21. Finally on my way to the Galapagos Islands

So finally, its 12 March and I should be on my way to the Galapagos.  Fingers crossed.  After a leisurely morning with an excellent yoga practice, a walk to the local handicraft market and a chat to Edgar (the cab driver) who happened to be outside the hotel again this morning, it is time to go.  I am collected from the hotel by Deanna from Andean Travel Agency at 2pm.  She and the driver take myself and another person to the airport.   There we are met, and I am transferred to Christina who is from Nautica.  She gives me my boarding pass and tells me to get my ingala (whatever that is) at Baltra airport.    A little overkill in the agency participation department perhaps?  Christina leaves me as I go through to departures and there I wait.  The flight is delayed but finally we board about 4pm.  The flight is 30mins to Guayquil (mainland Ecuador) where we stay on the plane for 30mins while some people get off and others get on.  Then we take off and fly to Baltra (Galapagos Islands) which takes about 1.5hours.

Finally we arrive and disembark.  I feel the warmth in the air that I have missed from just 2 days in Quito.   The customs area, a shed really, is in chaos, but strangely it suits the place.  The staff are relaxed, some of the tourists not so!  I laugh to myself, I am comfortable in this kind of chaos.  I see someone with a sign with my name on it so I know I am okay.  Finally I get through and meet Raphael.  I walk through the carry on luggage inspection area without even realising it is there, and head for the checked luggage area.  My heart sinks as I cant see my bag (not again!) and I get called back to have my carry on luggage checked.  No food so I don’t get arrested.  I check again and there is my bag.  Raphael takes my bag and between my poco espanol and his little English he tells what happens next.  We take a bus (10 mins), a ferry (10 mins) [more a “don’t pay the ferryman” kind of ride from one side of the channel to the other], and a taxi (30mins), [which turned out to be Raphaels truck which had to be push started...too funny].   This will take us to where the MY San Jose is moored in Puerta Ayora about 40 kms from Baltra.  Of course we stopped along the way at Raphael's to pick up his wife and kids who had been staying at his brother's house due to the tsunami.

So finally, after a short wait for the MY San Jose tender at the dock in Puerta Ayora, I arrived onboard at about 9.30pm.  I was presented with a wonderful meal (no wine available though) and I settle into my cabin and try to find my sea legs.  We up anchor at about 11pm and set off for Espanola Island.  Diego (our guide) says it will take the rest of the night to get there. 

   

Puerta Ayora



MY San Jose

20. Getting to Ecuador and The Galapagos

The anticipation of going to the Galapagos is huge.  I pay my departure tax and do a little leapy dance as we wait for Zach.  I go to check in and my ticket is locked as it is operated by another company so they cant check me all the way through.  They check me in to Medellin (Colombia) but the helpful check in person says I will have to pick up my bag, clear customs and recheck in at Medellin. As I walk away I notice that my boarding time is after the departure time of my flight??  I go back to the counter to ask about this.  I discover my original flight was cancelled.  The check-in person had put me on the next flight, which is a good thing, but neglected to tell me that it wasnt my original flight...why would I want to know that information..:)!  What the later flight means though is that I only have an hour between flights and with memories of traversing LAX I am a little nervous but he assures me it is only a small airport.  Am I ever going to get there??...shouldnt have danced in the departure hall perhaps...:)!

I arrive in Medellin and discover it IS a small airport, actually it looks like its still being built.  Signs that indicated the gate lounge numbers were being hung. There were no clocks anywhere.  It was actually so small that the security guard that I asked about my bag, came and found me later to make sure I had my boarding pass!  His colleague had gone to get my bag for me and would make sure it got on the plane with me.  Okay I said, cool, I was sorted and went to wait for my flight.

Im a trusting kind of person and Im happy about that but okay so my bag didn’t make it to Quito.  The issue with that was mostly that there was no chance it would arrive before we left for the Galapagos the next day.  So essentially I had about an hour that evening, after arriving in Quito about 7pm, to head to the shopping mall and do some speed shopping.  I have no toiletries, bathers, hiking shoes... nada except the shorts and tshirt I have on.  In an hour I manage to buy 2 singlet tops, 1 long sleeved top (cos its cool in Quito), 1 pair shorts, 1 other top, 3 pairs of knickers, 1 bra and 2 pairs of bikinis (okay I didn’t need two but I couldn’t decide!).  I decided to leave the toiletries as I could get them at the airport (hopefully).  I got toothpaste and a brush from the hotel.

The next day I am to be picked up at 8am.  When I meet Deanna in the lobby she advises that all flights to the Galapagos are cancelled today due to the tsunami in Japan that I had just read about on the internet.  All that speed shopping for nothing!  We would not know until tomorrow if the trip would go ahead.  Deanna takes me to the Farmacia to buy some toiletries in case my bag doesnt show up.  Then I spend the morning rewinding my early start as I had not slept well.  I did some research on Quito and as Im not so enthused about cities at the moment I decided to head for the Centro de Arte Contemparaneo. 

The Centro de Arte Contemparaneo was located on the edge of the old town of Quito.

This is a beautiful building, 107 years old and seemed perfect for this purpose, but was originally a military hospital.  The exhibition is excellent with some really interesting pieces.  Some very cool metal sculptures.  My favourite piece though was an abstract representation of the union of man and woman which consisted of a small dining table and two chairs. On the table was a coffee cup half full of coffee (the woman – uterus), above hung many teaspoons with wavy handles (man – sperm) and reflected on the table was a changing ultrasound of a baby...Im not usually that into abstract but this was very cool. I felt sad as I seemed to be the only one there appreciating this beautiful building and the art that is on display here.  Each room had a guide and Luis in the abstract room was very helpful with information about the artists and the works.

My taxi driver was Edgar.  What a sweetie.  He took me there, waited and then to the airport to pick up my bag that I had been advised would arrive at 2pm, then back to the hotel.  Apparently my bag went to Lima, as you would expect (I didnt go there at all)??  It appeared nothing was missing except the tag Dawn and Glenyce had given me that said “put it back, its mine”.  Later that day I am advised that I will be collected at 2pm on Saturday for my flight to the Galapagos.

 

19. Transition Drake Bay to The Galapagos Islands!

After 3 days of tours you can imagine I was exhausted!!  So the plan was to have Tuesday in the hammock again and then it was an early pick up (7am) to head back to Manuel Antonio (MA) on Wednesday 9 March morning. 

I was due to fly to Quito in Ecuador on Thursday 10 March.  This was an early flight from Quepos to San Jose and then the flight to Quito left at 10.45am.  I got news from my travel agent that the early morning flight from Quepos had been cancelled.  It appeared I was the only one interested in flying at 6.45am that morning.  Hmmm, this presents a problem as I dont get back to MA until about 1pm and I had to pick up my vaccination certificate from the Ministry of Health as I needed to get a yellow fever injection to go to Ecuador.  Of course this was a complicated process where you go to the pharmacist and purchase the vaccine, he gives you the shot and a letter to take to the Ministry.  They then produce a certificate.  Foolish I went to the Ministry on the day I had the injection and expected to walk out with the certificate.  I laughed at myself for expecting that...how long have I been in Costa Rica.  The senor that took my letter and filled in my form told me to come back in a week!  So if the certificate wasnt ready on that Wednesday (about 10 days later) I was in trouble.  My lift back from Drake Bay dropped me off at the Ministry and surprisingly, the certificate was ready and was free!  Now what to do about getting to the airport.  It takes a minimum of 3 hours (and up to 6 hours) to get to San Jose depending on transport (bus or car) and if the highway is open or not.  I opt for an early taxi (6.30am) which was expensive, but cheaper than flying the night before and staying in a hotel.

When I arrive home, Holly advises me that she is in fact driving a "friend" of hers,Zach, to the airport on Wednesday afternoon, they have somewhere to stay and Im welcome to join them if I would like!  The trick is that they are leaving about 3pm that afternoon...yes that means a 2 hour turnaround from one trip to the next!  Whats a girl to do...its an offer too good to refuse.  A small adjustment to what I have packed and away we go.    It took us about 4 hours to get there as the highway was not open and the mountain overpass was also closed.  We arrived tired, ate at Snoopy's Bar in Escazu (a groovy suburb of San Jose) and then we actually stayed in a mansion on the hill there!  Zach had a contact that allowed him to rent this house.  It was gorgeous.  My bedroom was enormous with a great view over the city.  Another early start as Zach's flight was at around 9ish so up and out of there at 6.30am.

