Costa Rica: Final Days

After 6 straight days of being go, go, go, I can’t think of a more perfect last day than how we spent yesterday…on a catamaran. The weather was absolutely stunning and for 4 hours, we did nothing but watched dolphins and sea turtles, snorkeled, took turns jumping off the top deck of the boat and, of course, eating and drinking freshly prepared seafood and cocktails.

Our drive back to San Jose included a good ol’ farewell thunderstorm, some traffic and our stop for everyone to get Covid tests. The reality that we were actually leaving started to sink in and Jeff finally broke out his guitar for some kumbaya on the ride back.

He organized a really incredible last dinner experience for us at his wife’s cousin’s restaurant and it absolutely hit the spot; complete with ceviche, steaks, ribs, salads, wine and dessert, the storytelling and toasting was a beautiful reflection on the past week together. Jeff talked specifically about how much he enjoyed watching our group come together and grow close throughout the week and we all echoed that sentiment. How do you not grow close when you’re soaking in pitch-black hot rivers, throwing yourselves off waterfalls and coming eye-to-eye with boa constrictors together?! But seriously, I feel incredibly blessed to have experienced this all with such a special group of people. When you decide to take off on a solo adventure, the people that you meet leave just as much of a lasting impact as the moments you had…and I’m confident that our paths will be crossing again.

The car picked me up at 4:30AM this morning and I’m about to board to head back to the states. I can’t help but feel a little emotional leaving. I’ll be leaving a piece of myself here and absolutely taking a piece of this country back with me.

Costa Rica, thank you for sharing your people, coffee, food, music, animals and scenery, but most importantly, the beautiful culture. I promise I’ll be back and until then…

Pura Vida.