Month: October 2016

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The Green Flash✨🌅

The Elusive Green Flash✳️💥💙🌅✨…

Isn’t it strange to think some people spend a large chunk, or perhaps even their whole life never being intimate?
And I’m not talking about sex, or physical contact. I’m talking deep connection, and abundant rivers of love with friends, lovers, Pachamama or oneself…

The things you can learn when you listen to the silence. When you spend time truly being with yourself: Your thoughts, your innermost desires, and the things that call to your soul. Life is too short to do anything other that what makes you happy…. The secret I suppose lies in actually finding what IT is that brings you joy!!🤗
Travel and experiencing nature brings about these musings for me. New places, different people and observing the matrix of Mother Earth really opens the mind and expands the perimeters of existence. Oh and the rain…it’s takes me to places- something about the lullaby of the drops, the free falling of water from the sky really releases me to another realm….
Any who, enough about the wandering of my brains, let’s talk about the wanderings of Costa Rica

Where do I even begin?

I know I say this a lot, but not a day goes by where I don’t feel grateful for all I get to experience in this short life time.

When I was I Playa Negra I was fortunate enough to be invited to guest teach at the Peace Retreat Yoga Center and I can’t say thank you enough to the manager and teacher who extended such a kind gesture. The retreat center is jungle-yoga-heaven. The studio to practice in has beautiful ceiling to floor glass windows, all the props a yogi could want and all the faculties are tastefully designed with paintings of Ganesh, chakra rocks and just enough positive/motivational says to inspire, but not annoy. Wether your yoga practice spans a life time, or you are new to the game Peace retreat yoga center is a place to check out of you pass through Playa Negra:)

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The day I taught I shared this message

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“…yoga doesn’t care about the shape of your body, but the shape of your life…yoga doesn’t care about who you’ve been, yoga care about the person you are becomming…”

It’s easy to get caught up in the very small physical part, the asana practice of yoga, and forget that the goal of yoga is not to have the best head stands. Believe it or not yoga teaches us so much more than how to have a bendy body. It teaches us to be compassionate, mindful, caring, aware, peaceful and present. How to drop out of our heads and into our hearts so we can experience the most joy and the least suffering as possible:)

Yoga (and surfing) but yoga first, Changed my life. Not flexible. Who cares? 🙂 go try some yoga!! 💕😍❤️☮️ with an open heart and mind the possibilities are limitless.

So from Playa Negra, i cruised up north to Playa Grande. Had a fun traffic jam and made some lovley creature friends on the way…Mooove over!! 🐮🐄🚧😂

In Playa Grande and enjoyed a magically relaxing rainy day at the Pipe House Playa Grande. You can find it on air B&B :)Felipe is rad, and a super welcoming, accommodating host. I always find time to hang for a day or so, surf, walk the beach, and enjoy mellow vibes and great company. If your costa adventures take you up this way, staying a night (or more) at the Pipehouse Playa Grande is a must.

From here I drove over to Liberia, more polka-dot pot hole rainy road adventures, to scoop up my most favorite mermaid soul sister!!! Woooooo

And the mermaid takeover resumes:)

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We head back to Guiones, get in a fun little sunset surf and spend a day or two there before we are on the road again.

We rent a car and head south. A plus about rental cars in the rainy season is that they are cheap. A negative. Ha- is the rainy season….and not that the rainy season is a bad thing, cause I’m obsessed w the aggressively calming storms, but the roads are a mess….

We head to Jaco. From a glance jaco is all things yucky. American/ expat/ foreign takeover at its finest. Or worst. Lots of non tico everything. Hookers and drugs…

Now, with that being said, we found such a fantastic Air B&B on the south side, the quite, jungly, local side of town staying with a tico named Maurico. You can find him at Jaco Surf Club Jungle house on Air B&B. He was an exceptional host. His house was clean, his sweet dog Lola a great yoga buddy, and anything we needed help with he was more than accommodating. And hot water?! Gold 🤗🚿✨. Not that you need it, but it’s quite a treat. Good food options in town and fun waves too!!

Jaco grew on me quite a bit. Amazing beaches, a rad local shaper (maybe the best, certainly the coolest) at Carton surfboards and if you choose to stay out of town you can enjoy Jaco with out falling into tourists traps.

If you travel to Jaco and need help booking tours my lovely friends at Piko Travel can help you out:)

From Jaco we had 2 options, continue south towards to dominical, nauyaca waterfalls and pavones OOOORR,
charge back north and across to the tip of the Nicoya peninsula to montezuma, mal país, and Santa Teresa-
Now the south end of this country in Osa may very well be one my most favorite and arguably one of the most magical, beautiful, bio -diverse places on the planet…But

In the spirit of seeing new places and new waves we decide to go with option B …and we get a ferry ride 😍⛴🏗 Can’t say I’ve ever driven a car into a ferry before!! Pretty cool stuff if you ask me🤓

Yes the path to Santa Teresa involves driving from Jaco, to puntarenas, onto a ferry to Paquera, then about an hour drive through windy roads and jungle trees
To the lovley little towns of Mal País, Playa Carmen, and Santa Teresa.

