"I like this country, not many Blacks or Arabs here." I almost dropped dead.

So, the foreigners, especially the United Statesians, are a weird bunch here in Nica. There are the "I had to get away from the cold." folks who don't add "to a inexpensive place that I can afford." There are the creepy old men who want the cheap young girls and the cheap booze, there are great people of all ages who happen to love Nicaragua and her warm, open people, there are CIA people, (still!), there are the surfers, there are the travelers, there are the church people (never forget the Mormons), there are the volunteers building schools, there are people who can't go back to their own countries for numerous reasons, there are romantic people who remember the faded dream of the revolution, and there are the Tea Party people who hate the USA because of "big government" and President Obama and are looking for their next big chance. And lots more.

I like Nica very much. I can afford to be warm and well fed here. I strongly supported the revolution and wonder often what might have come of it had my country not killed it before it was fully birthed. Everyone has a story, and I from my lofty Buddhist perspective understand that everyone is making her own karma.

But this dude at the pool today flipped my shit. I was talking to this French guy, well, he was talking to me. Kind of talking big. He was born in Cameroon. His parents still lived there running a furniture factory, he said. He didn't see a future in Africa because of the Chinese. OK. He moved back to France somewhere in the Loire Valley. Got restless. Came to Costa Rica but the people he met there weren't that interested in his big money making ideas. Read "It was too expensive there." So Nica seemed like a great place for him. He has been here 2 days.

Just then my English friend Sue came and she can spot a phoney faster than anyone. She was a professor at the London School of Economics. She has met her share of phonies. I took off to beg the bar guy to turn down the disco music and order my frozen limeade. When I came back Sue was freezing this guy out. I didn't care. I can't give a 2 year old advice on starting a business. He soon left and she mentioned that when I was away he had said the he rather liked this country because there weren't too many Blacks or Arabs here.

I am glad I missed it because of my pledge of nonviolence, but I can't get it out of my mind. What is going on in this world? My grand daughter, grade one, told me that she had no school because it was King's birthday. I asked her what she had heard about Martin Luther King. She said he wanted love and peace. Then she told me the big news that he was dead. I said he was still alive for me because I remember his dream and what he wanted. She got excited and said she did too.