View from my bedroom in Escazu

18. Drake Bay - Sirena Ranger Station 7 March

So my third tour was back into a different area of Corcovado National Park, the Sirena Ranger Station, with a group of 5 including Mierta from Switzerland who was lots of fun.  Sirena Ranger Station is where Bob and I had tried to get to from Puerta Jimenez, so I was looking forward to actually getting there.  Manuel was our guide again and the boat crew was also the same.   Today we had to carry our lunch due to the length of the walk, but when we sat down to eat lunch we were pleasantly surprised at the presentation and evry little detail they had attended to, including a surprise chocolate chip cookie, freshly baked!  It was another early start, at 6.30am, and the boat ride took about 75 minutes and was quite bumpy.  I felt for one of the group who I knew got sea sick.  She had been a sailing instructor and also got sea sick snorkelling.. quite weird but she managed it well.  The second most spectacular part of this trip was the beach landing amongst the breakers...some seriously good boat manouervering was done to get us safely close enough to the beach that we didn’t even get our shorts wet.

The most spectacular thing was the sighting of a puma just as we arrived on the beach.  Not quite as spectacular as the day before when others had seen it eating a monkey but nonetheless there it was in view under a tree and we watched it for some time until it got up and walked away.  We also saw squirrel monkeys and capuchin (white faced) monkeys which we did not see in San Pedrillo area.  Then of course there were the spider and howler monkeys.  One of the capuchin monkeys came down  

and stole two birds eggs out of a nest and took them back up into a tree and ate them in full view.  We saw both types of pecarrys, the white collared and the white lipped. A large group of each passed right in front of us, across the track we were taking.  We saw two different types of trogons. A bird eating snake, about 5 feet long, lay across the trail and wasnt very happy we were there.  It eventually slithered off into the bush.  Im not sure it was better when we could see it on the trail or when it was in the vegetation and not so visible...eek!  

We also saw a caiman and  3 crocodiles. A couple of days earlier the group had seen a crocodile take a pelican on the shore.  As we watched one of the crocodiles return from the see we thought we may also be witness to something like this as it disappeared under the water close to a bird on the shore.  Nothing happened but we were torn between wanting to stay to see what happened and the fact that we couldnt see it any longer and it could just as easily have surfaced on our side of the shore..eek again!!  Another pretty bird – female yellow and green, turkeys (guans) and jungle chickens.  Two sloths, a toucan, macaws overhead.  Needless to say,  we were once again exposed to a mind boggling amount of wildlife in its natural environment. 

On the return trip we were treated to an up close look at Gerona Waterfall and some spectacular coastline.  Again some great boat driving to deal with the swell and to take us up to the coastline and through rocky islands to show us some brown boobies.  Also a potoo, that is also known as a stick bird as it blends in like a stick in a tree.  There were loads of butterflies here including two blue morphs which are always spectacular to see.

17. Drake Bay - Isla de Cano 6 March

The next tour I booked was out to Isla de Cano.  If you have read the previous posts you will know that my friend Bob and I took a trip down to the island from Manuel Antonio.  The water was murky, visibility low and seemingly not much to see when you could, the guides not so good, the boat broke down, I drowned my camera...you get the picture...not such a good day.  But I am always grateful for a day on the water at the very least. 

The day looks spectacular and we didn’t need to leave until 7.45am , so a bonus sleep in.

Again the group is small with just the 3 of us.  Our guide is Orlando.  The boat trip takes about 45 minutes and is a little bumpy but fun.  When we arrive they check the tidal currents to work out where we start our first snorkel.  We stop the boat at rocks at the far end of the beach closest to Drake Bay.   The water is crystal clear, the first improvement on the previous trip.  Our guide, like Manuel was yesterday, is enthusiastic and appears to actually love what he is doing.  He starts taking us along, eagerly pointing out things as we go, coming to the surface to tell us about what he is showing us.  Improvement number 2 on the previous trip!  The fish are plentiful, colourful and big.  Improvement number 3. 

As we are swimming along, I try to stay close to the guide as

he has sharp eyes.  While he is looking in the opposite direction, I see ahead of us an enormous Pacific Manta Ray, the first I have ever seen snorkelling.  I was so excited I nearly drowned....:).  I tried to grab the guide's flipper to  alert hbut he was slightly ahead of me looking in the other direction.  Finally he turned and saw it...he nearly drowned as well...:). , We swam behind it for some time, being able to fully appreciate its beauty and grace.  As if that wasn’t enough, it turned and swam back toward us so that we could see it from the front as well.  This was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.  Not long after this, a dozen spotted eagle rays swam under us, as if in formation the way birds fly.  It was overwhelming.  So exciting.   If you read my facebook status for that day it went something like this..... "OMG OMG OMG Ive just come back from snorkelling and just saw my first eeennnoooorrrmmmouuuss pacific manta ray at Cano Island..not to mention a dozen spotted eagle rays...awesome...very leapy here..off to the bar to celebrate!"



Lying under a coconut tree

This was another excellent tour.  We finished snorkelling there, got back on the boat and they took us to a second site.  Again the water was clear and there was plenty of fish to see, also starfish and a stingray.  Not quite as spectacular as the first snorkel but that was extraordinary.  We went ashore to the beach and our lunch was served.  We then had some relaxation time on the beach.  Once again we headed off about 2.30pm to be back in time for happy hour.  Another day in paradise! 

Of course I dont have many photos of this tour as most of the action happened under the water...and we all know what happened last time I tried to capture that!


 



16. Drake Bay - San Pedrillo Ranger Station 5 March



Jungle Beach (not drop off point)

So after my hammock fest for 3 days I decided it was time to get out and about and see what there was on offer in Drake Bay.  The trip to Corcovado National Park that was included was to the San Pedrillo Ranger Station area.  I was very happy to be able to say ‘yes’ this time when Adrian came around to book the tours.  So on Saturday (5 March) I was up early as the departure was at 6.30am.  The early start was due to the days being warm and there is more wildlife activity while it is cooler.  I discovered by having to be at breakfast early, that there are actually delicious cinnamon scrolls freshly baked and still warm on the table.  A perfect start to the day!  There were three of us on the tour along with our guide Manuel plus the boat captain and hand.    It was not even an hour boat trip to our drop off point which was a wet landing on the beach.  Wet landing means jumping out of the boat into the water.  The depth of the water depends how close the boat captain gets you to the shore.  I have to say he did a pretty good job. The tour loosely involved walking from the drop off point through the rainforest and along the beach to get to the Rangers Station.  From there we walk a different route to a waterfall and a swimming hole.  Then we have a hot lunch which has been brought from the kitchen.  Then a little down time which included swimming.  The boat collects us from the Rangers Station (where the boat crew have waited for us) and we head home, ensuring that  we are back in time for happy hour and snacks at 4pm.  



Male Trogon

 So off we trek into the rainforest to make our way to the Ranger Station.  Manuel carries a telescope which is great for seeing everything up close and for taking photos.  He is very good at spotting birds and animals, and also mimicking their calls.  Pretty soon we have spotted a tapir, a variety of birds and monkeys.  To name a few: trogon, macaws, bush turkey (not correct name), spider monkeys, howler monkeys.  We walked from about 7am and arrived at the San Pedrillo Ranger Station around 10.30am.  The time went by in a blink of an eye.  Most of the walk was in the rainforest but we did get to spend some time walking along the beach where we saw the scarlet macaws feeding in the beach almond trees. 

From the Ranger’s Station we walked for about half an hour to a waterfall.  Along the way we see a couple of crocodiles, one Manuel spotted was fully submerged.  Now Im going to tell you something I did that is very unAustralian.  On the way back from the waterfall, down from where we spotted one of the crocodiles (and which was no longer there) was the swimming hole.  Now no sensible Australian would swim in a waterhole where you have seen a crocodile, right?  But I AM a wild woman now so I swam with the rest of the group and sat under the overflow of water (not really a waterfall) for a water massage.  I have to admit I was a nervous “wild woman” while I was doing it though!  Obviously, no harm done.