I mean you could drive all the way around… but why would you??

Ferry rides are fun! 🙃

However- after a long day of travel we arrive with the sun going down…and I have to pee. And we don’t have a place to stay.

But we find a place on the main road that works for the night crash out and are excited for waves in the morning.

The beaches here a beautiful. No surprise there. And the waves- way fun. Once again no surprise there either—-not too much size, but nice peaky clean shape😍

So something to mention about Santa Teresa is that the town doesn’t really have a “center”, you enter on the south end and drive north… one main road that goes from mal pais, all the way through the Santa Teresa and north… so when looking for lodging keep in mind lots of the places are tucked up little roads or, keep the front gates closed, not because they are closed but because the dust from main road gets everywhere.

So right before we abandon all hope of finding suitable lodging waking distance from the main wave we discover Don Jons. It’s a sweet little surf hostel located in what could be considered the “center” of town and make it our home for the next few days!

Aside from being centrally located and right across from the waves we are also neighbors with the most delicious eatery called zwArt cafe:)

The food- health conscious friendly, ranging from typical casados, to spirilina-mint-coconut-cocoa smoothies and amazing vegan surfer bowls varieties- my personal favorite containing quinoa, mustard greens, tahini, pickled beets and carrots, avocado and a yummy green spicy sauce on the side 😋🍴👍🏽

We also discover a magical French bakery in Playa Carmen called “The bakery” and devoured this tasty little treat with a cup of fresh hot coffee… a bit pricey, but oh man, when those chocolate cravings come, this place satisfies 🍰🍮🍫☕️

Although I know there are amazing waterfalls and hiking around here, which was actually part of the initial draw to visit, we opted for a more mellow trip of endless surf sessions and hammock lounging.

Last night was our last night here and the sunset was spectacular.

And.

I saw the elusive green flash!!! 🌅✳️😍✳️🌅❤️
Now growing up on the west coast of a country that kisses the Pacific Ocean I have found myself self sitting, waiting, wishing, enjoying more sunsets than I can count- but never have I had the blessing witnessing that elusive green flash…

So yesterday, as we casually wandered to waters edge the sun had already began its decent and, literally as I make it to the sand, the sun already dipped half way below the horizon- and then BOOM. The flash happened- and pure magic- like watching a magician do a trick. The elusive green flash sparked the sky!!!
Im still at this moment dumbstruck.
I was almost starting to believe that it was something people just made up.
But Mother Earth, nature, never fails to impress and of course when I least expected it, once again. Blew my mind✨✳️💥🌎🌅

With so many more delightful things to come, I send out peace and love as you move through your day in what can sometimes become a crazy hectic life. If your afternoon is free, maybe head to the beach and find a few moments of gratitude and solitude, to commune, and connect and smile at the his wild life you get to be a part of🌈❤️

Wandering with love-
All love all the time:)
Your salty and sunkissed mermaid
-Katie 🐚🐙💙

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The Blind 🏄🏽 Surfer

It has been a week of epic proportions.

Actually, it’s only been 5 days since I landed in the land of Pura Vida but so much radness has already happened…(And my heart feels so full and happy)

I know I titled this The blind surfer… yep, you read right- The blind surfer.

I was fortunate enough to experience something pretty profound that will stay with me for a long time…

but I’ll get to that later… saving the best for last today—

So 2 days ago we woke up to a full moon. Yes. Woke up. To the full moon🌕🌟💫(dawn patrol.. wooot woot)

There is something particularly magical about walking barefoot-down a dirt road-to a jungle path- surfboard in hand- to the waves- to be the first and only people out in the water, all while the magnificent moon, who pulls the tides, and makes the waves, shines down on your with her radiant illuminating glow…
As she was setting in the west the suns warm vibrant fire was slowly beginning to creep into the opposite side of the sky.

Uh huh 😍😍
and this all happened before 5 am 💕🌊🌈☀️

So we caught some waves, were out of the water by 7am, and enjoyed some particularly special and extra delicious coffee made by Don Henry Gutierrez.

While sipping coffee we engaged in meaningful conversation, listened to music, and hung out on the front porch of the cabina, surrounded by all things green and lush and peaceful. Sharing moments like these are priceless and something I wouldn’t trade for all the riches in the world.

