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COSTA RICA, CAHUITA PARK BEACH

Our last night in Cahuita was misty and damp, and we went into town and had something to drink at a little local's spot. "Imagine" played on the radio, and as candles flickered in the wind on the patio around us Dan found himself letting go of some old pain as he cried throughout the song. I held him as he released his old stuff, then we slowly made our way back to our rustic little cabin. We crawled into bed under our tattered but trusty mosquito net, and held each other some more.

The next morning we found that our socks were still wet after 3 days of hanging outside since a washing. 100% humidity at its best! It was really easy to depend on laundries with dryers for the rest of the trip, even though we had purchased fast-drying travel clothes.

After leaving Cahuita, we made an attempt to visit Turrialba, a very out-of-the-way volcano. We took a road marked as four-wheel drive on our map, and eagerly anticipated its challenge.  It proved to be way beyond our capabilities … narrow and raised with huge rocks that had to be inched-over.  The road was about 19 miles long, and we had no idea how to pass another vehicle under these conditions.  After going less than a half mile at extremely low speed, our nerves were shaken. We found a place where I was able to turn the SUV around.  We gratefully inched our way back to the pavement, one boulder at a time. 

During our travels around the country, I noticed something that intrigued me.  The fences that functioned to divide properties and keep in livestock were alive!  Different plants, including some common houseplants like corn plants, were planted very close together and surely grew quite fast in the moisture-laden environment.  Wire was strung on them, and presto, living fences; no digging involved.  This was something quite new to me, and I smiled every time I recognized the ingenuity displayed in them. 

We journeyed back to San Jose just before New Years.  Traveling through San Jose took concentration, and lots of luck and prayers, as there are almost no street signs in the city.  We stopped about five or six times, and in broken Spanish I pointed to our map and asked "? por favor, donde esta ahora ?".  I thought this meant "please show us where we now are" on the map.  It was something at least close enough to inspire some finger pointing that helped us navigate the city. 

While waiting in the noisy and crowded airport for our flight out of Costa Rica, an amazing synchronicity occurred. A member of our Spiritual community in Sedona entered the airport through the very gate where we waited. She and her family were beginning a retreat center in Costa Rica, and after recovering from our shock at running into each other so unexpectedly, we embraced warmly. For both of us, it felt like a great confirmation that we were aligning ourselves with our higher purpose.

We left Costa Rica with smiles and open hearts, flying off to welcome in the New Year of 2004 in Machu Picchu, Peru.