Kule and Michelle's SoulJourn: Costa Rica

Uvita "Whaletail" beach

January was a rich month of purposeful contribution and rich community connections. February was a retreat month. We chose to rent a casita at Valle de Suenos, from our friends Glori and Gi, where we stayed last year in April, 20 minutes drive from the beaches of Dominical and Uvita. There’s not much to do there but enjoy the jungle birds and vegetation, soak in the soothing warm ocean breezes, cook yummy meals together, practice meditation and yoga, take walks in hills that put us in shape like a marathon, and write my book. I wrote the first draft of my book, Messages from Jason, and it feels so good to have met this goal for my retreat in this Valley of Dreams! I celebrated with the toucans, hummingbirds, and oro pendula birds. Next step is to send it to a friend who can review it to help me get it edited and published.

We ventured out of our retreat space a few times. We went into San Isidro to see our dentist; a crown costs $400 as opposed to $1200 in the states! We chose not to rent a car on this trip, to experiment with use of buses and catching rides with friends headed our way. It was a successful experiment and we were glad to be living more sustainably, not burning fossil fuels unnecessarily and saving $$ on car rentals. For Valentine’s Day, we took the bus to Uvita, 1 hr away, and spent the first day at the national park named after the whale tail that the coral reef formed, and at which whales can be viewed. We spent the night at the home of Flor, a Tica woman we rented from a couple of times last year, who prepared us a lovely yummy traditional full breakfast. The next day we headed to the beautiful Las Ventanas (“The Windows”) to check out the natural caves that the ocean waves explore with us. Our “cab” driver Negro, an old Tico in a very old Land Cruiser who Flor uses to help her get around. Cabs aren’t easy to find in Uvita, and our arrival at Flor’s the night before we had to walk 1 km up a steep hill because the cab we found wasn’t 4 WD; it was a fun night walk in the jungle with our headlamps!

Las Ventanas, Uvita, Costa Rica

Music was a big event for me this year in Costa Rica, as I brought my viola (now electronic!) so I could play with Dennis Gaumond and his Bhadra Collective. It was a blast rehearsing and performing! We played 2 gigs at an upscale bar called the Uvita Roadhouse, and at the Finca Fruicion Fiesta. Were were on a roll playing Dennis’ great middle-eastern and rocking kirtan and blues/rocks songs, and we both wish I could have stayed longer to continue our music collaboration, now postponed until next November. We plan to record together then!

(see Finca Fruicion blog for photo and video)

Our second side excursion our last month in Costa Rica this year was to visit our dear friends Sheya and Owl that we spent 4 months with last year in community, visioning for our move to Costa Rica. On the way, we stopped to visit the intentional community of Fuente Verde. Sheya and Owl live 45 minutes up a windy dirt road from the “blacktop” in Tinimaste and across a river, that is low enough to cross in the dry season, in Aguas Sagradas (Sacred Waters), where they will be building their new home in this intentional community. The river skinny dip was delightful, and we enjoyed our dome-style cabina and fresh garden vegetables in this remote jungle.

From Aguas Sagradas, Sheya and Owl dropped us off at the H.O.M.E. (Heaven on Mother Earth) farm at the top of Nyacka waterfall, considered the most stunning waterfall in Costa Rica. We had fun playing by candle light, as the farm is off the grid. We enjoyed our stay in their creative cabina. The next day we hiked down to the Nyacka falls for an exciting swim, and drove back with John to visit friends in Las Tumbas before heading back to Platanillo, then off to San Jose and Massachusetts then Ashland, Oregon! Kule will be driving his car from Massachusetts to Oregon, visiting brothers and friends along the way!