Billie Besos

A week has already passed since I wrote my last blog post. Somehow a week can just slip away from you here, as can a month it seems. I have now been away from home for over six weeks – how time flies when you’re having fun. I am currently in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. I left the surf camp in Tamarindo on Saturday and first travelled a few hours south to Santa Teresa which is a beautiful spot on the southwest coast of the country. We had originally planned on staying just two nights here but somehow it turned into four due to us falling in love with the place (or maybe just falling in love with the best taco restaurant I’ve found in Costa Rica thus far https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g635538-d4597834-Reviews-Taco_Corner-Santa_Teresa_Province_of_Puntarenas.html). Either way, we had the most amazing trip, spending time with two lovely friends from the surf camp that have set up base down there for a while. We surfed in waves which were far better than those in Tamarindo, we ate amazing food, hired quadbikes and drove them along the scenic coastlines (this was a personal highlight), and we also sweated buckets while climbing up treacherous rockfaces to reach some beautiful waterfalls in the nearby town of Montezuma. All in all, this was the perfect start to our real ‘travels’. I am already much calmer now I am in charge of every step of my journey. We had planned on visiting two more locations in Costa Rica after this but have decided to scrap them and travel east across the country instead towards Puerto Viejo. I much prefer spending a few days in each place rather than trying to fit everything in and not getting a real feel for each location.

That is a small update, but what I really want to focus this post on is how I’m feeling now I’m this far into my travels. In summary, I am already extremely bored of every item of clothing I own, I have ‘washed’ all or most of my clothes at least once but they still continue to look and feel slightly grubby, I am absolutely loving the no makeup thing (I haven’t touched makeup since being here and have no intentions of doing so for the foreseeable- it’s so liberating), I am roughly sticking to budget and have been trying to only eat on average one meal out a day, I am keeping up the Spanish practise but feel that this may become easier once I leave this slightly more touristy country, and I am really enjoying meeting someone new everyday. It really is true that when you travel you meet so many different people on a daily basis and everyone is of a similar mindset; they all want to meet new people (or at least most of them do, so far my experience of people from Chile or Argentina is that they are slightly colder with me and don’t appreciate my efforts in an extremely Spanishy Spanish, but I promise I’m not stereotyping!).

Where anxiety is concerned, I feel that my stress levels have gone down significantly since leaving Tamarindo. It sounds ridiculous even using the word stress, but I think I definitely felt a bit restricted at the camp and was eager to get out and explore. Of course it can be stressful being on the road, but I think that the excitement of travelling to new places and not always being sure of how I’m going to get from one place to the next is sort of exhilarating, and I’m enjoying having a slightly more lax attitude. I still have various worries and fears but they are mellowed by new experiences and exciting new adventures. I thought I would share five interesting insights into my current thoughts and goals (sorry they are a little random):

1) People are such a vital contributor to having a successful travel experience. It is surprising that I say this seeing as I knew literally no-one before I started my trip, but now people have been what has made my trip so pleasurable up until this point. People actually really want to help you along the way, and always seem to have a genuine interest in your background, and where you’re headed. For example, upon our arrival in San Jose, we were warned that the bus station is not in a particularly well-lit or desirable part of the city by some men on our coach, so we kept this in mind and when we got off the bus, we were helped by a guy that had been living in San Jose. He let us use his internet to order an Uber to our hostel and advised us that the local taxis would rip us off. It’s just little things like this that can be such a big help.

2) Despite seemingly being in a constant state of exhaustion while travelling, you can also see things a lot more clearly. I headed off on this adventure without a clear plan for when I return, and I won’t deny that this is still the case. However, I am already getting a clearer perspective on where I want to head in life, and the type of thing that makes me happy. I had thought about applying to a Masters abroad for my return, which I may still do, but I have already learnt about various other career/life paths just from meeting people with all kinds of aspirations out here. I have one friend who is a free-lance writer and works while she travels; she’s doing something right.

3) I have decided to attempt vegetarianism while travelling. I have now done this for ten days and counting. It seems to be much easier out here (so far at least) but we will see how it goes. I feel that chicken will be the most difficult meat for me to cut and I’m also worried I’m just going to forget, especially when I’ve had something to drink! This is something I’ve always wanted to try and it just kinda feels like the time to give it a go. I think sacrificing Spicy Italian Subways may be the part I struggle with the most…eek. I’m trying out lots of new things and stepping out of my comfort zone anyway, so why not do this as well.

4) The travel bug. Is. A. Real. Thing. I think I got a taste for it when I worked abroad a couple of years ago but now I’m actually travelling for real, I see how it can become addictive. I have already planned on being away for the month of August this summer, yet I am now trying to pack as much into this year as possible. I miss and love my family and friends so much and am super keen to spend time with them this summer, but I also can’t help but want to continue to explore new corners of the world. Don’t worry mum, I will come home at some point!

5) I have no particular aspirations for this trip, except to enjoy each day and make the most of it. I am so grateful to be able to do a trip like this, but I am not going to put any pressure on myself to do it in a certain way. So far I am happy with the direction I am heading, and I am excited to hopefully have trips lined up to Panama, Colombia and Peru (maybe followed by more locations!). I also would love to do something while I’m out here in order to share something with a different culture. I am still undecided as to what this will be, but I would love to do something that will help children, maybe teaching English somewhere where they haven’t got great access to education. We’ll see.

Thanks for reading!