Pura Vida en Costa Rica

I'm back and my goodness, I could not have had a better time in Costa Rica where its people live to have a pure life, pura vida, live and let live, help one another, share their warmth openly and willingly without hesitation or reservation. "Hola" and "Buenas" with bright smiles exchanged with everyone, acknowledgement of your presence and your importance on this earth, sincere friendliness opens the pavement to embrace their culture and the heart of the people, and I loved every moment spent there.

Susan had been to Quepos, Costa Rica 3 times previous to this trip, so she introduced me to the area, took me on the local bus to Quepos and Manuel Antonio, acquired colones in exchange for our dollars to eat gallo pinto with fried eggs for breakfast, eat the freshest eggs tasted and local fruits of mango, pineapple, watermelon, bananas, coconut. We went on a sunset cruise where we sailed alongside dolphins showing off for us speeding beside us or flipping through the air in unison, snorkeled and enjoyed the local fish of the sea up close and personal, ate fresh fish and vegetables as the golden, pink and orange sun slowly sank to the blue, turquoise glisten of the water, met Quepos visitors from Mexico City, Amsterdam and Brazil. We went hiking through the Manuel Antonio National Park where we spotted blue, orange and purple crabs everywhere, squirrel monkeys playing in the trees, and iguanas taking in the sun. We dropped into the beach water - ahhh....fish, salad, rice and beans for lunch from a local dive.

The morning of the halfway point was with the butterflies of Manuel Antonio - blue blue morphos, others with tips decorated with eyes of an owl, bright orange against black background wings, heliconius wide wingspan, philaethria dido bright green - what a joy to learn the processes of the butterfly from egg to pupae to caterpillar to free-flying butterfly. "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly" - anonymous. Anytime we weren't doing some kind of activity, I was in the Villas Mymosas' tranquil pool browning my skin and swimming off the day and night. Wednesday half-point afternoon is when I met mi amore Italian, Costa Rican for the time being Giuliano at that same pool, my world as I knew it changed forever after 3 days and 3 nights spent with him, more about that later.

But before our time together, Susan and I went tour kayaking through the mangroves, first during the evening light sighting white egrets, an iguana that took a splash just to catch our attention, tiger crabs. It felt so good to be kayaking again as I have done it before in San Diego and Alaska next to the glaciers. Soon enough we were treading through the white, black and pineapple mangroves in the night, and we got lost, even with our guide at the head. I flipped over into the mangrove water twice teased that there were alligators, dirty and dark, who knows what was in there, hanging on a mangrove branch trying to get back in, quite hilarious, added to the experience, can laugh about it now. Lost in the mangroves, we hung onto the side in the current while our guide went for help. Thank goodness the motorboats came for us after what seemed like forever because we were really beginning to wonder if we'd ever make it out. A team effort, calm cool and collected, to get everyone out of their kayaks and into the boats, gather the kayaks and bring them onboard, all under a current that would've pulled us miles out of the way. What was supposed to be a 2-hour excursion, turned into 5 hours, quite exhilarating and unforgettable, I had stories to share with Giuliano on my return.

Let it begin, pura vida. How could I not be different, how could I not change, feel so alive, senses dramatically sharpened and expanded beyond after coming back from this trip, after the natural beauty I saw, the heart I experienced from the Costa Rican people in Quepos and Manuel Antonio and the love I felt from a man I never thought I would meet.

PURA VIDA, all the way.