March 2006

Traveling the Interamerican Highway...

March 20, 2006

On this day of nearly equal light and dark, I am migrating south against the northward flow of birds. Traversing by bus from the high plains of Guatemala into the tinder dry lowlands of El Salvador and Honduras, we cross borders and pay fees that the birds avoid. But the political boundaries are real for the birds too. Land-use clearly changes across human demarcations. From one country to the next--forest cover is reduced or becomes non-existent, rivers become silty, ground cover disappears. Changes in infrastructure are also revealed. To the foreign traveler, changes in infrastructure are expressed in the extent to which one's passport is scrutinized and whether critical data is entered into and checked against computer databases. To the people of the countryside, the differences are more profound--the presence or absence of a village water pump, the quality of care at a medical clinic. Crossing from Nicaragua to Costa Rica, the life expectancy of human residents rises. For the flora and fauna, the differences go unmeasured, but as our bus leaves the brown vista around Lake Nicaragua and crosses into the lushness of Costa Rica, I imagine they are equally dramatic.

With a roving eye on nature,