I have uploaded my best photos of this tour to facebook.  I have included only a few here (due to not finding it easy to load masses of photos on this blog) but if you are interested you can view more photos on facebook. 

15. Drake Bay - 3 days in a hammock (2-4 March)

So there I was in paradise, its day 2 of my trip to Drake Bay.  I can see the ocean from just about everywhere at the resort and the patio of my cabina.  I can hear the ocean all night long (well the bits I was awake for and when I woke in the morning).  Its no surprise I had already decided to extend my stay by 2 days, so Im staying 8 nights instead of 6!  Im sure my travel agent thought I was mad when I contacted him and asked him to change my pickup

arrangements, he already thought 6 nights was too long!

The package included one tour to Corcovado National Park and one tour to Isla de Cano  (yes, that place we went to from MA where the boat broke down, we didn’t see much and had an all round not so good day)...but as always Im optimistic, I will give it another try.   But whats the rush, right?   Ive got 8 nights.  The grounds are beautiful here,

there are hammocks, I have books to read and Sudoku to do.  And then there are the 3 meals a day that are included also.  This includes at least 2 courses at lunch and dinner and fruit, cereal and numerous cooked items for breakfast.  Hopefully the hammocks are strong!!  Somehow, the chef seems to manage to serve something different every day.  And you know its fresh when you see the fish coming in straight off the boat!!  We all dine together and it creates a great atmosphere for sharing experiences.  Stories about sightings of birds, boa constrictors and whales abounded. Still, the hammock appealed.

I was encouraged by Kristof and his wife (whose name I dont have, my apologies), who had not been on a tour in the 2 weeks they had been there.  They had become record holders by staying at the Drake Bay Wilderness Lodge for a month (beating the previous record by 2 weeks) So yes, other than doing yoga, blogging and eating meals I spent a great deal of time in the hammock over the next 3 days.  I did manage to drag myself out after dinner one night (3 March) to go to the Night Tour. This made me feel better as each night Adrian or Brian (sons of the owner) would come around and take down which tours people wanted to take the next day.  They had given up asking Kristof but I figured after booking this they would keep trying with me!  The night tour is with Tracie Stice, a biologist affectionately known as the Bug Lady and her husband, Gianfranco, a naturalist,  whose notoriety hasnt given him a nickname yet.  I think he could be known as the snake man as he found two in the dark while we were walking around.  

.

My friend Chris had mentioned to me that the night tour was really good.  He said you see all types of nocturnal insects etc.   "If you were brave enough to do it".. he added.  Hmm, Im a wild woman now right? Of course Im brave enough she says...trying to block out her knees knocking together.  So I booked in for the tour and it was outstanding.  I felt better when I was able to convince Marianne who was also staying at the lodge to come with me.  Okay so I didn’t hold the chunk headed  snake that was only as thick as my little finger...but hey, he could still digest an iguana up to 10 times his own size!  We saw a

 masked tree frog, furry grey stripey spider (cant remember the name), the snake as mentioned and a cats eyes snake (often mistaken for the deadly fer de lance snake).  We weren’t offered to hold this one as it is venomous but not deadly.  A tiny humming bird was sleeping on a branch above our heads.  Apparently they can drop their body temperature by up to 30C to save energy due to their heart rate being up to 1200 bpm active and 500 bpm resting!  There was an owl butterfly caterpillar, a kinkajous, a net casting spider, another spider that rolls up its web and eats it at the end of the night, several trap door spiders, including one that gave a wonderful show of pushing away the guides pointing stick and closing its door.  A click beetle that has 3 biolumenescent spots, two on its mid section and one underneath, supposedly the most bioluminescent creature on the planet.  We also saw a walking stick insect which the guides got down to show us up close and then it returned very carefully.  The guides were great, Tracie with her keen eye for spiders and John with his eye for snakes.  Between them they presented really interesting information about what we had seen along with some funny anecdotes and serious facts.  Due to a tendency for the discussion to be about venomous snakes and spiders, there was a lot of confirmation asked of me (being Australian) about "you have those back home" or "have you seen one of those"!  It is "rumoured" we have a lot of nasty stuff in Australia...:)!  We also saw what we thought was a rather large wolf spider on the way back to our lodge but Tracie rather delicately pointed out they do get bigger than that....eek!  Luckily they tend to eat each other which we agreed was a good thing...:)! My photos ar not very good but I have still included some here.  If you want to see and read more her website is  http://www.thenighttour.com/index.htm.  This was a really great tour, well worth doing

