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Handmade Jewelry For The Bohemian Soul

Recharge Your Battery

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It’s awesome when “work” gets me out of town for a bit – even if only for a quicky trip.  I got a booking for a wedding up near Volcan Poas – which is a few hours from where I’m located.  I’d never been up to that area of Costa Rica before, so I was pretty excited to not only get a chance to get outta’ town, but to have a money-making, all expense paid trip to do so.

When I booked the wedding, I was told that it would be  near Volcan Poas, so I searched for a hotel to stay the night before the wedding near….yup…Volcan Poas and discovered a great hotel “5 minutes from the Volcan Poas Nacional Park” – Altura Hotel.

Ok, let me just say, this hotel is badass!!  I want to go back there for leisure — with a few days to spare because this hotel was a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!  A small hotel (my favorite type with only 5 rooms), rustic, beautiful gardens, picturesque, in the midst of rolling green farmland/hills and with a view of San Jose from high up in the mountains.

Had to pose with the hydrangea. It’s one of my fav flowers, but it doesn’t grow where I live due to the heat.

Hotel dog Antoinette demonstrates how strong the wind blows.

altura

2 story container home for rent – $150/night, sleeps 4

The room itself was perfect — like a little apartment.  Lots of natural light, windows everywhere with views of all the greeeeeen.

I knew the weather up there would be “cooler”, but I didn’t anticipate the bone chilling winds, dense fog and intermittent rain and sprinkling.  What an amazing break from the scorching hot, dry landscape, yet humid conditions where I live!  I was more than happy to slip into a pair of jeans, closed-toe shoes, jacket and hat!!

Whenever I do an out-of-town wedding, I always thinks it’s a good idea to drive to the wedding location the day before so that the next morning I know exactly where I’m going and can be sure to arrive on time.  As it turns out, my hotel was technically near Volcan Poas, however, the hotel where the wedding was — well — Volcan Poas maybe wasn’t the best location to use for logistics.  The drive was a bit over an hour, weaving around the mountain, in and out of dense fog, picturesque landscapes that reminded me of Jurassic Park and a number of amazing waterfalls.

This view was from the patio of a roadside cafe.  The fog was so dense.

Within a few minutes of this photo, the fog cleared…..to reveal….(see next photo).


Eventually, after many stops and photo ops that left me speechless from their beauty, I came to the turn off road and a sign indicating the hotel where the wedding would be the next day was 10 km up the road.  So I turned and headed back to my hotel.

I guess if the drive had not been so breathtakingly beautiful, I’d have been a bit irritated at being so far from where I would be working the next day, however, it had the opposite effect.  Had I not been mis-informed, I would (perhaps) never have traveled along this stretch of road, nor seen (once again) the amazing landscape of this beeaaaauuutiful country, nor fallen so deeply in love with it — once again!!

By the time it got dark, brrrrrr, it was really chilly.  It was nice treat to have my teeth chattering as I struggled to get the key in the door.  And sleeping with blankets and a room heater — yeah that was quite a treat too.  It doesn’t take much to please me these days!!

After a cozy sleep, I woke and pulled up the shades in the room to discover dense fog.  It has definitely been years since I’ve seen that!

I put the coffee on to brew and when I came back to pour myself a cup, right outside the window, there was a cow, rudders eye-level as if offering me “fresh milk for your coffee ma’am.”  Unfortunately for her, I’m a black coffee kinda’ gal. 😉

After coffee, I wanted to wander around the property a bit.  It was just too pretty not to explore just a little before heading off to work.  As I ventured around the corner, I stumbled upon a man in the stable, milking a cow.

As much as I wanted to stay and do some more exploring in this area, I had to get to the wedding.

The wedding hotel was in an area named Bajos del Toro and well, after driving there, I’ve got to say, I’m quite smitten with this area.  Driving up the mountain to the wedding site, I felt an internal regeneration.  It’s so completely opposite of where I live.  Mountainous, g-r-e-e-n, foggy, chilly, farm land, views, lots of space, and I felt that same liveliness that I used to feel when I’d come to CR on vacation years ago.  That same — surge of being alive – completely alive.  And I realized that I’m at a point in my life once again where I feel myself changing.

I’m not sure if everyone is like this, but it seems to me that every 7-8 years, I go through a sort of metamorphosis of self.  I feel that I’m in one of those stages right now and traveling up and around the lovely roads and farm country, I realized, I’d like to spend some extended time in this area.  I don’t know that I could or would want to live there full-time just because it is quite chilly, but perhaps for a few months (Aug/Sept/Oct) when there’s not much going on in Tamarindo and just escape to another place.  A different climate, a different pace, a difference landscape. Rent a little place, set up a nice studio, hike, explore…..

I daydreamed and envisioned myself 15 years in the future, with a little farm, maybe a few animals, an amazing garden, a simple, beautiful life.  I want that.  I want to have a place I can call home, near the ocean like what I have now, but that I also have a deep, spiritual connection to nature and I want to have a place I call home in the mountains.  I think I found the place, hell —I even discovered my dream house!!

After the wedding, I drove back through the windy roads for the 3rd time and into San Jose where I met up with my hubby.  We took two days, driving around all the loveliness I had just discovered (4th time for me in 2 days!!), taking our time and loving the weather.  We spent a night in Arenal – another beautiful, chilly, mountain/volcano area.

