.Publishers forward:  We all need our heroes and heroines, and in some areas of pursuit it is difficult to come by the ones we need.  It is easy to become totally stuck in our perspective 'corners', unable to budge beyond anything but the prospect of 'just getting by'.  Women, especially are bound by convention; and are expected to maintain standards that are often so bound by convention that they are a straight-jacket that prevents a life lived extemporaneously.  If the woman is also a mom, the straight-jacket is more securely clinched.

This Chronicle by Michele Kohan should therefore be a Godsent to those moms who find themselves with children but with no prospect of living any sort of life that presents the challenge of personal and geographic exploration...   The question becomes, 'are my children safer and better off in the suburbs where one meaningless day blurs into the next, or in a tropical rain forest where each day presents a new challenge and a new learning experience?'  It isn't an easy task for a mom to decide on the tropical rain forest; such decisions fly in the face of conventional wisdom...  But conventional wisdom has worn thin, today's so-called civilized suburbs with their shopping malls and weapon-filled schools are no safer than a tropical rain forest.  Add to that the stifling intellectual atmosphere of the USA that wilts and crushes the qualities of independent judgment that every child should develop....   without real challenges, we all become stifled.  Still, making the leap requires daring.  Your own mom will tell you you're nuts, but if she'd of done it for you, you'd of thought she was a heroine extraordinaire.  If you're a mom yourself, maybe its up to you to break the chains of convention.  Michele Kohan did just that...  I'm absolutely convinced her children are going to grow up to be dynamic individuals.  If you're a mom and struggling with the urge to just chuck it all and go....  "...to learn and experience the world first hand, and to challenge yourself against the vast unknown. To escape the daily routines that blur one week into the next. To shirk a steady secure career now, in favor of amazing memories that last forever." ...then perhaps you need a kickstart to get you going. If expat moms, and wantabe expat moms need an inspirational kickstart, this great eBook by Michele Kohan will fill the bill.

According to Michele, The Chronicles of the Jungle Mom is a compilation of newsletters that were sent via email to family and friends back in the United States during our stay in Costa Rica. With the exception of changing the names of some of the individuals mentioned, the text remains largely unedited from the original version.

"The original intent of the Chronicles was to provide a weekly update of our new ´adventures´."

However, as events unfolded, the writing of the Chronicles became almost a daily exercise. Michele wrote about the events of the day by the light of a candle each night and sent them via email from the local Internet café the next morning. As time went on, her inbox began to fill with feedback from people all over the United States. The Chronicles soon took on a life of their own, serving not only as a reminder for years to come of the adventures her and her children had that summer in Costa Rica, but also as an adhesive of sorts, strengthening and renewing bonds with the family and friends she had left behind.
. .

An average mom breaks out of the confines of an eight-to-five government job and follows her lifelong dream to a tropical paradise. A quick sale of the family home and Michele is on her way to the Caribbean coastal town of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica with her two young children in tow. As events unfold, the author not only finds her much sought after adventure, but begins to uncover the true meaning of life and living in a place some call Paradise. The daily writings of this talented lady will lead you down dusty roads, take you swinging out over cascading waterfalls, and touch your heart with an intuition and insight that every mother will embrace.