Technology and the Rain Forest

Twelve years ago, or so I was told, cars were few and far between in Playa Jaco.

A good friend of mine has lived there for at least that long and claims that her car was one of the first in town.

Horses, bicycles and legs were the popular mode of transportation.

She almost drew a crowd with her wheels back than.

And she still drives that same heap; it really is a nice jeep and has the name of her business on the side of it; The Last Call.

When I asked what the telephone service was like back then she just stared at me.

And now they have cell phones!

It is almost alarming to see 20 years of “western” evolution take place in less than a few.

Of course the level of conversation buzzing along the ether lines of cellular communication are the same and as important as everywhere else;

“Hi, what are you doing?” is a line that cascades around the globe in many languages many times a second.

When someone poses that query to me I always say: “Talking to you on the phone, THAT is what I am doing…”

I always thought that a few railroad cars along the hilly road of Manuel Antonio were charming and yet I was repulsed by the airplane I encountered there one day.

I know, strange statement coming from a pilot, but it was just out of place.

Some enterprising soul had purchased the old military bird that looks like a C-130 and had been rusting away in a remote area of the Juan Santamaria International airport and dragged it up the Tourist Hill of the Central Pacific.

The disgusted bar owner across the way said that they were turning it into a restaurant and wondered out loud how many people it would take to shove the damn thing off the hill into the blue pacific for a proper burial.

Where does one draw the line?

Hell if I know. I know where some people draw this line. Take the Amish for instance, horses and buggies, that’s it.

They reluctantly put reflectors on them only after they clashed with vehicles of this century.

Nobody likes moving a dead horse off the road, not even these fun-loving and black-cloaked mad hatters.

My dad drew the line at e-mail. Not only because it would involve having a computer, it was just to damn foreign and fast. I’m sure that there are tribes out there who haven’t gotten used to a mailbox yet…

There has always been resistance to new technology and advanced development. I remember people being “against space flight”. They would bitch without end about the wasted tax dollars at every launch.

These same complainers now watch the weather channel and use satellite images to plan their next vacation.

But it seems that new and strange appear newer and stranger in a place like the rainforest.

I am surprised that toilets flush and lights come on in a land where monkeys rule the trees.

Is it progress or is it invasion?

I lean towards the latter, but only because I want to see a place that I fell in love with stay the same forever. I know, that is not fair and it certainly does not make any sense, it is just a wistful form of status quo.

But somehow DVD’s and Iguana-poop cannot be located within tree frog spitting distance from each other. I don’t know why not, I just feel that way 

Maybe I should be Amish and this is where one loses the battle.

You see, when advanced technology gets the better of you, it is time to quit. When you are being outpaced by new inventions and radical developments, you subconsciously consider leaving the planet.

It doesn’t matter if you talk about the wheel or e-mail, fire or plastic, sliced bread or rap; when you are being out done, your time has come.

The rainforest just seems to amplify the impact of modern technology.

Me?

I love it all, so you’ll see me around for a long time to come.