Fearless With The Flow: The Pura Vida Lifestyle of Costa Rica: Part 1

It all started with an instinct. A push.

I knew I needed to get out of my small town. It has been two years too long since being on my own two feet. COVID was over. My back injury was healed. I was ready to set sail, but I had so much fear of standing on my own two feet again. So, I waited and waited. I made monumental steps in my career as a children’s art teacher, working with A-list, and celebrity clientele. I would work hard to make money, where I would plan my great escape, and then spend it. It seemed like a vicious cycle, where I would keep telling myself, “Wait until… the summer ends.” “Wait until… you make enough savings” “Wait until…”, etc. It was a continuous rant I was living in, trying to tell myself to be patient. But patience is not something I do well in my 20s and I found myself in the furies of my decision-making process, walking on a tightrope between the sensations of security and freedom.

I was currently working a dream job as an art teacher/therapist for a child being homeschooled. The family would often travel, leaving me with free time to travel and send in remote work. The first trip I took was to California to visit some friends, my brother, and his wife, Alice. When I returned home, the family was off traveling again, leaving me with another two weeks of remote work. And chances to make my next travel plans.

My soul was aching for something more; travel, experience, and exploration. An Expansion. The summer crowd has died down in my seasonal town of the Hamptons. My job opportunities were slim and I was not looking forward to another depressing winter in my hometown. I was ready for this. I started to look where I would go next.

Between Costa Rica, Austin, and Hawaii. I wanted to go somewhere for 9 days but knew that Hawaii was too far of a trip and too expensive for the time being. Austin was still 100 degrees in September, but easy to visit because I know it so well and I have friends there. Costa Rica was easy. It was a cheap and quick flight. Costa Rica was also very scary. It sounded fun, but too much planning for a last-minute solo journey. I needed a friend to go with me, or so I thought.

I remembered my old childhood friend, John, was down in Costa Rica. John recently made a killing on NFTs, coming home in a speeding red Mustang, buying me dinner at an expensive restaurant, and trying to woo me into his elaborate, spiritual plans to buy land in Costa Rica and start a retreat center. Although the fantasy world of his new mega-millions sounded like a fun adventure to jump on, I was more excited about my new art therapy job and I politely declined him over a month ago.

Now, less than a month in, my job seemed to be a much different career opportunity than I imagined. It turned into a luxurious remote art teacher job, where I had the freedom to travel and keep my career path building. With one foot in and one foot out, I could travel and come back to teach in person.

After a few glasses of wine with my friend and getting a little tipsy, I messaged John and told him I was coming down. He was stoked.

In hopes he would make my solo female travel to a foreign country safer, I decided to give John a ring. I ran my mouth as I was a little buzzed, overly elated, and feeling adventurous.

"I only have 9 days and I was thinking between these three places, but now I am thinking Costa Rica, what do you think? Is it cool there? Is it dangerous? I want to meet my soul tribe and stay in a hostel for a few days. But I am not sure." Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

While I was blabbering, I didn't notice it but this guy was already trying to dictate my trip. He told me to come down two days later (making my stay shorter) because then he could pick me up from the airport. I responded that I didn’t mind staying in a hostel for a few nights because I wanted to meet people. He obviously didn’t like that, taking long pauses and trying to make his plans sound more appealing. He attempted to put me in all his “cool” and “deeply spiritual” travel plans and places, such as meeting with his Pleiadian family, going to check out land for a future retreat center, and road-tripping to great Airbnbs all over Costa Rica. Even though it sounded ideal, I just wanted to meet up along the way, not become lovers and financially dependent upon someone I wasn’t interested in.

We were on different pages, but I was too tipsy to notice. I was asking a lot of specific questions that would take me days to research; about getting a car, where I should visit, and other things that required my independence. I soon realized he didn't like that. His responses became shorter with me and he kept redirecting me to stay with him.

“Stay with us, I’ll keep you safe.” He told me.

Once I took the first initiative to buy my ticket, my plans changed many times within the 2 days of planning my trip, doubts and fears kept arising at every corner and new things came up, switching my plans on a dime. Within that, people’s true colors and intentions revealed themselves. I was starting to unveil a journey into the unknown, developing a sense of direction within myself and also, learning to trust the flow. The Pura Vida way of life. Costa Rica was calling and there was much for me to learn from the lifestyle of the land.