Driving back home, coming down the mountain, little by little the climate became warmer.  Soon the hat came off, then the sweater, then the A/C got turned and the landscape slowly became less green and vibrant and as the temperature went up, the horizon got more and more brown.  Eventually we arrived back in my area – Guanacaste – to the blistering heat and humidity.

It felt amazing to take time to reset my battery and reconnect with myself, outside of my routine and explore some unfamiliar places.

Grateful to have two jobs that allow me the freedom to do these sorts of things.

Rain … At Last!!

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Costa Rica has two seasons, dry and wet.  There isn’t much change of temperature between the two. The only real change is whether everything is brown, dry and dusty, or green and lush.  Regardless, it’s still pretty hot. After a long, hot, dry, dusty 5 months, two nights ago, Ms. Mother Nature decided that it was time for a change of season.

The first rain usually is anytime between the last week of April and mid-May.  When the first rain comes, it’s usually a small shower, just enough to get everything wet and alert you that things are changing.  But this season seems to have started off a bit more intense.  On Tuesday it was dreeeadfully hot and humid.  I mean HUMID.  At 10 p.m. I was sitting outside on my patio looking out across the empty field that’s in front of my place and it was so humid that it looked foggy.  That’s serious humidity.  I thought to myself, wiping sweat from my brow, “Geez, it’s got to start raining soon!!”

Around 1 a.m., that’s exactly what happened.  It’s wasn’t the usual blissful, “Oh, here, have some drizzle.”  Uh-uh.  It was “HEY YOU!!  Yeah, you….the one sleeping.  Guess what!?!  Rainy season starts right…..NOW!!!”  Ka-boooom.  Lightening, house shaking thunder and torrential rain for the next 4 hours.

I couldn’t have been more happy.  The rainy season is my favorite time of year and I’m fascinated with the electrical storms.  So around 4 a.m., when it was clear I was not going to be sleeping, I went and sat out on the patio with a ginormous smile on my face and watched the powerful electrical show in the sky.

The next morning, we took the doggies out for their morning walk at the farm and it was just gorgeous.  The sky was still dark and threatening, but the farm looked bright and colorful, all the dust newly watched off the plants and contrasting against the dark sky.Costa Rica Rainy Season

And leave it to them to find a place to swim.  This is the one and only thing they like about the rain – random water holes to swim in and get all muddy.  Of course this means a bath when they get home, but for some reason they never seem to remember that negative consequence to taking a dip.

Super excited to see how this place comes to life over the next few weeks.  It’s been so dry and yellow, but now….hmmm.  We shall see!

Voyeur

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Sunday, I spent almost the entire day on the beach.  It’s been a long time since I’ve done that, but there was a swell and the waves were amazing, so I got my beach blanket, sunscreen and headed to the shore to watch the surfers.

Because of the swell, the current was really strong.  I went in a few times to cool off and even though I was only in up to my ribs, the incoming waves knocked me back again and again.  There was also a really strong current pulling south so even though I started directly in front of my blanket, within a few moments, I’d end up a ways down the beach.

As I was watching the surfers take on impressive waves, I was distracted for a while by a man in his late 40’s who was playing in the surf directly in front of me.  Judging by his very pale skin (meaning he was one shade “tanner” than death!), I can only assume that he doesn’t live anywhere warm and definitely no place where the ocean water is probably as warm as the shower.

The waves would come and he would fall into them, allowing the water to toss him left and right, and then to the shore.  He’d pop back up, raise his arms, stretching them toward the sky and jump right back in.  In between sets, he’d fall back into the sea, floating on his back, arms outstretched, a huge smile on his face.  This cycle continued for about 20 minutes and during that time, I lost myself in his enjoyment.

The sheer pleasure this guy had in the ocean was contagious and for that short period of time, I shared that contentment with him.  Eventually, he tired, exited the water with a huge smile on his face and walked off down the beach.  As I watched him get smaller and smaller in the distance I felt thankful.  Thankful that we had shared that space in our lives together.  It was a little reminder of how easy it to forget the beautiful pleasures that are right in front of me every day.

But it also got me wondering, how many times have I thought that I was enjoying a moment all alone, only to have someone watching me in the same way??

 

People Passing Through

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Sometimes I get people through my shop that say things that just make my day.

Was just sitting here working and a Costa Rican family came in, Mom, dad and two boys maybe ages 6 and 8.  They’re visiting from a cooler part of the country, up in the mountains.  My usual comment to people from the mountains who visit the beach is something along the lines of “It’s beautiful up there, but it must be nice to pass a little at the beach, huh?”  The 8 year old steps up to my desk — eyes big behind thick eyeglasses– “Yes!!  For the very first time!!!”  So I ask “This is the first time you’ve ever seen the beach??”  “Yes!!”  So we went through the list of questions – “Did you find a lot of shells?” “Did you see crabs?”  “Is the water cold or warm?”  And these little kids were just so full of awe, wonder and appreciation!!

It made my day because it reminded me how very blessed I am to live so near such a beautiful thing.  I always appreciate this – but it’s always nice to have little people like these boys to remind you of the wonderment of such things.