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Let me now tell you about the man who
Makes this delicious coffee. He lives in the hillside of Terrazu, Costa Rica. He is making a grass roots movement to take back the hills from American and multi-national corporations. These corporations have ripped up all the native coffee plants, planted foreign species, and as a result have completely killed the soil and land that for SO many years has produced rich, delicious coffee…
This amazing man, via Corazón de los Pargos, is teaming up with Surfrider foundation to sell ” Surfrider coffee” -coffee for clean oceans- for profit that will be used in the efforts to keep the oceans clean and better protect the earth that so graciously houses us. 🙏🏽🌎Keep an eye out for this coffee-☕️☕️☕️

As for the music we listened to. A bit deep and profound to describe with my simple words. This musician, a Somali refugee sing/raps powerful messages and funky melodic beats- telling stories  about struggle and pain, love and life, but ultimately, about staying positive and rising above. This musical, lyrical genius is K’naan. Look him up 🎤🎧🎼:)

Ha. And that was all before 8am. Some
pretty rad energy vibrations happening…

But let’s rewind a little bit.
I landed in San Jose, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 Wednesday am. Rented and car and drove 5 hours in the pouring rain- like can hardly see 20 feet infront of the car, Dont think it’s rained that much in San Diego the whole year rain-down a mountain side and across muddy pothole infected dirt roads to the Guanacaste province in the North Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

And so the adventure began.

But when you feel like you are “going home” it’s all worth it:) Not to mention all the roads and country side are lush, green, jungle love ❤️🌱🌴🌿💕 so the scenery certainly doesn’t hurt..It’s nothing like driving 5 hours in traffic amongst concrete buildings, concrete roads, and metal vehicles everywhere.

Guiones the town I will living in is pretty magical. I arrive at the Nosara beach hostel. The hostel is owned and managed by Ticos, it’s only 100 yards from the beach, and  rooms go for an amazing affordable price. It’s a traveling surfers gem. I am immediately met by familiar welcoming faces, the awesome guys who run Agua Tibia surf school. (The surf school is currently connected to the hostel and if you ever visit nosara/guiones they are 💯% my recommendation for board rentals and lessons- a really solid group of human beings 🏄🏽)
At this point in the day I’m feeling exhausted, but stoked to be here 🙂

The hostel this time of year is super mellow. Only me and one other guy:)
Sweet!!…Easing into a slower pace of this fantastically simple, delightful life

I Enjoy dinner and more amazing conversation, with Sergio, my friend who works nights at the hostel, and crash out early, eager for waves.

Yay!!
Soooo, super fun waves on Thursday 🌊🌈 and warm water!?!

Holy heaven. I proceed to spend the rest of the day napping, reading, hammocking, and enjoying life as it unfolds. It’s pretty powerful to be present in the moment. Zero anticipation, about where I’m going to go, or what I’m going to do, just throughly blissful about existing right here, right now….
and I’m not alone in this joy- I find a huge part of what draws me to Costa Rica and Guiones (or the beach towns here in general) is this mentality 🙂
Pura vida ☮️ Si. Life as it, with out adornment, is more than enough, in fact, it is complete…

Thursday night I found myself in a Tuk-Tuk, a normal occurrence in guiones, except my driver happens to be my friend and she has never actually driven one of these strange little vehicles before. The hysterics ensue, stalling out, stuck in first gear, catching air off potholes in the dark, haha- all while trying to hold on to beers, her cigarettes and her dog who chased us down the street as we left for the store.
Needless to say I was laughing so hard i cried…

Then Saturday arrives and I’m on the open road again… and that means this Cali girl gets to drive through 3 rivers and 1.5 hours on the most lovely, enchanted jungle dirt road up to playa negra…. daaaamn. No Rivers on the roads of north San Diego county that’s for sure. That means this adventure is equally scary and exciting. But i survived-Accompanied by some zeppelin, Tom petty, Trevor hall, pepper, katastro, passiflora, and many other rad road tripping jams!! A necessity for any road trip… I might say tho, blasting “over the hills and far away”, as a mob down a dirt road solo, and free, is a most exhilarating feeling. I highly suggest trying it at some point in your life if you have yet to do so.

So I make it to playa negra, more specifically, the soon to be community center/ bakery/cafe/coffee shop of Corazón de los Pargos, and I’m Stoked…
Such a rad project in the works, the guys here, who I’m beyond grateful and lucky to call my friends are incredible human beings. Their passion to work hard, to live a dream of creating a space where people gather, learn, eat, drink, create and commune in positive environment is humbling, inspiring and contagious.

And just wait.
The humbling inspiration continues…as the guys work, with focused effort of intentions to open Corazón de los pargos by November….