The day before my flight out I was getting ready. He told me I needed intense hiking boots and everything. I was figuring out my phone plan because it wasn't international. Within two days, I unpacked from my California trip and repacked for Costa Rica. I was overwhelmed and stressed, organizing and cleaning my space before I headed out. I called my mom to help me pack because I was so overwhelmed gathering all that I needed, predicting the weather, and running around to purchase necessities. Then John messaged me.

He began to send me really strange messages. He told me not to come, saying that it was really dangerous when it was off-season and that I wouldn’t like it very much. This was the opposite of what he told me the day before. He encouraged me to rethink this trip and come in the high season. I was in shock, feeling like the carpet was being pulled from under my feet and the security provided by my friend was crumbling. He stopped responding so much. He started saying things like, "You do you" when I reiterated my plans. And then saying things like, "if you want that kind of trip." to my decision to continue and stay at a hostel in Tamarindo. He continued to emphasize that it was really dangerous, I would need a 4WD to get around, and that I should wait for the high season. “Now isn't the right time.” He said in a text message.

He was flipping plans on me and acting weird, which angered me. How does a friend just do that? Couldn't he see I was a vulnerable woman traveling to a third-worldwide world country? His messages got shorter, sending me thumbs up to ridiculing my concerns. I soon realized he realized he was not trustworthy. I felt energetic arrows of his negative emotions thrown at me, creating a cloud of fear and anger around my trip. I was starting to question my decision to go, preventing me from keeping my focus on all the necessities before my travels.

From that point forward, he began to tell me to do my research when I would ask travel questions. Rejecting me from joining him on the trip a few days in. Freaking me out about traveling alone in a foreign country I knew nothing about. I started to panic. I had less than 24 hours to decide if I wanted to do this trip. I was stressed, and unsure, as though any solid foundation or trust system of friends was gone.

I found reassurance in my trip by making calls to other friends who have been to Costa Rica. I decided to keep my ticket. However, I still felt hypervigilant about the whole trip. When I say this, I mean anxiety and overbearing fear. I felt this. I was jumping off a cliff into something new, I needed someone to hold me through it. I still felt anger running through my veins at John. Who bails on a friend of over 20 years out of a failed love interest, when they are a single girl traveling alone in an unknown country? That’s not a friend! That’s a selfish a**hole!! Fuck men who use money to lure women into their control and bail on them at the slightest disinterest. Fuck being angry, I was enraged.

It seemed like anger and negative energy would fight me through this. My journey started fresh, rushed, and unrooted. I booked my tickets two days out to my first-ever solo trip through Costa Rica and I had no idea what would lay ahead in the land of enchantment and magic.

I called my friend, Sophia while changing tracks at the Jamaica Train Station while heading into New York City the night before I flew out.

"YOUR MESSAGES HAD ME ON CLIFFHANGERS." She said, excitedly. "ARE YOU VISITING THAT GUY WHO LIKED YOU?" Assuming some beautiful, romantic love story was going to unfold between us in the paradise of Costa Rica.

"No," I said. "He totally switched on me and became a complete dick when he realized I wasn't interested in some romantic getaway with him. I am more interested in meeting my soul tribe and maybe finding a cute guy."

"DAMN. YOU JUST HAD A BREAKUP BEFORE THE TRIP EVEN STARTED. THIS IS ABOUT TO GET INTERESTING." She proceeded to say in all caps, "You are about to meet a great guy down here because you just got presented with this offer and this guy showed his true colors. Now you have cleared that energy away to bring something better."

"I really hope so."

It soon came clear that any structure or foundation would soon disappear into the wormhole of existence. My path charged forward, foraging a new existence. The timeline of the old shredded in each step forward. I managed to make the trip work, just because I can. It seems easy in the long run but the amount of work to get on the plane was tantalizing. There were massive hurdles that I had to overcome. But just like riding waves and learning to master the ocean, I plunged in for my first time, allowing myself to override the fear, and with each breath, I pushed forward against the setting sun.

I made it to NYC with only 12 hours till my flight.