Little Vacation

The last few weeks have been quite exhausting: worked a lot, then had the retreat (which was a different kind of work – but mainly for the mind), and then worked a lot again.

Accordingly, I really needed a break and had to get away from the lodge here for a while.

I had what you could call a 'mini-vacation' – 6 nights. One night each at the beginning and end in a city two hours away, since hardly any buses leave and arrive here, and mostly only in the morning. Then I spent two nights in a place called Uvita and another place called Dominical. Both are very close to each other and are mainly known for surfing, beaches, and a calm atmosphere.

For me, it was mainly about just relaxing and having some time for myself. Of course, I still stayed in hostels, and there were really some cool people to chat with. I spent a lot of time at the beach, in restaurants, walked around the towns, and simply observed life and the people – what I love to do most!

One of the days, I visited the Nauyaca waterfalls, which are truly beautiful. However, the beauty was unfortunately somewhat dampened since it was quite crowded with tourists. It was also funny: No one walked the entire way on foot. Some only partially, but not a single person managed the complete 6 km (12 km in total). Some really took a car transfer for $38… others only walked half the distance. The inclines were also quite steep, but that makes arriving at such a beautiful place and jumping into the cold water so rewarding! In the end, on the way back, a friendly Tico picked me up on his quad – he probably felt sorry for me upon seeing that I was walking up the hill relatively quickly… I needed to catch a bus (the last one of the day – it was only noon…. :D).

Generally, buses are quite a thing. You find almost no information online. If you ask locals, they often give different times. Understandably so, as the buses do run according to a schedule officially, but in practice, it looks different. Either it doesn't come at all or just arrives an hour later – they call it 'Tico Time' here :D

On the last day, I had to take a bus at 4:45 AM, which only came at 6 AM! You have no choice but to wait and hope, as there was NO other way for me to get a good distance closer to my 'home'. Luckily it eventually arrived, and I barely made my connecting bus. It stopped in the middle of nowhere, where there was only a gas station and nothing else. Otherwise, I would have had to hitchhike, although I think in retrospect that would have been pretty cool too!