Ik heb geprobeerd een Nederlandse vertaling te maken, maar het komt helaas niet uit mijn vingers. Mijn hoofd denkt in Engels en Spaans, en de Nederlandse zinnen rollen er niet mooi uit. Dus: google translate voor als je het Engels moeilijk vindt. Of je gebruikt het als een oefening om Engels te leren 😉
Reading time: 2 minutes
Every morning I wake up with the sound of the birds, other jungle sounds and the sun. It warms my heart.
Yesterday evening we went walking the dogs. We walked through nature in the dark and it was beautiful. The sounds, the noise of water streaming through a river and the clear bright sky with so many stars. I remember why I used to live here.
I have felt a lot of different emotions since I left. When I first arrived I felt so happy. Being in this tropical climate, far away from home, in nature. I felt so much freedom. I live in the moment here, no worries about tomorrow, about the future or the past. Just BE. I have no obligations. Especially here on the island (Ometepe). I was welcomed so warmly by friends; locals and expats, I kind of forgot what it was like. The other day I was resting in the hammock and I got overwhelmed by a feeling of gratitude and bliss. It brought tears to my eyes. To be able to be here, feel the warmth, the connection, the energy of unconditional love.
Connection doesn’t necessarily have to mean physical closeness; it’s about the actions, being there for each other. At home this is more difficult, in our current society with busy jobs and busy lives. Hopefully I can bring some of this warm, caring togetherness home.
Loneliness was also part of my experience, mainly in the beginning. I arrived in a new country, with a different culture, and I didn’t know anyone. Luckily one of my friends from Ometepe was in the neighborhood for business. We spent an amazing day together going to see the crater of this volcano and then hiking off trail to swim at a cold lake close to the crater. We’d just made it back to the main trail and with my last step I tripped and fell with my knee on the pavement. With me, traveling doesn’t go without scratches or some wounds. I actually made this really nice essential oil mix to use for first aid situations like this. My skin healed quite quickly.
So we’d bring two bicycles with us up the volcano to ride down to this other park with waterfalls and animals. It looked a bit like a zoo, but it was said to be a wildlife refuge, with only animals that somehow were rescued and couldn’t live in the wild anymore. Beautiful animals.
So the loneliness wasn’t so present anymore, but once we split up and I went to this beachtown called Montezuma, it came back to me a little bit. I started to notice there were a lot of young people traveling and I didn’t feel connected to them. I am good at being alone, but it is also nice to meet some like minded people while traveling. But I had to go through this feeling, stay present with it and trust. It was hard because I just wanted to get away and be in Nicaragua, with my friends. But I also wanted to be there and see and experience new things. So I did and I ended up having some really nice philosophical conversations with people around the hostel. Also I saw a lot of monkeys, some iguanas and a family of raccoons. The beach and the sea felt amazing, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, beautiful.
Traveling is an adventure I love so much. Time doesn’t exist; you ask for directions everywhere; you never know exactly where you’re going to end up and how and transportation is not always reliable, although Costa Rica is quite well organized (except for lying about the route and time of a shuttle bus). You are forced to live in the moment and find your freedom inside, in every minute. A meeting doesn’t go as planned and you wait, a bus leaves later than expected and you wait. Waiting can be very de-stressing. It can be dreadful too, when it’s very long. It’s an art to surrender to the moment.
In Costa Rica I felt very much like writing and sharing, because I was by myself. And I love writing. Now, on the island, I am so connected and occupied with friends that I just forget about the world, which is nice. My adventures here are different, it’s about the people I meet and not so much about the places I visit. Although I’d like to climb the volcano; I will do this soon with a local friend who’s a guide.
Now, I go off to the beach, play Volleyball, swim and be with friends.