Home Again

I didn't write very much last week, but that's because I was saving up for this bombshell of a post. Well don't get too excited; there's just a lot of pictures. 

I spent a few days before my trip to Costa Rica wondering if it was a good move. Could I be getting myself into something that's not right for me? Is it going to be terrible? Will I be able to do all that yoga? What if it's a really bad experience and they tell me I can't be a yoga teacher? Am I going to be bitten by a large Central American spider? Will I end up in my own episode of Survivor? Where is the sunscreen? Isn't it crazy that I need to find my sunscreen this time of year? How do you say, "Get me out of here" in Spanish? How could I forget all that Spanish?

All my worry and angst disappeared when I arrived at the place called Pura Vida, which was the wellness resort where most of the action of my past week happened. I saw the place with its tropical trees and flowers, birds singing, sun shining, smiling faces, gardens, pool, and oh-so-wonderful food. I thought to myself, "If you want to leave here, you are such an idiot." I mean it looked like a Latin Garden of Eden. 

And then I met my group. 14 women, including my teachers, that would all add something to my life that wasn't there before. We did a mass load of yoga, but we also had a bit ton of fun. We were all different ages, at every stage of life, with all kinds of personalities. We were all there for one thing: to grow in a multitude of ways. It was an experience I won't forget. 

It felt a little like camp at first, in the sense that I was meeting all new people, showering in stalls, shooing bugs away, looking for my flashlight, getting to know people from different places, doing physical activity all day. But I freaking loved summer camp so I was all about it. But this was a grown-up situation. It took camp to a whole new level.

The trip was an education. It was an education in many different shades. I learned about myself, other people, yoga, health and life. 

You think I had a good time?

I liked the colors of this lunch this day. Mashed potatoes, beet salad, green salad, pumpkin and zucchini salad I think, and purple cabbage. I forget the juice, but it was an exotic fruit. I'll get back to you about that.

 One day we went to the zip-line in the cloud forest, which is a type of rain forest. You know I was all over that.

This was a humungous tree in the cloud forest we went to one day. I am blanking, once again, on the name of this tree. I know the Redwood Tree is its cousin, 

I think this is a waterfall I think in the forest? I'm not sure, but that looks like water back there. 

Obviously a moving shot. This was actually high altitude, and I was feeling light-headed so this picture illustrates the way I was feeling this day. 

Cypress tree--little taste of home. 

Canopy.

Top of the forest--view from zip-line platform.

This is an orchid crawling on a tree trunk. I have a thing for orchids, even though this one is not a flowering one, I was excited enough to take a picture.

Another platform view. 

Mo and Janae about to zip off. 

Janae zipping.

Monique, Noelle, Cat, me and Janae on a bridge laughing about something. 

Cat and Noelle literally inside of a tree that is hundreds, maybe thousands of years old. 

Trees, trees, trees. 

Went for a walk in the coffee plantation every morning.

Hillside view. 

I have a thing for farms obviously. 

I think that's the volcano over there. 

Pretty red tree in the planation. 

Ridge

The coffee plant.

Paradiso

View from the yoga room

Salud!

"Well-behaved women seldom make history." -Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I like that quote--very pertinent. 

Anyway, after I got up at 4 am, felt some emotions similar to the ones I felt leaving camp 15 years ago, I started my journey home. Everyone seemed so stressed out in the Atlanta airport, there was a lot of anxiety, and a bunch of news monitors--CNN is wondering if optimism is appropriate for our economy. When wouldn't optimism be appropriate for our economy? What good is pessimism for it or anything?

There was an old, cute black man in line in front of me at the pizza bar in the airport. He was wearing a suit, a cute little hat and had a briefcase. I immediately recognized him because he was on my flight to Atlanta from Jackson the Saturday before. I said hey and told him I had seen him before, that he was on my flight last Saturday, and although he had every right to look at me like I was a nutcase, he smiled and acted happy to see me. 

I love those little coincidences. It's like someone is trying to tell you that you are right where you are meant to be. 

So even though I felt a little anxiety beforehand, my Costa Rica trip was part of a bigger plan. And when W was bringing me home, as we crossed the lake on the bridge that leads to it, I saw the sun sparkle on the water, and I knew that this is also where I am meant to be. There's no place like home, especially if you live in the Mississippi Delta because there really isn't a place like this place. Coming home to my incredible husband, dog and cats was like coming here for the first time. It's good to get away to know how much you love your life.

Wherever you go, there you are. Everything is right as it should be. No need to fight it.

And I really want to liven up all those stressed out people at the airport. I guess that's where the yoga comes in. 

Hasta manana mis amigos!

Thankfully,

Liza Jane