I get to surf 🌊🌊❤️❤️🙌🏽🙌🏽yeeewww

Playa negra is a pretty sweet wave. Being accustomed to paddling out in beach breaks like Oceanside Ca, and even more punishing Guiones, it was a delightful treat to paddle out and not even get my hair wet?!!! 😍😳 a girl could get spoiled surfing here…. anywho, here comes the good part

A blind man who surfs. While in the water, two friendly guys paddle up to me, and one man begins to explain that his friend in the red shirt is BLIND!! He wants to let all the people in the water know so when his friend is charging down the waves, be sure to get out of his way. It’s not like this guy is splashing around in knee high white wash- he is sitting in the line up, paddling into peaks, above a rocky reef, point break wave….
My mind is blown.
The interaction, between these two men, and the blind man and ocean, leave me speechless. Humbled. But, mostly inspired. The man lost sight midlife, but clearly refuses to live a life less satisfying. It’s beautiful, the communication between the man and his friends. Their words guide him into waves (decent size waves i may add) and his determination and dedication simply just to feel the waves, a spirit so full of a hunger for life, his refusal to quit, Is one of the most incredible things I have been fortunate enough to experience in my small time on this planet.

So ,next time you think you can’t.
Next time life feels overwhelming.
Next time you are rut and feeling low, discouraged, frustrated…

Remember this blind man who surfs…
And remind yourself you can:)
You are able:)
And that- sight, legs, food, all we have, are gifts. Allow a gratitude to manifest around all the blessing present in your life ✨

And as they like to say here in Costa Rica-
Gracias a Dios
Thank you god
(whoever God may be to you)
For this day and this breath and the love we get to experience.

Have a happy day sweet friends
Live with love, because love wins❤️
And so does life in a bikini 👙😘

Your salty and sunkissed gypsy mermaid
-Katie ☮️

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Wander with love💕

As I begin again On the gypsy trail, Moving about in time and space, I find myself filled with gratitude and humility

Typically travel evokes feelings of anxiety, or excitement, wonder on inspiration…
but this time it’s different
Not to say any of the above feeling are not present, they are just gently burning in the back ground, like a fireplace on a cool winter night- beautiful ablaze and warm, but by no means dominant….

TonightI feel calm, relaxed and peaceful completely satisfied buy life’s offerings.
A warm breeze kissing my soul as the sun Shines and the waves barrel…that kind of contentment

And I am Humbled

San Diego is a beautiful city and Oceanside an even more amazing little town. Filled with good vibes, and fantastically kind locals rooted in values of community, simplicity, loving hard, playing hard and celebrating the diversity of life we all bring to the table…

The tribe of humans that I am lucky enough to call my friends are off the charts….

Chefs, teachers, firefighters, herbalists, scientists, professors, mothers, servers, real estate agents, lovers, givers, healers with the best of intentions and the biggest of hearts. But these people who are my friends, are also my teachers. I am better because of them, my consciousness continually elevated by their desires to learn and grow and raise eachother up is so humbling. And I cried today because I will miss them. As I set out on the gypsy trail I find the gratitude in my heart even stronger because I am better because I know these magnificent beings.

So That’s the cool thing about travel. Although Oside and these people will soon be far far away. Their love is not…
If you let your life be expansive the circles you run in will only continue to expand. (And if you find yourself in Oceanside San Diego. Give wrench and rodent a try:) for sushi satisfaction. Or perhaps good old fashionable comfort food w a twist is your style, Local Tap House has some of the  best flavor (and beer 🍻 around)… or if you wan to Keep it simple, cruise over cyclops organic farm, run by locals and cook up a delicious feast yourself 🙂

So will I miss San Diego, with its delightful people, incredible nature (and for a big city it’s still got some nature– yes it’s got it all, desertes, mountains, beaches galore…) and the most divine October sky and sunsets that take my breath awaY

Well yes.

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what I will miss most is the feelings —the cocoon like love I am so very grateful and blessed to be surround by

I have however learned that all these feeling of love and gratitude and humility are inside me. Always. And wherever I go I can take them with me!!:) I don’t even need to pack them and put em in a bag… they don’t take up space (and are free)..which means more room and money for bikinis!! 😂😂 and if you know me at all … well you know what I mean.👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙👙

So as you go about on your own journeys wether is around the globe or down the street to the store , remember to take little pieces of all that you do with you.
Keep learning and growing from the biggest adventures to the smallest lthings…

And stay humble.

Because when your heart is tender and your mind is open the vastness of life will continue to inspire you-

By living with passion  you are capable of things far greater than you know.

Continuing along the gypsy trail.. with love in my heart and smile on my face-

see you soon Oside, see you sooner Costa Rica 🙌🏽🌈🌊🦄… waves and jungles and monkeys oh my!!!😍 🌊🌱🌿🌳🐒🐒🌎🏄🏽‍♀️

Sending out love 🐚🐳💕
Your salty and sun kissed mermaid