Costa Rica

Touched down on American soil via San Jose to Atlanta to Boston Sunday night. After three flying, climbing months in Monteverde, it felt appropriate to come home. Appropriate and rational and exciting in it's own right, but still difficult.

My departure from Costa Rica was a manic conclusion - my mood pendulum swung me from sobbing on my extra narrow twin bed in Yuri's house, to hysterically careening through the jungle on a canopy zip-line tour with my family. I departed Monteverde after tearfully packing my belongings, surrounded by my CR "brothers" mumbling and stumbling around my luggage, not quite sure how to react to my swollen eyes and soaked expression. The goodbyes were exhausting - the kind of exercise that left me tired and aching for many days.

Prior to bidding (temporary?) farewell to a place and people that held me safe and happy for three months, I boarded a bus and surprised my family in San Jose. From the hotel cafe, I watched Mom, Dad and Karyn deboard the taxi from the airport..."Bienvenidos a Costa Rica". I couldn't wait to show them this country! We settled in and enjoyed some drinks on the hotel patio, gearing up for our trip up the mountain tomorrow morning.

After spending the morning discussing, debating, and haggling fares with San Jose taxis, we identified a private microbus willing to take us the four hours north up the mountain to Monteverde for a reasonable rate. We arrived in my special mountain town around 3pm on Saturday. Despite countless warnings about the poor road condition; the windy, narrow unpaved passes, and the steep, dizzying ascent to the town center, my family was in disbelief for the majority of the ride. After checking into the hotel, we walked the two minutes to the Suarez household and met mi familia costariccense. We spent the next two days sharing gifts, taking photos, enjoying meals, ice cream, tours of school/Monteverde, and always amusing conversation with the boys and Yuri. There is a reason why we all bonded so well and so quickly - How fortunate to be part of two families where there is so much love and laughter. Stay tuned for a Suarez/Pollenz family reunion in MA for summer 2007!!

Besides the Suarez family - the heart of my happiness in Monteverde, I introduced my family to my favorite hangouts (Taberna and Bar Amigos), my favorite restaurant (Sophias), my school, my cloud forest hike, and many of my friends. It was an active couple of days. After Monteverde, we headed to Arenal via jeep-boat-jeep. We took a van to Lake Arenal, crossed the lake in a 20 seat covered boat, boarding from a deserted length of shore, and arrived at Tabacon; a beautiful resort with post card views of Volcano Arenal, garden lined pools and hot springs, soft white robes, and sushi buffets. It was a giant, disorienting leap from my standard of living for the past three months. Disorienting - but not enough to prevent me from hungrily gorging on two blissful days of lounging poolside with pina coladas, feasting on fresh seafood, wine, and an unlimited dessert bar, strolling through hot springs to nightly happy hours under the stars...it's amazing how much joy can be "charged to the room". Arenal was a perfect mix of R&R and sweaty adventure. The four of us went on a zip-line canopy tour which had mom shrieking, dad stalling mid-wire, and Karyn and I hanging from our feet. We spent two nights salsa-ing, having fortuitously stumbled upon some local dance talent in the area. Antonio and Esteban were tireless on the dance floor and Karyn I twirled home well past last call (perhaps in time for early bird breakfast) both nights. Mom and Dad even joined us for a night at the discoteque.

After Arenal, we headed to Montezuma - the sunkissed, sleepy beachtown where we made ourselves at home for three full days of beach lounging and good eating. Albeit the clear, mid-80 degree sunfilled days, I think even amidst storms we would have warmed up to happy hour at Ylang Ylang and fresh seafood dinners at Cocolores. We started our mornings with "Beaten of Fruits", aka. Pineapple smoothies, and ended it with sunset-admiring pitchers of sangria. In Montezuma, we woke when we wanted to, meandered to the pool, or the town a minutes walk from the hotel, or the beach. It was the perfect last, lazy stop before boarding a plane back to "reality". Montezuma is a place devoid of any agenda. The majority of the residential population drifts through it's days high as kites, but even if marijuana is not your proclivity, this sun-baked town begs you to dream deep, sleep well and sail through your day unconcerned by time, immune to stress.

Our road from Montezuma led to San Jose, where we checked into a hotel by the airport, enjoyed a delightful tapas dinner complete with a Flamenco show, and retired to bed for our 5am wakeup. Boarding the plane to Atlanta was anticlimactic and as we lifted from Costa Rican soil, I slept...perhaps a defense mechanism, but a fortunate one. Boston greeted me with an orange/purple post-sunset sky and I was genuinely happy to be home. Undeniably part of me misses my "Tica-life" in an empty, distracting way, but I'm looking forward to finding new fullness here with new adventures on my horizon.

Looking forward to catching up with you all soon, and hopefully seeing some of you sooner.

"Pura vida" - coined in Costa Rica...I urge you to find it wherever you are.

Love always,
Kat