14. Off to Bahia Drake (Drake Bay)

Before going to Dominical I had also been making enquiries regarding two other trips through my excellent travel agent, Alban Salazar from Costa Rica Travel Advisors.  One trip was to the Galapagos, which comes later.  The other to Drake Bay which was recommended by my friends Stuart and Jane who had previously spent a month in Costa Rica.  Given their outstanding information on sail boat charter trips in Croatia and Turkey, I was confident that it would be worth seeing.  

After arriving back on Tuesday afternoon, I confirmed the trip to Drake Bay on the Thursday with a departure date of Tuesday 1 March.  As usual, the week in Manuel Antonio disappeared in the blink of an eye...yoga classes, trips to Jaco, reflexology, writing a blog, personal training, out to local live music venues, study and time at the beach are all hard to fit into these, what seem like, very short days.

Quickly it was time to leave for Drake Bay.  I did leave on the trip with a little trepidation though.  Drake Bay is located on the west coast of the Osa Peninsula .  Given the trip my friend and I had to Puerta Jimenez on the east coast of the same peninsula, I was wondering whether the 3 hours I was quoted from Manuel Antonio would be more like 5 hours and how uncomfortable it would be in a minivan, if the roads were anything like we endured for the last 70kms to Puerta Jimenez.

 I was pleasantly surprised.  The trip was on good roads all the way to Sierpe and took about 2 hours after leaving about 7.30am.  We arrived in Sierpe and had a 2 hour wait for the boat trip up the river, which was to take about an hour.  This is the only way to get to any of the hotels in Drake Bay as far as I am aware.  Anyway our boat was small but there was nothing wrong with the engine.  The driver “fanged” it along the river, which was a really pretty trip.  Then we went out into the ocean, through a very narrow gap in a couple of large rocks that no sailor would ever attempt to get through with breakers on both sides....eek!....and then across the bay.

Drake Bay Wilderness Lodge was at the most southern tip of Bahia Drake.  After communication problems between driver and passengers due to lack of English and Spanish, the other couple I was riding with were unceremoniously dropped off as close to shore as possible, but still in knee deep water.  Based on this I started to prepare myself for my disembarkation.  Of course I was in shorts and had my shoes off anyway, so not much to prepare!  I laughed as the boat came around the entrance to my hotel to find a tiny jetty where I stepped off, someone took my bag and helped me across the boat.  Not a drop of water on me!  I love being a girl..:)!

On arrival, I was greeted with a tropical drink and my luggage taken to my room.  As the trip had been relatively quick it was only 1.30pm and lunch was still being served.  Three courses for lunch in an open air restaurant overlooking the ocean.  Perfect!  Once again, I was glad I had made the decision and effort to come here.  This place is beautiful.  Only one thing to fix, I immediately upgraded to an ocean view cabin!   I spent the afternoon settling into yet another Costa Rican paradise!  





View from my first lunch at the Lodge



Crazy Sign as we left Sierpe to head along the river





Ocean View Rooms (3) mine is first one #14

13. Dominical and Flying Yoga Massage

Dominical turned out to be a really cool little surf town with a great relaxed vibe and some nice people.  One main dirt road with a selection of restaurants and shops, a few other roads that led to the smoothie cafe, hotels and the eco laundry.   Close to Bamboo YogaPlay was a fresh fruit stand we would get a pipa (coconut) most days, apparently natures own electrolyte drink!  There were the usual market stalls at the edge of the beach with arrays of sarongs and local jewellery.   I liked it there so much I decided to extend my

stay by a couple of days...a trend that you may notice develops as this story unfolds...!   Not leaving until the Tuesday (22 February), not only gave me a chance to enjoy some more spectacular sunsets over Dominical Beach and have more beach time, I also got to have another ‘flying yoga” massage with Whakapaingia (Whaka) David Luke.

