The Gringo's Hawk: Seeking Paradise in Southern Costa Rica (Before the Highway) (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781543445114)

Jon Mara??n (a nom de plume) has lived a remarkable life with which many readers may identify or appreciate. He came of age in America during the turbulent 1960s of Civil Rights marches and opposition to the Vietnam War. He always felt himself to be a poor fit for the consumerism/materialism, conformity, racism, and environmental destructiveness of his own country. A college psychologist told him he'd have to learn to adjust, but he persisted in seeking a place where, and people with whom, he might fit.

This young, blond, blue-eyed college dropout became a Latin American landowner and patr?n. He tried numerous schemes to make a living off the land and became a significant observer of both the environmental and social changes in Costa Rica. Mara??n listened to local elders tell tales about them, and he passes on some of these and other tales to readers.

The Gringo's Hawk represents the culmination of Mr. Mara??n's social struggles and the roles he has played in marine biology conservation and in establishing national parks and marine reserves in his area.

Mara??n, almost as a sideline, has had a long-time fascination with whales and worked with scientists and researchers to establish an entirely new understanding of the migratory habits of Northern and Southern hemisphere humpback whales. At the time of publication of The Gringo's Hawk this research is ongoing.