In early March I went back to one of my happy places – Playa Uvita on the pacific coast of Costa Rica. I first went there in 2018 and felt the magic of the place. I still don’t know whether it is the thunderous waves pounding to one side of me or the vibrant jungle to the other that speaks to me more. Or perhaps it’s the combined voices together? Whatever it is – it is a place that fills my heart with joy and offers me the deepest of connections with Pachamama, Gaia, Mother Nature. I know, whether I sit with my back against a palm tree or whether I’m splashing through the warm shallow waters – I can hold a question in my heart and that answers will come. Sometimes more cryptically than others!
My first experience of this was on a Friday morning in September 2018. The night before I met someone extraordinary. As quickly as they’d come in, they’d gone. I didn’t catch their name. I had no idea if I’d see them again. All I knew was my life had been changed from that one meeting. The following morning I sat down on the beach, my back against a palm tree looking out to open sea. In my heart I was questioning who he was, would I see him again … from out of no where came the words “this is just the beginning of him – he’ll be part of your life”. I didn’t know what that meant or how I would meet him again. Then, from my peripheral vision I saw a figure walk into view in the shallow waters ahead of me. It was him. I watched him walk past, I felt frozen to the spot. I saw him then walk up the beach towards the hostel we were staying at. I composed myself and headed back to the hostel myself. That was the beginning of the magic.
The following year I was in a place where I knew I need to make some big changes in my life but I wasn’t sure what I wanted or needed to do. So I took myself back to Costa Rica. Something told me that beach would give me the answers. Walking back on to that beach again I immediately felt the magic again. And that connection. I walked for miles backwards and forwards along the beach. The same question was on repeat in my heart – what do I want? I again don’t know where the words came from but something told me that I wanted to be in nature, I didn’t want to be sat a desk working 9-5. I didn’t know at the time what that meant but I trusted it. I went with it. The seed of an idea was planted with no idea of the journey it would take me on as it grew.
When I returned to Playa Uvita this year I did so with a degree of trepidation. Still hurting from the loss of the dearest friendship at the beginning of the year I had so many questions that I was holding in my heart about it. I again walked for miles, feeling the magic and the connection to that place. More words came – but for now those words I know are for me only. Suffice to say they gave me comfort and hope for the future. They reminded me there is a bigger picture and there are times when that’s what I need to look at rather than what’s there in the immediate.
Looking back to the first trip to Costa Rica I was in two minds as to whether I should include Uvita on what was an already packed itinerary. Many questioned why I was going there as opposed to many of the other incredible places I could have gone. But something called me to go there. I’m so glad I did. And I’ll be back there again as soon as I can.
The Eco Monkey 