all part of life

Ill wind blows no one any good

My yoga teacher told me this and I had to go Google it. Somehow never came across that one in the past. 

The idea is that even in the depths of an overwhelmingly bad situation, someone has something good come out of it. 

What is the context?

Well, I usually have at least two if not three Asia trips in the middle of a 60 day challenge at BYSJ and that means I am doing a lot of doubles to finish the challenge. This year, the trip has been pushed from 5th to 13th to 27th to now March, because of the ill wind that is called Coronavirus. While it is all doom and gloom, I have managed to do yoga 44 times in 39 days without missing a day so far. 

It is great to be able to do yoga once a day without missing a day. I now really envy people who don't have to travel as part of their jobs. 

While the travel cancellation has been a good thing, the challenge has not been a walk in the park. Three weeks ago, I bought some mixture from the local Indian grocery store. One bite and I thought it had some stone in it. Then the pain hit me and I realized a big chunk of my pre-molar tooth just broke off in the back. The molar was already removed six years ago. 

Was in a lot of pain that night. My dentist was nice enough to come on her day off the following morning to try and do a temporary fix. Then she found that the tooth in front of it was hanging on for dear life. The gums were not gripping it. So they cleaned it, put some gel in there and now I am brushing my teeth and gargling antibacterial stuff after pretty much anything goes in my mouth with the exception of water. I have the broken piece as a souvenier.

There were 4 visits in the last 14 days.. I still managed to do the 8:30PM class after the anesthetic wore off. I am not allowed to do Yoga after taking Ibuprofen. You need to be able to know when you are stretching to the point of creating pain and the ibuprofen will mask that. San was calling me an idiot three times a day for not taking pain killers, but you have to do what you have to do.. for the 60 day challenge!

The last week while going through all this, I was also stuck. One thing that I look forward to after every class is putting a sticker on the board. The sticker is only a token and there is excel sheet to track every class anyways, but the sticker is joy. It was not like there were no stickers. There were.. but not the same ones that were handed out the first four weeks of the challenge. 

The front desk folks at BYSJ told me that they could not find the original stickers anywhere after trying at many stores so they had to switch stickers. I have difficulty eating bagels if they don't fit precisely after coming out of the toaster. Changing to a different sticker in the middle of the challenge was bugging me..maybe it was the tooth doing the bothering.. but it doesn't matter. Found the sticker at Michael's and got the one last packet of stickers they had of that type. There is just enough blue stars in this to get me through the challenge.

It felt good to put a bunch of stickers back on the board. Next challenge, I am going to get my own stickers. Maybe something unique.. now that I have discovered an aisle full of stickers at Michaels! 

It is not over till it is over.. still have 16 to go... hopefully I will finish it, ill winds or otherwise.

Happy Pongal 2019

We celebrated Pongal on a weekday this year.. so it was the San and myself team effort at 5AM to make pongal and vadai and do a quick pooja before taking off to work. The kids were not even up in time to participate.

Had to make a rush for the sugarcane in the local Indian store.. stiff competition from customers for the 10 or so canes that were there!

Managed to see the sun at work during a lunch walk on Pongal, which in itself is becoming a hit or miss the last few years. 

My office mates know from the "chandhana pottu" on my forehead that there must have been some function/ festival going on. When I describe Pongal to them they go "oh, so it is your version of thanksgiving!" 

There was no chance to recreate our Pongal family picture during the week. It was too cold outside and given our backyard has been remodelled, there was no chance to get that same shot anyways.. so the closest I got to a collage was this..

The kids can no longer stand in front of us!  It was also not easy to be in a dhoti today, given the cold weather.

In four years, Jr. will be a senior in college and the little one a freshman.  It is my sincere wish that they show up for Pongal to take one more picture. Daddy will be waiting with pongal in one hand and camera in the other..

one can always hope.. put senti on the blog.. etc. but these kids have a mind of their own.

To everyone who celebrates Pongal, may this year be a good one for you! 

A baby sloth - Costa Rica Day 7

The previous post on this series is here..

On the last day of the Costa Rica trip, only me, San and Padma decided to stick to the original plan of going to Manuel Antonio park. The rest of the folks stayed back at Coco Mar to enjoy the waves some more.

We went on a guided tour of the park to see the sloth and were treated to see a baby sloth! 

The sloth mom is on top and the baby is facing the right.. Using a 200mm at 400mm with an extender still got me only this clarity. Was happy to see it live! There are lots of pictures in the Photo Galleries which did not make it to the posts.. you can check them out on the Photo Galleries tab for Fauna, Flora, and their landscape folders..

There was also a lot of animals, birds, insect sightings again.

At the end of the guided part, we ended up in a beautiful lagoon which was crowded with swimmers. We were not planning to get into the water. There was no chance for more wet clothes in our bags. We were leaving later the same evening.

We took some photos on the beach and hiked all around the edge of the park for a strenous 45 minute hike to Cathedral point. It was beautiful. On the way back we came past the other side of the land facing the other beach. 

Once back at Coco Mar, we had a quick bite to eat, said our byes to the private beach and drove towards the airport.

On the way we were talking about how it would be great to come to Costa Rica and retire.. and maybe start a resort like this with a private beach.. and we crossed this building..

When asked, the driver explained in his broken English that a family from US had started building a resort and the USD slid in value after the sub-prime crisis and they could not come up with money to finish the project. Costa Rica is so good that it sets you straight before you leave the country! It is full of prompt lessons..

The driver was nice enough to give us two stops at beaches on the way. The Jaco one was beautiful..

They have artists paint everyting.. this was a bus stop that was just amazing.. 

We had Desafio accomodate us with a dinner stop at San Jose in Taste of India, which was in the 2nd floor of a high rise residential/commercial building!

After a sumptuous meal and one last masala Chai for 2019, we were at the airport.

We had 5 hours to spend before the flight. Ended up playing a board game for couple of hours. 

The Juan Santa Maria airport is on high ground and you can see the valley below. We got to see at least 8 fireworks light up the sky from the gate area at midnight. 

A video of the day's events here..

We had a lot of fun on this trip. This is going to be the baseline for trips going foward. No driving on our own. The entire trip planned ahead and rides showing up on time everywhere. Vegetarian food options that work for me. San has set the bar high on this one.

Strongly recommend this place for a visit at this time of the year!

There is one last post on Costa Rica.. that is not part of the series, but something that I kept seeing everywhere.. will post it tomorrow.