COSTA RICA - Yoga Retreat January 2022

Saturday January 8, 2022

Long day of travel, that went surprisingly well. Like before our Tanzania trip, I’d been stressed the two weeks leading up to this: will we test positive and have to cancel, will the airline cancel? Even though we’re in the middle of the Omnicron variant, and managers in our office were testing positive left and right, I’ve continued to elude the virus.

Sandra left Minneapolis at 6am, I left Madison about 6:30am, and we arrived in Miami about the same time. What a relief!

Three hours to Miami, and just under three to Liberia CR, we arrived about 2pm. We sat on the runway for a bit - lots of planes and they didn’t have space for us. It was the kind of airport where you walk down the stairs and out onto the tarmac. The heat and sunshine felt fabulous. Everyone was shedding layers as they walked.

We got in line for immigration and we were talking and enjoying the warmth and didn’t really realize that the line was going nowhere. After maybe 30 minutes, we got close to the building and could see the queue of probably 200 people there ahead of us! We passed the time chatting, and learned through the WhatsAp yoga group that there had been 5 of us on the plane, and the other 7 had come in the night before and were waiting at a nearby hotel.

Clearing immigration was no problem once we made it to the front of the line. CR had a website like Tanzania (and Hawaii) where we’d already uploaded our vaccination record and certified we are symptom free. If we hadn’t been vaccinated, we would have had to been tested and have proof of medical insurance that would cover if we got sick while we were here - clever strategy, I think.

We claimed our bags, and headed out into the gauntlet of men with signs, and found Antonio with the AHKI Retreat sign. San said she hadn’t seen a scene like that, but I’d seen worse (and more aggressive) in Mexico and Cuzco, Peru. Antonio led us over to where Carrie and Angela (friends from Madison) had gathered. Soon another Carrie joined us and we climbed into a large van with Roger as our driver. They loaded our bags into another van driven by Antonio.

We headed to the Hilton and picked up the other 7 ladies, on the road just after 5pm.

Some ladies were talking about issues with motion sickness, so we took the back - a bench seat that theoretically could sit 5 (little people). Other than kinks in the back from sitting sideways, and no shocks, it worked ok for our two-hour trip. I dozed a bit, but mainly took in the scenes. It actually reminded me quite a bit of Cuba - little houses, little settlements with dirt roads, bicycles with multiple people on them!

The last hour of the 2.5-hour drive was rough. Unpaved roads with massive potholes. We bounced all around the inside of the van. It was a relief when we turned off the road onto a very steep road that led to the AHKI retreat center, arriving about 7:30pm. Andrea was there to greet us, along with the manager. We had a welcome drink of hibiscus tea, and were oriented to the main space and walked down a gravel trail to our rooms. We were all frazzled from the drive, but we’d stepped into paradise and that was a relief.

We freshened up quickly and headed back to our first amazing meal: cold beet soup, and vegetarian tacos - yummy. After dinner, we went up to the yoga studio and had a short meditation session. It was enhanced by the sounds of the jungle - birds, and other kinds of buzzing and singing insects. A small group of us gathered in the library for tea and conversation, before heading off to bed (about 10pm). Normally, they shut the lights off about 9:30p, but things were all later today due to our immigration line delay.

San and I went back to our room, unpacked and got settled. I freaked out over a large spider in the bathroom, and hoped we didn’t have other crawly visitors during the night. I cocooned in the mosquito netting over my bed, just in case!

Costa Rica Day Two (Sunday January 9, 2022)

We slept well, until the howler monkeys started in about 4:30am! I got up and found my ear plugs, then slept well until 6am.

I dressed for yoga, then headed out into the beautiful morning. It’s wonderful to be up just as the sun is coming up, and with the light, we could finally see what a magical place this is.

It was built specifically for yoga retreats - different leaders bring their groups here Saturday to Saturday, six months out of the year. Andrea has been leading retreats here for nine years. Today we met the owner, Karen, who designed the place and lives here in a studio apartment with her husband and their rescue dog. It’s kind of like we’re visitors in their house, which is amazing.

