i have held back a long time also from central and s. america, there's a side that has always appealed, but a darker side that was too fascistic-seeming for my taste.

i think i'll be back, there's something i am feeling here that's very new and different.

the warmth is already helping my body feel lighter and more rubbery, joints loosening...

and the fruit! mountain apples, sapotes, hayden mangoes, oh, it's good to feel those special sugars and vitamins singing through the blood again.

when i lived in the tropics long-term, it was the peaches, apples and grapes, apricots and nectarines i missed, now i'm realising how much i missed tropical fruit.

s. jose is not at sea level, and i hear down on the coast it's seriously hot, perfect beach weather.

first a week quite a bit higher though, abd if it's this cool in S.J., i expect it'll be light sweater (or for ladies, shawl) temperatures in the evenings.

best wishes for a nice winter too, fran. i hear the alps have more snow this year than any of the last ten, and hardly any people visiting, because of the economy. do you like snow sports?

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty