journeys

I opened my email to see "Congratulations, you've won". I shrugged it off as spam and deleted it but a nagging feeling kept telling me to read the email. And lo and behold, I did win...an all-expense paid trip to a Yoga Retreat in Montezuma, Costa Rica.
This being the first trip I'd ever won, I assumed the saying "you get what you paid for" would hold true. If I'm not paying, I shouldn't expect much, right? Wrong. Anamaya Yoga Retreat and the village of Montezuma were...oh my! I have trouble finding words to describe my time there. How about otherworldly. Incredible. Unreal. Heaven on Earth. Paradise. How about I tell you about it and you be the judge!
After a long drive, a long ferry ride and another long drive, I arrived in Montezuma. Anamaya was located up a steep hill overlooking the ocean and the village. I was awestruck by the view before my feet even hit the ground.
Everything that week was perfect. My room with a bed facing glass doors looking over the Pacific ocean and the sunrise, the freshly-prepared five-course meals, the beaches, the ziplining, the waterfalls, the early-morning yoga, the infinity pool, my first attempt at surfing, walks into the village to explore and chat with expats from all over the world who gave up everything at home to live in a little surf village in remote Central America. But oddly enough, it was an impromptu, mid-afternoon smoothie run that really made that trip one to remember.
I was very hot and I was lazing around in a hammock when I got a craving for something refreshing. I walked down the hill and wandered around until I spotted a little smoothie bar tucked away by some trees. A young man took on the challenge of making me the perfect, thirst-quenching smoothie.
“You from here?” I asked. “Yes, born and raised. Do you know what Pura Vida is?” He asked. To me "Pura Vida" meant The Pure Life. Natural, untouched, simple. He went on to explain it further. “That's how most people interpret it. You see, 'Pura Vida' is a greeting, a state of mind, a way of life. You meet someone walking down the street, you say 'Pura Vida'. You catch the perfect wave while surfing, you say 'Pura Vida'. You find a great smoothie bar while walking the streets of Montezuma, you say 'Pura Vida'. It can mean anything but always something good. Anytime something good happens, “Pura Vida” is the appropriate thing to say.” A valuable lesson in living purely from one of the planet's happiest countries.