As I said, I am neither a man nor am I young, but I am heading west, and feeling younger for it.
One of the pleasures of my retirement, is not having to know exactly what I am going to do next! David and I found ourselves in exactly that state after leaving Diane's farm between Nelson and Balfour. We were in Nelson and the next several hours were going to decide whether we got on a bus headed west... Little did we suspect how that would all work out. But, I forgot to mention a detail of our earlier experience. While we were in Nelson the first time, upon our arrival, I found myself eyeing a book in the health food store. It is called The Building Bones Solution and it is a valuable resource to help see through some of the myths that have been propogated about maintaining ones bones as one ages. I was interested in studying the book in order to rehearse the knowledge that I wished to share with others.
When Dave and I made our way back to Nelson on the bus, there was a chance that I might purchase that book. But what was more prominent in our minds was being aware of signs as to what our next move might be. I reflected that we had not been in love with Costa Rica at first, and that it had taken some time to acclimatize, but the final result was so positive that we were entertaining thoughts of return. The bus driver was very friendly as we made our way into Nelson, and extremely patient with us as we loaded and unloaded our luggage. I guess he was curious about us because we had a long chat with him at the end of the line. Then, we made our way around Nelson, over to the payphone and to the library where we could do our research and send off some emails to possible wwoofing hosts on the island. From there, we made our way over to the RawFreshing restaurant where I had planned to go ever since catching sight of its wedge shaped presence on our first arrival in Nelson. We were going to take advantage of the opportunity to go to a restaurant that catered to our preferences. We came into the small, bright, newish but still charming restaurant to find the owner chatting with a mature lady with bright red hair. At some distance from the little bar where they chatted, was the table where we put our luggage, and on it, in true Nelson small town relax mode, was the red haired lady's purse and sunglasses. We had some vegan sushi and went on to another treat, and then, time was running out, and we had to figure out whether we were coming or going, so we started to get ourselves together to leave. The red haired lady came by on her way out and thought she knew me -- we were quite happy to chat with her. We asked about possible internet/phone facilities and after starting to give us directions, she offered us a ride, and took us to a wonderful little organic vegan restaurant called the Jagannatha Express, run by Hare Krishnas. There we could use the internet, and eat some more. (The food was wonderful!) But, before we got there, we had an amazing 5 minute ride/visit with Robin, the red haired lady (how appropriate! as in the red, red robin) And in that time, we shared many things. She had the lightest, liveliest energy imaginable. And at the end, as we hauled our luggage out of the car and onto the pavement, she remembered that a friend of hers who was a doctor and an author, was just saying that she needed help the other day. Turns out, it's Carolyn de Marco, one of the authors of The Bone Building Solution book that I had eyed and thought about with the intent of buying.
So now, as I write this, the book is just over on a couch, not to mention the many other books that I have lined up of interest... Carolyn is a very interesting person with a huge number of books. I emailed her from the restaurant. The owner let us stay in the locked restaurant and use the internet during his absence for his son's graduation. Carolyn called the restaurant (I had given her the number) and we started to line things up. We spent that night in the Nelson 'Hostels International' Hostel called The Dancing Bear.
Before we left the restaurant, though, we witnessed the graduates' parade. I thought it was quite cool, indeed, as all of the graduates from the local high school, paraded down the people-lined street, well dressed, and having fun, as they waved to the onlookers from the procession of vehicles. It seemed to me a real improvement over cloistered graduation celebrations, and made a lot of sense for the town to celebrate the progress of its youth.
The Dancing Bear was an immaculately kept hostel. Our room was small but everything was well laid out, and quite new. There was lots of light wood -- very uplifting. What was incredibly uplifting at the time was being in my very own space. I felt this even as I used the shower. Something about the neutrality of the space. It was small, but it was mine, for the moment, and I loved it. We met some really nice people in the hostel, too. A nice couple from Ireland, a single young man from Germany, and a more mature traveller from France, who had been living in the Nelson area and walking long distances within it for many a year. We had some really nice visits and slept very well in the quiet space of the hostel.
