Another Day In Paradise

I woke up to the sound of heavy rain this morning and went back to sleep and dream, finally forcing myself to get out of bed and start the day around 9:00. I made tea and sat on the porch reading my book, Three Cups of Tea, the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber who has devoted his life to building schools and educating the children of rural Pakistan and Afghanistan with the idea that educating these young people, especially girls, is a more effective means to fight terrorism than war. The rain was so heavy that I was not going anywhere so I made a second cup of tea and finished the book. I had an appointment to meet Nacho at 12:30 to go fishing on the rocks of Guiones Beach at low tide. Nacho makes my pizza every Sunday night at Casa Tucan and is becoming my friend. We can´t really understand each other very well, but we laught a lot. Getting ready to venture out into the world for the day has become a bit of an ordeal for me. I am not a detail person. I am good at big picture stuff, grand ideas and the steps needed to take to realize them, but when it comes to details I prefer to collaborate with detail oriented people to make things happen and I have done this often with much success. Here I have only myself to rely on and have figured out quite quickly what it takes for me to get through a day- I have to think like a Girl Scout. I was a Girl Scout as a young girl, but I can not for the life of me think of anything useful from that experience except for making s´mores. What I do remember was being the one who stirred up all the trouble at camp and getting into fights with other Girl Scouts who messed with my little sisters- I have four of them. Oh, and there´s the cookies. Even so, I have an idea of how a good Girl Scout thinks and I also have valuable knowledge from three of my other childhood influences, Nancy Drew, Harriet the Spy and Pippi Longstocking. This morning I climbed the spiral staircase leading to my attic hideaway. I enter through a trap door that I have to lift with my back until it is open enough for me to lift up and secure with a hook. I have to keep my head very low or I´ll hit it on the ceiling of the porch, something I´ve done several times. Once I´m through though, my space is open, airy and quite comfortable. I begin to get ready for my day by placing my backpack on a chair and emptying the contents from my singing gig the night before, CD´s, music book and stand light. Everything revolves around my backpack. For the day I need my laptop a. because it is not 100% secure here and b. I never know if I will have an opportunity or a need to get online. I have to wrap it in a plastic bag before placing it inside and with it goes an umbrella, sunscreen, a sarong to use as a towel or a beach blanket, yoga clothes if I´m not wearing them, a dress or something easy to throw on, money (in a plastic bag), bottle of water, flashlight, journal and a pen ( in a plastic bag). After all of this is packed the entire backpack is housed in a heavy duty garbage bag with two holes in the back for the straps to come through. Before leaving I turn off the fans and lights and climb through the trap door, resting it on my back as I gradually lower it into place. No food or crumbs can be left on the counter or anywhere because of bugs, ants and who knows what else. With everything secure, I´m free to go! As I ventured out today the rain had dissipated, but was still a constant drizzle. I was wearing my bikini with my sarong tied around me, but I still wasn´t too thrilled about hanging out on the beach fishing in the rain. I walked down the beach and since I was a little early I decided to take shelter in a local spot to wait out the rain and catch up on my email. By the time the rain stopped and I reached the rocky beach where Nacho was going to meet me, he had already gone. I thought maybe he would just start fishing, but I have a feeling it was more about me than fishing so I wandered around the rocks and tide pools looking at all the tiny life thriving there, amazed at the intricate patterns the strong water and currents have etched into the stone. I walked south along the beach. It was low tide so there were not too many surfers out there, but there were people taking surf lessons, families with small children, a lot of walkers and runners because the sand is so flat, wide and hard and there is an abundance of shells and huge sand dollars. I ran into a woman who had been in my attunement class last Sunday who had felt ¨teary¨ like me. Her name is Elissa and she and her husband Dan are from San Francisco. They have three children and since they are self-employed, they decided to take the family on a month long Costa Rican adventure. I laid my sarong out on the sand and sat down for awhile. While Elissa played in the water with her daughters, her three year old son came up to me with his hand outstretched and said, ¨Will you take me in?¨. After racing and playing in the water and taking a couple of family photographs for them, I shook out my sarong, exchanged it for a sundress and set out for yoga. There is an outdoor shower at the Insitute and I take advantage of it everytime I come there because I am always, muddy, sandy, sweaty or all of the above. I have yet to take a hot shower since my arrival over two weeks ago. Today´s practice was lead by Monika, a young, gorgeous woman from Mexico City who has made Nosara her home. Several familiar faces were in the class, a young woman from California in her second year as a 4th grade teacher and a young yogi from Boston who had dropped out of yoga teacher training here, but was staying on in Nosara and continuing her practice. Afterwards I walked the long way home to go to the other ¨mini-super¨- it has a better wine selection- purchased some supplies and went home where Wantana and I settled in for our ¨happy hour¨ to drink a glasss of wine, eat a few snacks and trade stories. Looking back on the day, I can say that today, especially, I´m feeling the ¨space¨. Once I attend to the small details necessary to have a productive and spontaneous day there is not much left for me to do except let the day unfold as it will. If it pours rain, there is nothing I can do about it, but I´m ready for it. If the sun peeks out it is minutes to the beach from most everywhere, and I´m ready for it. And the people, the sights, the sounds and smells are all a part of someone elses big picture and all I can do is take it all in and be grateful for another day in paradise.