#imiloa

Letizia recycling a white shirt from Imiloa

September 8, 2018: 1300th anniversary of the Kingdom of Asturias

November 3, 2021: Cooperation trip to Paraguay

June 14, 2023: Cooperation trip to Colombia

August 27, 2025: Visited the areas affected by the fires in Castile and León

After a relaxing morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the Domestic Terminal, where we were to meet our group for a 3:30p charter flight to Quepos. The terminal was very small, but it is a small country so how many domestic flights are there? The answer is a lot, but they’re mostly 8-12 seat prop planes! Having arrived early, we decided to find a place to sit outside but there were no benches. We sat on some pipes near the taxi stand where we read our books, ate some snacks, but mostly just watched people. While it was great to soak up the warmth, after awhile it was too much diesel fumes and we went in to the air conditioning.

Our people watching changed to a new game as it got closer to our departure time, and that was “guess who’s on our retreat.” It got easier once I figured out that the boarding passes for the flights were different (ours were large tan plexiglass chunks). The thought of flying on small planes used to freak me out, but after our experiences in Alaska, Idaho and most especially, Tanzania, this was a piece of cake!

3:30p came and went, and I was a bit concerned that the planes that matched our boarding passes didn’t look big enough for our group? The What’s Ap chat lit up and basically said “no worries, the skies are a busy travel day today.” About 4:15p, they started calling names of people that matched our boarding passes - one group for gate one, one for gate two, but that left 5 of us! Daniel said no problem, we’re getting the best plane for you! Fifteen minutes later he was ready for us, and walked us out to a 8 passenger prop plane. He offered us water from a cooler as we were climbing the steps, and beer once we were seated (later we learned we were the only group to be offered beer so we were indeed lucky)! Our pilot was a gregarious fellow - love for flying and pride for his country! We were his 13th flight of the day, and probably the last because they don’t fly in the dark and daylight was waning by then.

Jeff and I sat in the seats facing backwards, which was a first experience for me but it was ok. The views out the side windows were spectacular and I decided it was better for me to not be watching the pilot with all those complicated dials and switches. We had a view of downtown San Jose with big buildings, then were quickly over the mountains with rain forests. We were in and out of clouds a bit, and the plane was a bit of a carnival ride, but in a fun way - sliding sideways, going up, going down. In about 15 minutes, we were over the pacific coast and we flew over Manuel Antionio National Park where we’d hiked with our REI group 11 years ago. We flew lower over acres and acres of palm forests (planted for the fruit), then a paved landing strip appeared and we were on the ground. We walked past a tiny terminal (at least they had toilets!) and were greeted by staff from Imiloa. We got into the SUV with Jesus, the facility director for Imiloa for the 20 minute drive to the retreat site.

During the drive, it started raining, and didn’t let up all night. We turned off the main road and started climbing. Jesus switched the car into 4WD, and we couldn’t believe the way we climbed and bounced over the steep rutted road. It was dark and wet, and we couldn’t see much else. We arrived at Imiloa and were greeted by staff with umbrellas. They ushered us into the main pavilion (the Heart) and offered wet scented washcloths and fancy smoothies. It took me awhile to comprehend that there were many SUVs arriving and we arrived first! I guess the others that flew out earlier had been waiting in cars at the airport!

We had snacks and a welcome speech from the proprietor and his staff, then we were shown to our rooms (we were given headlamps and umbrellas). Jeff and I are in one of the Bali suites - a remarkable structure reputed to be over 200 years old and transported from Bali. It’s very spacious with a massive king size bed draped in mosquito netting, and large beams that I’ve nearly ran into many times already. We have two day beds, a kitchen, a closet and a nice bathroom. It’s exceeded my expectations for what we’d find here, and I love the way it’s set above the jungle and not exactly in it. Can’t wait to see the view tomorrow!

Saving the European Enlightenment

The European Enlightenment, which for the sake of convenience I take to extend from the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 (or very arguably the Peace of Augsburg in 1555) down to the advent of post-modernist ideology sometime in the middle 1960s, remains the basis of the current socio-political order, not only in Europe, but in all nations that trace their cultural, social, ideological, and political…