People

This last weekend I went back to Puerto Viejo on the caribbean side of Costa Rica, aka Rasta Town! But this time I traveled all on my own. It´s really cool that you can hop on a public bus and get across the country for only ten bucks. I suppose that there are places like that in the United States, but not so much in Michigan. I stayed at a hostel called Rocking Jay´s and I have never been anywhere like it before. It was right on the beach and basically integrated into the outdoors because I stayed in a tent for only 8 bucks a night. There were a few rooms, but most people stayed in hammocks. This type of hostel allowed me to meet some really cool people from all over the world. I especially became closer friends with a few ticos. I absolutely love when you first meet someone and you can just sense how genuine and similar they are to you, it´s like destiny or love at first sight in a friendship or tribe-like way. I basically spent the whole day Saturday reading from one of my yoga books and doing yoga on the beach. That night I ran around the town and beach listening to reggae (you won´t find any music genre different from reggae in Puerto Viejo) and having a gay ól time with new friends. Starting all of these new friendships got me thinking about people in general. At CMU we have a pretty big group of international students, but I have never really become friends with any for some reason. I had never really noticed that before. The ticos here are really nice and welcoming to us international kids here. They hang out with us and help us with homework and everything as if we were never going to leave. I had never even thought about doing that for international students in Michigan. It really makes you think about what it´s like being in another person´s shoes. I´ve found myself feeling really lucky having the opportunity to learn from people of all cultures. Especially so in Puerto Viejo, I met so many backpackers just dedicating this time in their lives to traveling and exploring the world with friends. How amazing! On another note, despite missing my dearest friends and family, it has been quite liberating being on my own in a new place the last two months. Basically without a phone or social networking tools, people have to come and find me instead of contact me from afar. It was weird at first, but I´ve come to like it. Especially after having started this experience on a heart-breaking note, it´s been great to find some peace of mind and grow by adapting to my environment and building up a new circle of friends. Now I would like to share something that I read during my chill beach day this weekend in Yoga, by Ernest Wood: ´´Independence leads to the greatest happiness and the most felicitous conditions of existence on earth. Health, beauty, peace, prosperity, and every reasonable felicity result from the same ethics, mental disciplines, and type of endeavor as lead to a future free from the restrictions of earthly life.´´ ¡Pura Vida!