The Last Day

Wow . . . I can't believe the week is over. Today was awesome - I went on the canopy tour again, we finished the massage class (I am now certified in Myoskeletal Alignment Level 2), and we had a drum circle around the fire pit. It was a great day. A lot of people are flying out tomorrow at 7:00am, but my flight isn't until 2:30pm - so I'll get to lounge around a little bit in the morning and absorb my last day in Costa Rica. I have a feeling that this will be a regular travel spot for me. :)

Salsa!

What a workout! I particularly like the Cumbia beats (with the deep drums & bass).

Busy, Busy, Busy

Even though yesterday was my day off from class, I still felt busy. I scheduled a couple of energywork sessions, so I was constantly watching the clock. But I did get some pool time in and lounged around a bit with the few others that skipped the day trips. And of course, we had a massive thunderstorm right when I was about to go on the computer. The day went by so fast and now today we have a very long day of class - 7 hours. After class, we go to dinner and then salsa dancing!
I'll try to go on the computer tomorrow, but we're having a lot of good-bye events/parties. We'll be taking group photos, exchanging emails/facebook info, etc. . . . not to mention a canopy tour in the morning and class in the afternoon! There's just so much to do everyday, it's hard to find time to update my blog.

I'll be downloading photos from everyone in the class and posting them later. :)

Pictures

Since the only thing we did today was attend class, I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures. The canopy tour CD got delivered today!






This last one is for Mom - it's called a 'Rainbow Bark' tree (for obvious reasons). That is the actual color of the bark - pretty cool, huh? It looks like something Mom should have in the backyard. :)

Canopy Tour

Before I came here, I had every minute of free time planned with activities. I thought it would be a good idea to make to the most out of this vacation and do as many activities as possible. But sometimes, you just have to go with the flow and listen to your intuition.

Today was the first time I went on a zip line through the canopy of the cloud forest. I LOVED IT. I wish I could fly in the treetops everyday. It came so naturally to me - the group I was with started joking around that I become a zip line tour guide. ;) Maybe someday . . .
I had signed up to go on a waterfall hike on Friday, but I think I might go back to the cloud forest again. There's just nothing like it. Unfortunately, I don't have the canopy tour pictures right now. Our guides took phenomenal pictures and will send us a CD on Friday.

Also, I've decided to skip the day trips on Wednesday. I was only interested in one of them - the beach - and I heard it wasn't that great. With the afternoon thunderstorms and having to get up at 5:30am to catch the bus for the trip, I'm just not feeling it. Plus I'm starting to feel burned out between traveling, all of the orientation sessions yesterday, the myoskeletal class, and the ridiculously loud birds at dawn. So instead, I will lounge around the hot tub, do some meditation, and get some bodywork done on Wednesday. The perfect way to renew my energy.

No pictures today -the canopy tour pictures will be later and the rest of the day was spent in class.

4:30am . . . freakin' roosters man.

Pura Vida is like pseudo-camping. I'm staying in a tentalow (although there are suites here too). The bathroom facilities are pretty good - there's hot water and everything! :) But because this is a private resort, the Costa Rican culture is somewhat lacking. Everyone here speaks English and we're not really interacting with the local people. I've got some day trips planned, but they're tourist destinations. Nevertheless, this place is gorgeous and the food is AMAZING! I feel like my body is completely detoxing by only eating fresh fruit and food baked from scratch. Not to mention all of the bodywork and energywork offered here.

Today we had class all day . . . and we only learned myoskeletal alignment for the neck muscles. There's just so much going on in that area of the body and so many muscles to work on. And it felt really good, since my neck was still sore from the airplane. This is such a cool technique - it's like massage + physical therapy + chiropractic work (but not cracking bones). If anyone is interested in a session, let me know!

Did I mention it's the beginning of the rainy season? Everyday a thunderstorm rolls in around 1:00pm - today it knocked out the power. We gave each other massage in the dark with lightning, thunder, and pouring rain in the background. I liked it. :)

Back in Costa Rica.

I'm back in Costa Rica and it feels like I was here yesterday. The rolling hills, the small towns, the mountain roads, the afternoon thunderstorms . . . :) The weather was clear when I arrived, but by the time I got my things settled and started wandering around Pura Vida, in rolled the fog and the thunderstorm. There wasn't time to take sunny pictures today - maybe tomorrow.

So I thought this massage workshop was going to be a moderate size (30 people?) - there turned out to be 68 therapists from all around the world (mostly the US, but also Germany, Scotland, Canada, Cayman Islands, and Australia!). It's such a huge group! We had a short introduction today by Eric Dalton, the teacher. I'm so excited to learn this technique! Eric is extremely knowledgeable about anatomy and physiology, and he knows which muscles/tendons/ligaments to work just by looking at your posture and movements. It's incredible.

I'll write more tomorrow. I've been up since 2:40am and I'm tired. Goodnight.