Billie Besos

Hola.

I promise I haven’t forgotten about this blog! It’s just taken me a few days to piece something together. It’s now my fourth full day in Costa Rica. I’ve mainly been writing from a hammock in the middle of the jungle, with the occasional bug crawling across the screen of my tablet, just to give some context.

So… The time had finally arrived for me to head off on my solo adventure. I think I knew it would creep up on me, but I was surprised by the mixture of emotions that I felt in the few days prior to my departure. I had taken all of my travel supplies with me to Florida, at least I thought I had, and felt like I had a never-ending to do list of things to organise before I left. The day arrived and I was so much more of an anxious mess than I thought I would be. I was freaking out all morning even though I was sure I had thought of pretty much everything, I had even booked a random cheap flight out of Costa Rica in case they were to question me about trying to stay there to work (I think in hindsight maybe this wasn’t necessary as no-one even asked to see it, but you can never be too organised). Despite all this organisation, I still somehow failed to get a visa form on the plane. But luckily enough the airport guy let me off because I was so oblivious. Maybe I hadn’t quite mastered this traveller persona just yet. I also had such a nice taxi driver take me to the camp who said I could call him for a lift on his motorbike whenever I needed… oh what it is to be blonde in Latin America.

Arrival at camp was hair-raising, and that’s putting it lightly. It was a combination of 1) fear that I was going to be kidnapped as I was taken further and further along a dirt track into quite literally the middle of nowhere, 2) turning up to a silent camp with no more than five people in it because everyone was out on an excursion, and 3) the distinctive howling of monkeys living in the trees that formed a canopy over the camp. Despite the slight emptiness, my first thought was this is pretty cool. And from there it has only gotten better. I’ve done yoga at 7am on three mornings on an outdoor platform with monkeys playing in the trees above me (and violently trying to throw leaves onto the platform), I’ve surfed (or attempted to, it’s been a while), I’ve seen some of the most beautiful sunsets ever, one of which was after a beach yoga session just near the edge of the ocean and was literally like a scene from a film, pura vida and all that (and no, I’m not turning into a yogi just yet but I can’t promise anything), and I’ve already met people that I feel like I’ve known a lot longer than just three days. It’s such a cool community in here and I already feel so much calmer, stronger and healthier than I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve even started to accept that a bird pooing on you on average three times a day is just part of the experience. Sorry for the slightly cheesy post but so far, so good. I could get used to this life.

Sunset at the beach in Tamarindo ​