My journey has come to an end. I write this as I sit in window seat 17A of Airbus A319…California is only moments away. Three months have gone by in flash and Christmas is somehow now just 3 days away. I’ve spent the last week in bliss, traveling alone through Costa Rica and really getting to spend my last few days on purely enjoying life. I’ve grown so much from this experience and am thankful to my parents for supporting me through it.
I have such mixed emotions right now, I really fell in love with Costa Rica, although I’ll admit it took a while. Culture shock set in for the first month or so, I even felt as though my Spanish was getting worse. At the time, I had the genuine fear that I wouldn’t progress at all, although writing this now, progress was inevitable. I just had to give it time. There is this magical moment when fear and discomfort dissolve and suddenly you find yourself with a brilliant confidence. That moment came for me this past week when I no longer felt like I had to mentally rehearse a question or approach, the words just came.
They say ‘reverse’ culture shock hits you even harder. How do you ‘sum’ up three months? At what point does your experience become reduced to ‘Costa Rica was awesome, I had a lot of fun’? There are no words. I cherish these moments that have fleeted so quickly and find comfort in thoughts of home and family.
I’m really not one for good-byes, I feel like for the most part I’ve said and done it all while I had the chance. After all, all we really have is the moment. And what fantastic moments have they been! In my travels I’ve met some really incredible people from all over the world…France, Belgium, China, Australia, Holland, Japan, Spain, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Nicaragua, England, the US and of course Costa Rica, amongst others. It’s those hundreds of tiny cosmic convergences that build any experience and influence the future ones to come. Life is so beautiful like that.
My host mom, Doña Mayra, will continue to inspire me beyond our time together. I’m so glad that she came into my life. She is such a strong and absolutely selfless woman. I can see how she was such a successful athlete in her youth, she’s one tough cookie and a champion through and through. She took my roommate Steph and I out to a lovely lunch at ‘La Casita’ restaurant on our last day together. The three of us shared a wonderful steaming platter of chuletas, carne, pollo, beans & plantains…yum!
The last post that I wrote was about my visit to Montazuma. I can honestly say that was funnest place I went, so fun actually…that I went back. My classes ended last Tuesday and while most of my new friends went right home, I booked my ticket for 6 days later. This time around the bus ride over was like clockwork, none of that tire popping crap. I’ve been on a bus for over 100 hours since I’ve been in Costa Rica and an evil curse has made it so that I am incapable of getting an ounce of shut eye. Despite not having slept a wink in honor of my last night in San Jose, I rolled up to the bus station in utter delirium. About 6 hours later I was back in wonderful Montazuma.
While I never actually had stayed at the hostel ‘Luz en el Cielo’, they already felt like my vagabond family. I walked up the big hill to the ‘light in the sky’ with some new found friends from Seattle, Ethan and Layla, whom I had just met on the bus. We dropped off our things and jetted down to the ocean for a liberating swim. I knew that my Belgium friend from my previous trip, Franqious, was still in Montazuma trying to find a job and sure enough without any of the ‘cell phone technology’, Francqious found me floating in the waves.
A main goal for my trip was to surf my brains out, I hadn’t surfed in about a year since my knee injury last January…it felt like time. One of the guys working at the hostel, Ben, was a financial analyst gone surf bum cutie. Later that evening we hiked to ‘Playa Grande’ for a sunset surf. The journey to Grande was an adventure in itself, it was about a thirty-five minute walk down a jungly beach. Since it was low tide we were able to take the tide pool route which involved a whole lot of rock hopping and intrepid log crossing action. Once we hit open beach, Ben broke into a sprint for the surf. Since we only had one board to share between the two of us, I swam out under the heavy glass to meet him.
The beach was vacant, it was ours. It was that special time of day, dusk, the transition to evening when the sky is stunning and the water looks golden, I felt renewed, like nothing could ever be wrong. Ben caught a few waves, undid his leash and pushed the board towards me. It was an overpowering emotional moment as I paddled for my first wave, I was overtaken as I felt the intensity of the wave build behind me. I popped up to my feet like second nature and glided across glass into freedom. For the next five days I spent just about all day every day in the water from morning till night. Whenever I was hungry, a ripe papaya or mango was never too far out of reach and whenever I was thirsty, a coconut was only a tree shake away. One of these days I will be back there, under the Costa Rican sun - but until then my dreams will have to do. I feel blessed, thank you.
