11. Settling into life in Manuel Antonio

Okay so living in Manuel Antonio is pretty idyllic.  Holly (my landlady/new friend) invites me to some of the events that she goes to for ex-pats such as divorce parties, superbowl celebrations and Dos Locos on a Saturday afternoon.  Dos Locos is a bar in Quepos where some of the ex-pats that are musicians play on Saturday afternoon in their band called....wait for it....Pura Vida Social Club!  Pura Vida is a local saying that, loosely translated, means "pure life"or "this is living".   The music was fun and the group is an odd mix of people that obviously just love to play music so that gave the place a good vibe.  And then there are a few musicians (visiting or otherwise) who are welcome to join in.  We danced and had some beers and some laughs.  Like most, Dos Locos is an open air bar, so the Ticos (local Costa Ricans) look in most curiously to see a whole lot of gringos dancing in a middle of Saturday afternoon.  Probably saying to themselves, you call that dancing!

There is plenty of yoga on offer at a variety of places and the beach is a 50c bus ride away.  This is regardless of where you get on and off along the route between Quepos and Manuel Antonio Beach (about 7 kms in total). And of course, the weather is great!  

A typical day would be walk to yoga, go for breakfast at Cafe Milagro (a favorite local cafe), walk down the Punto de Vista hill to the beach, swim and sunbake for an hour or two, walk back up the Punto de Vista hill (a tough walk, affectionately known as heartbreak hill!) and then walk home.   In the afternoon I do a bit of study or work on this blog.  Too often Holly and I have given ourselves a happy hour about 5pm with wine and dip which seems to negate the need for dinner.  I fight against this habit as I need to get my nutrition!  I cook some of my staples, like chilli tuna pasta to have on hand so at least I have a decent meal at some point.  

I start feeling like I need to do some personal training and remember that this awesome massage therapist was also a personal trainer.  I contact Lorraine and ask her what she thinks.  She is happy to take me on so I book once a week for an hour or so.  We start at 6.30am and after a couple of sessions we switch to 6am.  The session consists of meeting her at Mono Azul Hotel (the Blue Monkey) and we trek to the beach through a fairly unmade track that is not often taken.  We work out on the beach using rocks as weights.  Then we do some power yoga, during shavasana (the ending process for yoga practice) she reads to me from a book that she finds inspirational and I have found really interesting called "One Day My Soul Just Opened Up".   Then we trek back out, sometimes taking a different route.  If we have time we walk up the Manuel Antonio hill (another heartbreak hill) having to avoid traffic with no real path or place to go.  When there is traffic passing each other on the road, sometimes buses, it is quite a close shave at times...but it seems to work and the exercise is great.   Lorraine is an awesome person with heaps of energy and a huge spirit that will impact on you positively if you let it.



Beach yoga with Lorraine



"Flintstones" workout - rock weights













View from one of the yoga studios

  As I have been exposed to some exceptional yoga teachers I have been taking classes from a variety of people in search of someone of that calibre.  I have not yet found all the qualities I found in these people but after thinking about it have discovered that I am learning something different from each of the teachers and I really enjoy that so I am going to continue taking a variety of classes at different times and places.  One is on the beach which is very cool.


I start to look for another yoga retreat that will contribute to deepening my practice.  I look and look but don’t find anything that is quite right.....until I go onto yoga finder and discover the “Awaken the Wild Woman Within” retreat in Dominical.  It is reasonably priced, only 40 kms from Manuel Antonio and consists of yoga, creative dance, creative music (drumming), creative art and a full moon ritual....sold!  I email Bamboo Yoga in Dominical to see if there are any places available as it was only a week or two away.