We were told last night that we need to be in silence until after breakfast, which really enhances the majesty of the morning (although it was a little hard for me, especially while we were eating breakfast). We gathered in the yoga studio for meditation at 7am. I wondered how we’d meditate for an hour, but it was more of an introduction to what we’ll do the rest of the week. Andrea led a guided meditation, which helps with my wandering mind, then we did a walking meditation (with slow steps - made me think of pole pole in Tanzania), followed by a quiet meditation on our own. I really enjoyed the session.

At 8am, we went downstairs for breakfast - Huevos Rancheros, fresh fruit, yogurt and granola. Then some additional quiet time, which I used to write in my journal, and a yoga session from 9-11am. A wonderful morning to stretch out the body and relax the mind!

After lunch, we gathered in the yoga studio to discuss excursion options for the week: zip lining, paddling, sailing, horseback riding, 4-wheeler riding, etc. San and I chose to do the paddling, and we’ll do that Wednesday morning after breakfast.

It’s a great group of ladies. A mom (Stephanie) and daughter (Ellie) and niece (Ashley) from Iowa, two friends from the Florida Keys (Jan and Martha), two sisters (Susan from Madison and Kathy from Milwaukee), a woman from Northern Wisconsin (Toni), and the others we’d met at the airport.

Most days, there is an option to go to the nearby beach, Playa Guiones, so San and I opted for that today. It was just a 20-minute van ride, and about half of the rode was paved so it was quite bearable. Roger dropped us and the 3 from Iowa at a small resort called Harmony. San and I went to the beach, while the other ladies went to try out the ATM and shop (being Sunday, they struck out on both accounts). The beach was different. The tide was out, and the beach was amazingly flat. There were little snails lugging their shells through the wet sand, can’t say I’d ever seen anything like that before. We also found many sand dollars - still purple, not yet bleached out.

We walked for about an hour, then went back to Harmony for smoothies and to wait for Roger to pick us up. When we returned to AHKI, there had been an invasion of howler monkeys - it was crazy! As I was walking down to our room, there was a guy up in the tree breaking off dead branches and throwing them down. And the noises they were making - wow! Our shower is a screen porch, and it was fun to shower and yell to the monkeys outside!

Six pm dinner, followed by a session on marma points (like acupressure) which was interesting. I retired to the library for tea and to write and digest my dinner. Another beautiful night with a pleasant temperature and the sounds of the jungle outside our windows.

Our days fell into easy routine. Up before 6am to get ready for the day. Some days Sandra would go out for a run up and down the steep driveway to the retreat center. I opted for more quiet - reading and reflection (having just practiced the art of doing nothing during our recent Hawaiian vacation, I find I’m pretty good at it)!

At 7 am each day, we gather in the studio for 60 minutes of meditation: 20 minutes guided by Andrea, 20 minutes walking in silence, and 20 minutes seated in silence. While sitting still for 20 minutes is still a challenge for me, I really enjoy the walking portion - it feels “monk like” to me.

8am is breakfast in silence, followed by more quiet time for reading or journal writing.

9am, back in the studio for a class (setting intentions, reflections, Ayurveda practices, etc), followed by yoga - wrapping up just before lunch at noon.

Then we’re on our own until dinner at 6pm, which is usually followed by another talk or short meditation. Then time in the library visiting and drinking tea. Back to the room before 9:30pm is the plan, as they turn lights off between 9:30 and 10pm.

Sunday, we went with the Iowans to town, they wanted to shop and we wanted to walk the beach.

Monday, we hung out at the pool for a bit, then each had a massage - wonderful setting, and Tatiana had perfect hands and technique that really relaxed me.

On Tuesday, most everyone went to town, so we had the pool nearly to ourselves. We floated, chatted some, napped and read. So easy to be in the chill mode.