I want to thank those who followed my blog. You guys rock! It has been a pleasure writing this, I hope you enjoyed!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year amigos :)
Over & Out,
Kelsey
I have such mixed emotions right now, I really fell in love with Costa Rica, although I’ll admit it took a while. Culture shock set in for the first month or so, I even felt as though my Spanish was getting worse. At the time, I had the genuine fear that I wouldn’t progress at all, although writing this now, progress was inevitable. I just had to give it time. There is this magical moment when fear and discomfort dissolve and suddenly you find yourself with a brilliant confidence. That moment came for me this past week when I no longer felt like I had to mentally rehearse a question or approach, the words just came.
They say ‘reverse’ culture shock hits you even harder. How do you ‘sum’ up three months? At what point does your experience become reduced to ‘Costa Rica was awesome, I had a lot of fun’? There are no words. I cherish these moments that have fleeted so quickly and find comfort in thoughts of home and family.
I’m really not one for good-byes, I feel like for the most part I’ve said and done it all while I had the chance. After all, all we really have is the moment. And what fantastic moments have they been! In my travels I’ve met some really incredible people from all over the world…France, Belgium, China, Australia, Holland, Japan, Spain, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Nicaragua, England, the US and of course Costa Rica, amongst others. It’s those hundreds of tiny cosmic convergences that build any experience and influence the future ones to come. Life is so beautiful like that.
My host mom, Doña Mayra, will continue to inspire me beyond our time together. I’m so glad that she came into my life. She is such a strong and absolutely selfless woman. I can see how she was such a successful athlete in her youth, she’s one tough cookie and a champion through and through. She took my roommate Steph and I out to a lovely lunch at ‘La Casita’ restaurant on our last day together. The three of us shared a wonderful steaming platter of chuletas, carne, pollo, beans & plantains…yum!
The last post that I wrote was about my visit to Montazuma. I can honestly say that was funnest place I went, so fun actually…that I went back. My classes ended last Tuesday and while most of my new friends went right home, I booked my ticket for 6 days later. This time around the bus ride over was like clockwork, none of that tire popping crap. I’ve been on a bus for over 100 hours since I’ve been in Costa Rica and an evil curse has made it so that I am incapable of getting an ounce of shut eye. Despite not having slept a wink in honor of my last night in San Jose, I rolled up to the bus station in utter delirium. About 6 hours later I was back in wonderful Montazuma.
While I never actually had stayed at the hostel ‘Luz en el Cielo’, they already felt like my vagabond family. I walked up the big hill to the ‘light in the sky’ with some new found friends from Seattle, Ethan and Layla, whom I had just met on the bus. We dropped off our things and jetted down to the ocean for a liberating swim. I knew that my Belgium friend from my previous trip, Franqious, was still in Montazuma trying to find a job and sure enough without any of the ‘cell phone technology’, Francqious found me floating in the waves.
A main goal for my trip was to surf my brains out, I hadn’t surfed in about a year since my knee injury last January…it felt like time. One of the guys working at the hostel, Ben, was a financial analyst gone surf bum cutie. Later that evening we hiked to ‘Playa Grande’ for a sunset surf. The journey to Grande was an adventure in itself, it was about a thirty-five minute walk down a jungly beach. Since it was low tide we were able to take the tide pool route which involved a whole lot of rock hopping and intrepid log crossing action. Once we hit open beach, Ben broke into a sprint for the surf. Since we only had one board to share between the two of us, I swam out under the heavy glass to meet him.
The beach was vacant, it was ours. It was that special time of day, dusk, the transition to evening when the sky is stunning and the water looks golden, I felt renewed, like nothing could ever be wrong. Ben caught a few waves, undid his leash and pushed the board towards me. It was an overpowering emotional moment as I paddled for my first wave, I was overtaken as I felt the intensity of the wave build behind me. I popped up to my feet like second nature and glided across glass into freedom. For the next five days I spent just about all day every day in the water from morning till night. Whenever I was hungry, a ripe papaya or mango was never too far out of reach and whenever I was thirsty, a coconut was only a tree shake away. One of these days I will be back there, under the Costa Rican sun - but until then my dreams will have to do. I feel blessed, thank you.
I want to thank those who followed my blog. You guys rock! It has been a pleasure writing this, I hope you enjoyed!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year amigos :)
Over & Out,
Kelsey
Photo Credit: Quinn Miller-Bedell
Photo Credit: Quinn Miller-Bedell
PURA VIDA
