A Fisherman finds a home in Costa Rica

A writing assignment first brought me to Costa Rica in 1987. Being an outdoor journalist, I was very excited to test some of the country’s “world famous sportsfishing”. This trip brought me in contact with the late Archie Fields and we became immediate friends. While sitting on the veranda of his famous Rio Colorado Lodge, I asked Archie if he ever needed someone to run his lodge I would like to be considered. He chuckled and said I was about number 1000 on the list.

I returned to the States and told all that would listen that I didn’t know how, but one day I would be living in Costa Rica. In the meantime I sought out other Costa Rican writing assignments and began bringing groups of fishermen down to Costa Rica.

In June of 1991 Archie called my house in the US and asked me to “think” about coming down and managing his fishing lodge. I took less than three seconds to think it over. In the next three months I condensed my life belongings to 7 suitcases and 35 fishing poles and headed for Costa Rica.

In Barra del Colorado where I lived there are no cars. The river, creeks and canals are the streets and avenues. I worked long hours often going as many as three months without a day off and loved every second of it. I used Norman Paperman, the character in Herman Wouk’s “Don’t Stop the Carnival” as my relief when problems arose concerning employees or guests.

I was awestruck by the culture of the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, especially the stories told to me by the older generations. I met people with zero education but with more wisdom than anyone I had met in my life. The people are a mix of Spanish, African, several types of Indian and Chinese. For the first time in my life, through this experience, I came to believe in “magic” both black and white.

For nearly five years I lived in the jungle. Today I’m in the concrete jungle, but you would have to drag me back kicking and screaming the whole way for me to give up the lifestyle I have grown accustomed to in Costa Rica.

What worked for me is that the first thing I did was throw any American attitude I may have had down the river that flowed in front of the lodge and immersed myself in the culture, language and people. Tuanis!

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