Last Day at the Yoga Farm

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All night there were thunder rumblings while I tried to sleep. Then before 5 am the howlers started up a full chorus of their yelling. It seemed as if one group from the one hill to the south would yell to another to the other direction. It is not possible to sleep through it but many stayed in their beds and went back to sleep when they were done.

The morning is overcast, cool and damp and I am worried that the clothes I washed on Sunday will have to go into the suitcase damp. Someone in the valley nearby is burning something. I can see the smoke now but was coughing from it earlier in the morning. I would have liked for this to be a beach day and been able to walk to the wouth on the beach but I am going to have to wait and see, now.

After breakfast I went down to the beach and headed south. At the point where the Yoga Farm road heads inland and up hill the road on the beach ends. The only way to go along that last segment of Costa Rica is to walk the beach. I guess if the tides were low enough for long enough you could walk to Panama. This walk along the beach is how some of the workers who are indigenous get to the Yoga Farm. I know of 3 farm workers who are Guaymi and live on a reserve that is in the southernmost corner of Costa Rica. A couple, Jesus and Anna walk or ride their horses to work. Jesus works on the grounds and Anna cleans the kitchen, bathrooms and dorm rooms. One young guy, Jose, often sleeps over at the Yoga Farm and seems to enjoy the evening activities at the Yoga Farm, but at a distance. It seems to me that he knows lots more than he lets on. He and I played a game of War (guerte?) after breakfast and he is a sweet guy. Through my primitive Spanish I learned that he is 18 and he is married. One of the caretakers told me that his child is actually the child of his brother to the woman that is now his wife. Such is one of the differences in the culture.

Back to the beach walk: I went south for as long as I could until I got to lots of rocks and it was difficult to pass. I went back to the Yoga Farm and chatted with a girl that showed up the night before and then went to lunch. After lunch I walked further up the hill past the Yoga Farm. This is the area where I was walking the night I was trying to find the farm. I walked quite a way and came to the end of the road. On the way I met three children who were just done with school. One boy told me that there were 9 people in his school and that he was in the second grade. I kept walking and saw the school. It was really small and cute. It is called the Escuela de Isla de la Mar (school of the island of the sea). To go any further would require a horse and then would take me to the Guaymi Reserve. From the top of that hill I could see much farther north than we can see at the Yoga Farm. It was a beautiful view that I missed when I was sweating it on the way up. On the way down I could also see the Yoga Farm but was so far away that I couldn't see what anyone was up to.

Later, I began my packing. The owner decided to have a special night because 4 people staying at the farm would be leaving the next day. So they made a cool circle with the yoga mats and put candles in the middle of the yoga floor. Someone had set hibiscus flowers in a circle and they placed all the food in the middle of the circle. It looked really cool and we ate as the sun was setting. Later, everyone chatted and played cards before saying good-byes and going to bed.

I have other cool photos but still have the problem that my computer cannot read my camera card. I need to find a way to get the photos onto my flash drive but haven't figured that out yet. Hopefully more photos soon.

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