquete, Panama" »

Sloths, Cacao, and A Waterfall in the Rainforest

6:55 PM
Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
Cabinas Guarana
Listening to re-make of “Hey Jude” played on Pan flutes, playing from a CD player here in the hotel lobby.
Today is probably my favorite day in Costa Rica so far. Between seeing sloths (so cute) watching how chocolate is made in the natural way and learning the process, going for a hike through an amazing rainforest and seeing a beautiful waterfall, and sleeping in the hammock this afternoon for an hour and a half to the sound of falling rain – today has been a fantastic day. Glad I’m feeling a bit different than I was when the day started out, since we’re headed to Panama tomorrow. Gives me hope and good feelings to leave Costa Rica with, and lets me know that there are definitely things I’ve missed seeing here which I’ll look forward to returning here to see.

I suppose if I had thought about it, I would have assumed that all plants that we get in the grocery stores in the states are grown in fields of crops, and that it would be possible to see any plant growing in the way that America grows wheat and corn, or in the way that Italy grows grapes. However, as I’ve never really had that thought until today, I was simply astounded to see hundreds of millions (billions?) of bananas growing on what must have been at least half a million banana trees. I found myself asking our driver for the day, Marcela, if she could stop so that I could get out. When I walked to the side of the bridge, I was overlooking fields of banana trees all the way to the horizon. This view is one which I’m not likely to forget anytime soon

(Just in case I do forget, I took some pictures. After all, the faintest ink is better than the best memory.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Continue reading "Sloths, Cacao, and A Waterfall in the Rainforest" »