Luckily for me, Whaka and his wife Sara and their beautiful baby Kotahiataahu (Tahi) were in Dominical for the month of February.  Usually based in Venice in LA, Whaka is originally from New Zealand.  During the “Awaken the Wild Woman” retreat, the breaks we had gave us the opportunity to take advantage of other services offered through Bamboo YogaPlay.  I had met Whaka the day I arrived.   In addition to the obvious affiliation of being from the same side of the world, the energy that I felt as he walked passed me turned my head and I knew there was something special about this person.    When I discovered he gave massages I booked in immediately.  Okay they called it a Flying Yoga Massage.  I had no idea what flying yoga was but I was game, and by all reports being “flown” by Whaka was amazing.  I had no idea how amazing!  It was perhaps the most amazing massage I have ever had.  I had to completely trust and surrender to Whaka and it was easy.   I felt I definitely travelled to a place of peace during the massage.   It felt so good afterwards my body was humming and did so for a long time after the massage had ended.  It was much more than just a physical experience.  So much so I booked in for another before I left Dominical.  This time the massage was on the beach, so to hear the ocean as well enhanced the experience even more.



View from Costa Paraiso



Okay if this is so good, maybe I should try to learn it for myself...particularly as Whaka and Sara were running a workshop on the Sunday afternoon when the retreat finished that morning.  So over 2 hours we got the opportunity to learn the basics, be flown and fly others.  Okay so you don’t become an expert in 2 hours but my partner Bob from Denver who I met that day and I did just fine.  Yes I flew him and he assured me he was at least 160lbs but its not about strength really, its about trust and getting the technique right.  I also flew another guy, Bryce, who was even bigger than Bob.  Man it was fun to realise you can actually do this when you are a 165cm, 62kg female! 

Now the workshop was great but not only did we learn how to fly but we got invited to pizza and movie night at Costa Paraiso,  a resort just down the road in Dominicalito.  It seems that Bob was one of the owners and Bryce was the chef....pretty good networking, don’t you think!  Anyway the girls and I headed out there and we had a great night, two of us being the last to leave of course!

Of course I don’t have any photos of my flying yoga massages or the workshop but if you are interested to see what it actually is and find out more go to www.kohayoga.com and see Whaka and what he does.  I highly recommend having a massage if you hear he is anywhere near where you are!

So after my second massage I just chilled in Dominical the rest of that day and tried to sort out what time the local bus actually left to go back to Quepos on the Tuesday.  Always a bit of pot luck as “time table” has a different (or maybe no meaning) in some places here.  Finally I managed to decipher  (with my limited Spanish) it was somewhere around noon.  It also seemed to be scheduled to take 2 hours which seemed excessive seeing as Quepos is only 40 kms away!  The bus from Jaco to Quepos only takes 1.5 hours and thats 70kms.  I also picked up 2 new pairs of bikinis for $7 each....bargain, yes indeed!  I really needed these as whoever thought that going to Costa Rica with 1 bikini was a good idea (me) was wrong.  The original pair are practically worn out!



Dominical Beach



When I did catch the bus the next day about 12.30pm (not too far off), we got about 15 minutes out of town and we were stopped by the police.  I don’t know about you, but when anything like this happens it makes me nervous even if I don’t have anything to worry about.  The police came on the bus and walked from one end to the other.  We all must have looked a bit dodgy as we were then told to get off the bus (all in Spanish again, well it was the local bus after all!), line up with our hand luggage in front of us and the dogs gave it the once over.  At the same time other police where doing the same with dogs over our luggage that was in the hold of the bus.  Finally we were given the all clear and allowed to get back on the bus!  The trip didn’t quite take 2 hours but I could see how it might given that the stops were very close together and that makes a lot of stops over the next 40 kms!  The rest of the trip was uneventful and I arrived back in Manuel Antonio feeling wild and ready for the next adventure.

