DAYS 14-16 PURA VIDA

daily insight:

playing in the dance of shiva and shakti, push and pull, up and down, left to right, warm and cool, effort and surrender and finding the balance in the space between. i am most definitely learning more about myself and my practice each time i begin breathing on my mat or my board and connect to the infinite. taking one step at a time and watching how i can create a steady state of balance when things change and churn within and without.

the play by play:

day 14

this morning jasmine and i both rose a bit earlier than normal to make our way to yoga ! tellef drove us most of the way but the yoga studio sits on an nice BIG hill, er... mountain that needs 4-wheel drive for the car and 4-times the leg power if you are walking up it. so he dumped us off at the base of the hill, er...mountain and our legs lead the way. the view at the top and the incentive to go practice in that view is what charges me up that hill, er... mountain. we had another lovely class taught by the owner of the studio, Indira and went on a yoga journey with the bugs, breeze and vast ocean before our eyes. after that we took our time walking back and taking a pit stop at one of the cafes in town to have smoothies and fresh juice. later that afternoon we took another swim at our local beach by the house, just a 5 minute walk from our house and watched an awesome older lady have the time of her life boogie boarding some waves. that night we did another happy hour at la manta, it was movie night there so we snacked on some yummy treats and drinks and watched sherlock homes with the sound of the waves crashing behind us and mango (the really cute puppy) running about the room.  another solid day of pura vida.

day 15

this was jasmine's last full day in costa rica (or so we thought...i'll get to that later) so i wanted to do whatever her heart desired. she was happy to swim while tellef and i surfed that morning and met a friend out in the water, Restin (super nice dude from florida). the waves weren't huge that day so i went out and surfed some on the outside with the "big kids" and caught some great waves, but also got pummeled a little and my fin left and HUGE bruise on my arm. but no harm truly done. rode my last wave out to the end! love catching a long ride on that last one in. then i joined jasmine in the water for a swim and watched some local kids rip up the water. soon tellef came out of the water and his friend Rustin too. we all went back to the house super hungry and grubbed on some homemade mac and cheese. it was more than satisfying. jasmine's heart desired to see a monkey, as did mine. we have been hearing them constantly but we are a bit too coastal to be amongst them and spot them with our eyes. so we headed down towards punta banco where there is supposedly a lodge that does canopy tours. i had emailed them days ago to set one up but they never responded so i thought we would swing by and hopefully they could lead us straight to the monkey and sloths! alas, we were foiled, and they were closed for the "green season" which they call the rainy season here. back home we went, and for one last swim before a major storm came through. that night we vegged out to watch some arrested development and jasmine prepped for her flight out the next day. all good things come to an end....

day 16

so were ready to jet set out to golfito that morning. knowing there was a lot of sitting ahead i did a mini yoga session out on the lawn so my body would remain happy throughout the long day of driving. today was by far the most clear day we have seen yet the sun was out full force. we could see for miles and the peninsula across pavones had never looked quite that magnificent. the weather sure helped us enjoy the long bumpy drive and i got lots of pics of how beautiful the views were. once we arrived at golfito we found a lovely spot called banana bay to enjoy some lunch and a few drinks. it was right in the harbor and just what we needed. halfway through lunch the man managing the restaurant tells us that there is sea turtle swimming right near the pier just feet away from where we were sitting. it was amazing! i have only seen a sea turtle once before while snorkeling and this one was much bigger! not a monkey or sloth but just a special to get a visit from. with a couple errands to run and plenty of time to spare we finally made it to the aiport. we sat at the airport cafe/bar and enjoyed a cerveza before jasmine could check in and soon come to find that we are here on the wrong day! jasmine's flight isn't until tomorrow, and as startling as i am sure it was for her with all of the arranging she did to get here and get home safe, it was no problem to us. s***t happens when you travel and like i said earlier, how do you keep that balance and steady peace when unexpected stuff arises? it ain't easy and i can be easily frazzled with stuff like that. but you go through the emotions and then the motions to move forward and out of a place of why did this happen to me? to : let's make something good happen to me. once we got over the surprise we offered to go back to pavones and take her here again tomorrow, but that just seemed like such an excessive amount of driving i don't think anyone wanted to endure. so we found a sweet little hotel with a lovely view of the bay that she would stay the night in and we would head back that day. we took some time out to get her online and get sorted at her hotel bar that was shaped like a pirate ship and our last imperial cervezas together. we said our goodbyes and made it back to pavones just as the sun was setting. tellef and i ran down to the local beach to see the last bit of the sunset which was the most brilliant we'd seen yet because it was such a clear day. we are down to 3 again and i will miss having my buddy around, but so grateful for the time we spent together in costa rica. have a safe flight home jazzie, we love you!!!!

hasta luego