Epilogue – Why I Keep Going Back
Monday, July 11th, 2005When I got back to San Jose, I stayed at a Marriott hotel in the western suburbs of Escazú with all its modern shopping centers and ate dinner at an Outback Steakhouse. I remember feeling very depressed, like my trip had already ended and I was already back in the USA . I had had so many wonderful experiences and I was totally hooked on the tropical rainforests. There was no doubt in my mind that I would be returning many more times, God willing. Even as I write this, with my next trip to southern Ecuador just a week away (today is Friday, Feb. 6, 2015), I yearn to be back in the forests with all its sights and sounds and smells and with the wonderful people of Latin America, the campesinos I have come to know and love.
After returning, I wrote an article for the Heliconia Society International quarterly Bulletin, published in Volume 14, No. 4, and entitled Costus of the Golfo Dulce Region. In my first short trip I had seen 12 species of Costus, and I had made new friends I would remain in close contact with for years to come.