A 6 Month Experiment: Our Family Moving to Costa Rica
The Path to Costa Rica was messy. Sacrifices made and risks taken. Plans made and plans changed. Releasing the illusion of control because we had no choice but to Surrender and don’t forget to buckle up.
A vortex of tasks, loose ends, sleepless nights spinning on thoughts and going over plans. Every moment precious now as we count down the days, hours, minutes to our departure and just in the nick of time we complete the checklist. Things to do before we wave goodbye to control, plans, knowing what’s coming next.
We drive away. Leave the womb and say our farewells.
Departing with a smile.
An excitement and an anticipation.
Trepidatious, unsure, eyes wide with hot damn are we doing this.
Driving into the Great Unknown.
2 kids 2 dogs 2 cats.
Capturing on film what can only be seen as out of our minds.
Pet passports, travel documents, foreign currencies, and our life packed into our suitcases we begin to make our way. 3 weeks of travel through the USA as we began our Pursuit down the Pan Am Highway. Epic roadtrips are our thing.
But wait, I’m not sleeping and this doesn’t feel good and no amount of blogs and conversations with overlanders on facebook can ease my concerns. Plans are changed and flights are booked and a 3 week journey through Central America soon becomes us landing in San Jose, eyes wide this time with Wonder.
We are here.
Skin sticky, clothes damp we’ve made it.
Straight to our destination, all 8 of us picked up and packed in alongside our Life in transport consisting of 6 suitcases, 4 kennels and 4 bags. The winding roads and the stop and starts a combination not to be made. Pink puke that was breakfast all over his poor van. An atm stop once a 2 minute detour becomes a one hour mission. Our first taste of the way things will go. Never straight instead zig zaggy and ever changing. One task per day or week seems the way to go.
5 hours pass and then there we are.
Arriving in the jungle
Towering trees, new roomates in the form of bugs.
Ojochal, once words on a screen now our new home.
A month spent as we adjust yet barely settle into Place before the task list continues. This time disguised as goals and dreams.
Make friends.
Find a community.
Enrol in the perfect school.
And that’s just week one.
Habits of old, the consciousness of Past Place so hurried. So need to know. So need to have it all figured out just right now.
In the heart of the jungle. So wild so primal so loud. It makes it hard for me to settle and slow.
Boundaries between in and outside indistinct. Showering amongst the trees, views for days, rocks underfoot. Intricate vine detailed windows framing ever changing scenes of colours so rich and species so diverse. So wild. So primal.
So loud. Sounds out now sounds in. At first thrilling but soon a pulsing that. never. stops. Daytime sounds passing the baton to the sounds of the night, toads mating songs, cicadas an everpresent buzz, howler monkeys announcing their movement through the area never worried about my zoom calls. The sounds of the rain violent, demanding to be heard.
Nature overpowering in this place.
Jungle people I am not.
And damn, this month acclimating has felt like a year.
Power outage again, no wifi means no work.
So much to learn.
Bank accounts, foreign conversions on the fly, what does 5000 colones for pickles even mean? 20 items on a grocery list once a 10 minute stop now taking an hour of wandering, feeling out of place, wobbling, wondering.
Spanish classes overlooked now creating a gap between local and us.
Plans and perfectly laid out sequences of events long forgotten as we sit and ponder how to let go of the one thing we seemed to have all figured out. Home. Place. A school for the kids that feels so delightfully aligned in value and vision, rooted in its approach yet magic still very much alive. Life Project Education is everything I’ve dreamed of so why doesn’t’ this place feel like it?
Hard to decipher the signs because my mind says this has to be it but my body telling a different story and one of the two doesn’t lie.
Little did we understand that there were still tests to be had and resolve to be steadied. Clarity to emerge and layers still to let go. We began to see that all that glitters isn’t gold and damn this place is filled with mold. The humidity too heavy, the noises so always there, and surely more nature please doesn’t include spiders in my hair.
We are here but this isn’t it and maybe it’s best we just go home. But wait, we lit a flame and tossed a match, burning all that could provide a refuge should we retreat.
Let’s continue.
Forge on.
Figure this out.
“This would break most people” words from my mother giving me grace and I take the time to steady and redirect my gaze.
Now through the wobbles and onto the next part of the Path. The Magic House not so magical. The pulse of Place not quite it. It didn’t make sense to the mind then. But it does now that we’ve found this new Place.
There was still a movement too hurried to settle into our own rhythm of Slow Enough to allow space for what’s meant to emerge. Amenities too close, conveniences while limited still there. The pull of exquisite restaurants, upscale shops and luxury dessert bars too irresistible to resist. An expat community full of activity, life and opportunity. It made sense on paper but now that we left there to move here
I
can
see.
Peace a pulse our systems recognize as something we’d like to harmonize to. Acclimating made easy now that we have actually found our answer of Home. For now.
This is Part 2 of 3 in my mini series: Our Family Moving to Costa Rica from Canada
Read Part 1 The Battle + The Threshold Here
Read Part 3 Platanillo, Costa Rica Here