Costa Rica!

Katie D.

August 3, 2011 - 10:28 AM

I am writing from the glorious front porch of a cabin in Costa Rica, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and a beautiful beach. I have a bowlful of bizarre and spiky fruit next to me, and a week of relaxation and adventure ahead.

Thank goodness.

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, and some really intense and wonderful research experiences still to share. I haven't written at all about my experience with the Caravan of Mothers in Mexico, or about my long, long bus journey from Tapachula, Mexico to Tegucigalpa, and on through Central America to arrive here.

But I'm not quite ready to write about those things yet. I need to take time to really reflect on these experiences and decide how best to write about them, and what they have meant. I've been going non-stop this summer, rushing from one opportunity to the next, with limited computer access and even less opportunity to discuss what they've meant to me. I have discovered in the past few days that I desperately need some space and some calm to sort out my feelings and the things I have learned.

Lucky for me, I am now on vacation with my mother in Costa Rica: the perfect chance to rest and renew.

We both arrived in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, on Monday. We stayed the night in a beautiful bed and breakfast, and then headed out yesterday for a place on the coast. Mom found us a great place, well off the beaten track, as the base of our adventures for the week. It's a beautiful cabin, with a tree-lined beach filled with hammocks, and a wild surf perfect for boogie boarding and (perhaps?) surfing. We're armed with brochures and ambitions, and hope to go zip lining, hiking, bird watching, snorkeling, dolphin-watching, and maybe even waterfall rappelling. I also plan to have my first-ever massage.

As in all of my adventures, I am looking forward to an opportunity to learn more about this place and about myself, while also having a fabulous time. I need this chance to renew some of my energy, and I already feel better, just from spending a few moments standing in the surf and being battered by the waves yesterday evening. I also need some time and mental space to sift through my experiences and begin to arrange my research findings. I also hope to use this time to write a couple of articles for publication about migration in Central America and the things I have learned.

It's time for me to wrap up this blog for now: the hotel owner just came by to point out a nest of baby squirrels in the tree next to our cabin, and to tell us that across the yard there is a sloth in a low-hanging branch. This afternoon, we'll walk on the beach to the internet café where I can send these blogs to the outside world.

So best wishes to you from paradise! You'll be hearing from me again soon.