Wherever You Are Looking That's Where You're Going

Yesterday after my amazing Prannassage with Francella, I took a surfing lesson with my friend Elissa, a young mother and photographer from San Francisco. We hired Luigi from Nosara Tico Surf School. I wanted to support him because he is my guitar player Bill’s brother-in-law but also, he owns his own business and is one of only a few Tico owned surf schools in Nosara. Luigi is about 5’4 with a completely lean surfer’s body from surfing and teaching surfing everyday. with beautiful brown skin and kind brown eyes. It was three in the afternoon with the sun still high in the sky moving in and out of clouds, the water clear and warm. I had taken a surfing lesson once before in Nosara, but there was something about the way Luigi taught that was quite different from my first lesson. He was a really good teacher. He had a natural ability to impart his wisdom to us, but was also very sensitive to our surroundings and to us. He talked about the tides, the wind, made drawings in the sand depicting inside waves and outside waves, told how to walk into the ocean (something I thought I knew) by shuffling our feet, not stepping directly down to avoid stepping on a stingray, told us when the best times to surf for beginners like us. After practicing in the sand and finding out where the “sweet spot” on our boards was located, we were in. Nosara is such a great place for beginner surfers because you can actually learn to surf inside the break and catch some pretty good waves. It’s great for families with varying degrees of ability and of course, for people like me with no ability whatsoever! I had to say, my daily yoga practice with all the Chataranga’s (yoga push-ups) have really paid off-I can pop right up on the board- I just can’t stay up. Two hours of practice and I stood up on a wave for maybe 15 seconds! Luigi was encouraging and let me know he would hook me up with boards for next to nothing if I just want to go out for an hour or so. He also left us with these words of surfer wisdom. “Wherever you are looking, that’s where you’re going to go”. I feel like I’m not looking in one direction right now. My frustration over housing has caused me to start considering cutting my trip short and coming home. Wantana said to me today, “You just need to accept things, there is always going to be something better, she said people always want more, more, more. This is just Costa Rica”. I don’t know, I understand the grass is always greener mentality, but I don’t think that’s me right now. I just want privacy, safety and comfort. If I can’t find that here, I’ll just come home. So today I spent the morning looking at my options, most of them not working out. There was a two bedroom condo in my price range, but when I went by to look at it, I felt uncomfortable. This was my only option so far. “Follow the signs”. I ducked out of the rain and went online and looked at my flight itinerary, which I can change by phone only. I noticed an email from D-Ray, a local musician with an apartment on his property. He wrote that it was available, but $400 over my budget. I thanked him and declined and told him why. He promptly responded and said he’d take what I had; did I want to look at it? I met him on the road and jumped in his golf cart. His home is in the hills behind the Nosara Yoga Institute and a little farther away from town, but in a safe, primarily residential area. The apartment is perfect and the property gorgeous. The apartment is one bedroom with a nice kitchen and living area, wi-fi (yeah!) and all the essentials. I have full use of the property which includes a huge pool with comfy lounge chairs, jacuzzi, outdoor kitchen all with an ocean view. Okay. I’m looking at Nosara 100% now and it feels like this is where I should be, where I am headed for the next month. I rewarded myself with another surf session, board compliments of Luigi, and got up on my first wave.