Wednesday morning, we were up extra early. We’d made a plan to do Sixty Sun Salutations in honor of Sandra’s upcoming birthday (similar to riding 60 miles on our bikes for mine). It took an hour, and felt like an accomplishment. However, we didn’t have time to “savasana” afterwards, and it made me extra restless during meditation. After breakfast, the day was flipped as most of us had opted into paddling in the mangroves, and that was best done while the tide was in. That was a great adventure. San and I did SUP (Stand Up Paddle) and it was a great way to really see into the forest. We paddled for probably 30 minutes, then stopped at a point where the river gets closer to the ocean and we climbed over the dunes for a swim in the sea. The waves were perfect and I really enjoyed diving into them (it’d been a long time since I’d done that)! After our swim, our guide took his machete and sliced off the tops of coconuts - a perfect refreshing drink! The river is brackish water, and flows along the coast all the way to Liberia, buffering the coast and providing refuge to birds, fish and crocodiles (which we saw none of thankfully).

We arrived back at the retreat center just before lunch, and had some free time afterwards. We gathered for our talk at 3p, with yoga afterwards. Much different after such as active day. Most had trouble focusing, especially after a monkey family gathered in nearby trees!

It was a quiet dinner, and we gathered in the library where Andrea felt people’s pulses and read their doshas (a little Ayurveda Woo Woo). Had all I could do to stay awake until 9pm!

Thursday it was great to be back in our “monk morning” routine, really starting to settle into the meditation and calm my restless, always planning mind. We opted to just hang out at Akhi after lunch. We lounged around the pool, and then did a 3-mile road walk with Kathy and Susan. It was a great workout, walking up and down the hills in Chaco sandals! When we got back to the retreat center, we rinsed off in the outside shower and jumped into the refreshing pool. We all fell asleep, and then had a 30-minute scramble to shower and dress to catch the 3:50pm shuttle to dinner.

On Thursday, the kitchen staff have the day off, so we had a salad for lunch and went out to LaLuna on the beach for dinner. It was a magical tranquil spot, but very busy which didn’t make for a relaxing dinner (orders screwed up), but the setting and the perfect sunset more than made up for it. Andrea knew to get out of there at a decent hour we had to get in and place out orders to beat the rush. Nice evening, odd to be in a touristy situation after all these days of quiet bliss!

Friday was a regular routine day, with some underlying sadness as it was the last day. Andrea had arranged for a man to come a do COVID testing, and we did that after breakfast. I’d brought my own Abbott BiNox antigen kits and did our testing for me and Sandra. A ripple of shock and some panic went through the place when Ellie tested positive! They sequestered her and her mom (Stephanie) and cousin (Ashley), and made arrangements for them to go to the COVID hotel in Liberia, which is nearer to medical services if needed. Shockingly, the hotel was the Airport Hilton, where the 7 of them had spent the night last week when they arrived a day early (and also met a woman who was quarantining there!). Apparently, she (they?) will have to stay there 8 days, although we’re unsure about the rules as they’ve been changing.

It took a bit for the group to settle back into our talk time and then yoga, and several opted out. After lunch, we lounged around the pool again, and Sandra and I walked down and up the hill three times - squeezing out some great together time as the week went so fast.

Our smaller group of ten had a last dinner, all in the dining room, then went up to the studio for a closing circle - sharing what we’d learned this week, and what we’ll carry with us as we go back to our lives. It was a special time, with a really neat group of ladies.

I most enjoyed the time with Sandra, and feel that I’ve grown in my meditation and yoga practices quite a bit.

Nearly every day, we were graced with the presence of Holler monkeys. Sometimes they’d be in the trees above our pool, other times right in front or back of our casita. They feast on leaves, which apparently ferment in their bellies, then they curl around a branch and nap for a few hours. They always brought me joy to see them climbing, swinging and jumping from branch to branch so easily. And the sound of them in the distance was both eerie and delightful - it would start like the sound of a big gust of wind, then grow into a sort of growl/roar. They’re aptly named, as it’s like a howling wind.

I’m struck by the juxtaposition of being out of my comfort zone in such a Zen-like setting. I knew Costa Rica has snakes, spiders and all things crawly that freak me out (I shook a Costa Rican scorpion off my pants before I put them on this morning), but contrasted with the warmth, the green plants oozing clean oxygen, the beautiful flowers and the sounds of nature - I found it to be just the right mixture of exhilaration and relaxation.

I’m not thrilled about going back to the cold, but I miss Jeff and home, and feel a part of me is missing, traveling without him. So, it’s home I go, and I’ll carry this warmth and newfound Zen with me.