Sunset over Dominical



12. "Awaken the Wild Woman Within" Retreat (Tues 15 Feb - Sun 20 Feb)

So I sent off my email on 10 February requesting a spot for a retreat that starts on 15 February...as always I am optimistic. 

Despite the fact Ive very new to yoga and have not tried any of the other activities listed for at the retreat (except high school art, which from the description tells you how long ago that was...!) and have emailed so late...the organisers welcome me with open arms...hmm, this is a good thing right? Im learning more and more, some things are just meant to be.

Anyway regardless, Im in, pay my deposit and away we go..!   The Bamboo Yoga Play Website describes the retreat as

“Get wild and come alive in the Jungles of Costa Rica’  Join us on a 5 day exploration;   fuelling our authentic expression through movement, yoga, drumming, singing and visual arts.” 

A perfect addition to a Costa Rican Jungle Adventure. 

Now some of you who know me best may be a little nervous that I think there is a wild woman inside to awaken...with  stories such as the “jack daniels incident”, “the espresso martini” incident, the “green drink” incident, riding Thomas the Tank engine unaccompanied by children,  playing on the trampoline with my great nephews (and being first on), a thing for capes and underpants on the outside, giving up my job and home and going to live in a country Ive never been to before etc...you get the picture!





One View from La Parcela



So Tuesday 15 February came around very quickly.  As Dominical is only 40 kms away, Holly (my landlady) kindly offers to take me there and suggests we try out La Parcela for lunch which is a restaurant in a beautiful location near there.  Donna, another local expat, joined us and we had a fun time.



On arrival, I was taken to my accommodation which was just a short walk down the road.  I hung out at Bamboo Yoga waiting for the others to arrive.  Here I first met Lyndsey who had arrived on the Sunday. There were 13 attendees including the 3 facilitators, Sofia Thom, Una Viggiana and Cheri Shanti.  These 3 had a great combination of skills all provided with different approaches.  We kicked off the retreat with an “opening circle” which gave us an introduction of some house rules, what to expect and who we were , the usual.  The retreat was mostly held at Bamboo YogaPlay in Dominical except for one day when we had the full moon ritual that was spent mostly at Selva, a property not far from Dominical. 

We had dinner together that first night at Maracatu, a fabulous vegetarian restaurant (but they do serve fish, including THE best fish burger I have ever had ...).  This became a regular haunt for meals during the retreat. 

There were 4 of us staying at Posada del Sol and we  soon formed the “Smoothie Sisterhood” starting each day at Cafe el Sueno with the biggest, freshest, tastiest smoothies ever.  The timetable was full with the schedule running from 8am until 9pm.  There were significant breaks during the day though.  A typical day would start with an hour available for journaling and/or beach time, 1.5 hours of yoga, a half hour snack break which was usually fresh fruit, then an hour of an awakening activity such as wild painting or wild dance expression.  The lunch break was 3 hours which was good as it gave us time to try things like “flying yoga” which I will write about separately.  Then there was a two hour playshop such as wild write journaling, 2 hour dinner break and then 2 hour evening playshop which could be drumming around a bonfire on the beach or musing.  In addition we also had a day where we hiked to a  waterfall and played and meditated there, a full moon ritual, complete with full moon.

Now there are some things that happen in Costa Rica that stay in Costa Rica.  I will say though that, yes, I drummed, I painted, I journalled, I danced and I participated in the full moon ritual.  While I write this quite flippantly, there was a great deal of depth to each of these sessions from preparation to guidance for being present in the activity and the creation of a safe environment to explore. 

I also learnt something from each and everyone that attended, be it a word, an attitude, an activity, and it also gave me time that you dont usually give yourself to develop further.  I received some disappointing news on the first morning of this retreat, but I am grateful for the timing as I was in the perfect environment to deal with it.  If anyone reading this has an inkling, even if its just in their little pinky toe to try something like this, I would highly recommend it.

The waterfall at the end of our hike

 

Venue for Full Moon Ritual