Jorbon at age forty-one. Picture taken in West New York, 1991.
Jorbon as a child dreamed with becoming an explorer of the
mighty rainforest where alligators, jaguars, tapirs and giant boa
constrictors abound. Luckily his dream was fulfilled at a very
early age since he was born in Costa Rica. Costa Rica
possesses the most enchanting rainforest in the world - there are
more species of birds in Costa Rica than in all the African Continent, as well as the most poisonous snake, the
coral macho. But it was the majestic volcanoes that adorn the Costa Rican mountaintops that
captured his fancy, specially the Irazú Volcano, in which during
a clear day you can see both the Atlantic and the Pacific
Oceans. This volcano became Jorbon's meditation site. And it was there, at 11,000
feet above sea level ("Donde el aire es transparente."), where he
received many of his spiritual revelations. He saw the painful
pangs of the birth of his country; the Spanish Conquistadors
bloody annihilation of the native population. In 1514, Pedrarias
Dávila commanded a campaign that depopulated all the
territories from the Darién River to the Province of Nicaragua.
Jorbon shed tears of compassion. It was also there, at the
summit of the Irazú Volcano, that he received spiritual
instructions to move to New York and learn about the modern
world. During the late '60s, America was waging a foolish war
that had torn the country apart. Consequently, a counter-cultural movement (that united all the American youth in
search for meaning to an absurd life predicament) grew to mystical proportions. Jorbon was received with open arms by
this counter-cultural movement. It was during these troubled
times that Jorbon settled in Manhattan's East Village, New York
City. Jorbon in his novel, "Equinoccio
Invernal" (Hibernal Equinox) renders a vivid and very graphic portrayal of those cruel
but magical times. Jorbon selected the Spanish language as a
vehicle of expression since he was never able to make too much sense of the English language syntax (besides, that's his native language which he claims to love).
