Danke Schön Costa Rica

It's a small world after all!

Dear Reader,

The woman sitting next to me in the jeep was bouncing around as we traveled in went over ruts and bumps up a forested road to the Costa Rica retreat center where we were both going.

She was a tiny thing. Long dark hair, hiking boots tied to her backpack, two crystals hanging around her neck.

“Where are you from?” I asked her, kind of yelling to be heard.

“Crested Butte, Colorado,” she said.

“Oh, I’ve been there,” I said. “What a beautiful town!”

“You have?”

“Yeah, a few years back when I stayed in Montrose. We went up in the summer. Had a good meal.”

Her name was Ann.

She used to fly Blackhawk helicopters in the military. Then became an outdoor wilderness guide. Became a functional medical practitioner. Now is hosting retreats for women in big transition stages in their lives in Costa Rica.

But here’s the really funny thing.

Within 10 minutes of sitting with her in that jeep, we found out we were in the exact same place in 1998 competing for the same job.

She got it.

I didn’t.

It was with a company called Backroads, they still exist. They are a bike tour company that goes around the world taking people on week long adventures by foot or on bike.

In 1998, about 3500 people applied for a job as guide with Backroads, including Ann and me.

They narrowed it down to 100 and paid for us to fly out to the San Francisco Bay area and compete in a weekend camping adventure for one of 35 spots.

People brought guitars and were singing in the morning.

Others focused on their quick ability to set up camp.

Some were gourmet chefs who could whip up a delicious breakfast over a camp stove in a jiffy.

Me, well, I don’t exactly know what I had going for me at the time, but I can tell you why I didn’t get the job.

I had no idea how to diagnose, fix, or repair a broken bike and I completely failed the bike exam.

Now, I believe that all things happen in our lives for good, and that was a good thing.

I went on to do other things with my life, but Ann ended up guiding for Backroads in Glacier National Park, eastern Canada, and the bayous of Louisiana.

But the fact that we were sitting in the same car at the same time marveling that we were also once in the same place at the same time for the same reason was one of those lovely small world moments that can only happen when you’ve been transported to an entirely foreign environment - like the jungles of Costa Rica.

Later in the week I had a similar moment with Stina, a woman from Denmark who manages one of the retreat centers managed by my client, Imiloa Institute.

My grandmother was Danish, so I was telling her that now that I live in Portugal I’m excited to visit Denmark at some point.

Then I told her my grandmother’s maiden name.

And guess what?!?

It’s the same name as her grandmother’s maiden name.

Which is not a common name in Denmark.

Are we related? Quite possibly, I don’t know yet, but there you go! Another small world moment.

Getting to Costa Rica from Portugal was not an easy adventure.

I flew first from Lisbon, Portugal to Frankfurt, Germany and had a complete and total meltdown on in the airport because of flight mixups right before I got into an elevator and looked at a man and thought, “I know him” and realized it was Guenther Steiner, former principal of the Haas Formula 1 team standing right next to me.

I love the Netflix Formula 1 series so it was a little moment of, “how did this happen?” while I stood quietly next to a former Netflix star waiting for our elevator to reach its destination.

The Frankfurt airport meltdown happened because of a travel itinerary that got completely messed up that day (I won’t go into details over why), so I cried on a friend’s shoulder (which felt good and necessary) and then got the opposite advice from another friend who texted me, “Get back on track,” and it snapped me out of my pity party completely so that I could do what I needed to do to get Doug’s travel rebooked to Colorado where he is visiting family.

After all, I was going to Costa Rica! A country I had wanted to visit for years.

Arriving that night, I checked into a local Marriott where I could only see signs for Dennys and Walmart and wondered if I was back in the USA again.

The next morning I took a private plane with 12 other people, flying at 5,000 feet over mountains, waterfalls, remote villages, and finally touching down in one of the greenest corners of the earth I could imagine.

Within the first few hours of being there I saw my first sloth, and the next day poison dart frogs, and leaf cutter ants. I swam under a waterfall, and took in grand views of the ocean.

But ultimately, the biggest reason people go where I was going (two retreat centers) is the best reason, an internal journey to retreat into oneself, to discover something new, to do it an environment that lives and breathes, an intense jungle densely canopied.

In that environment it’s easy for the soul’s dirt to come up and get cleared away so that something new can blossom and bloom.

For me, what Costa Rica taught me that was new was to do my best to let go of fear and enjoy what life has given me (which is so much).

I mean if two yoga sessions, two thai massages that stretched every muscle in my body, ecstatic dancing (which is mostly just dancing sober in whatever way you want to disco music), a blue clay waterfall swim, a happiness activation with cacao, and no alcohol and organic food for 12 days didn’t cure me of whatever was ailing me before I got there, what would?

I’m absolutely ecstatic about the opportunity Costa Rica offered me, and there’s lots of good stuff to come.

I’m safely back in Portugal after a flight through Switzerland where I ran through the aiport and the Lisbon airport to make my connections, and back at work, creating new adventures.

Love,

Janelle

P.S. Thanks for patiently waiting for me to get back!

I wrote this before I left, and then had so much going on when I got back that it took me a while to finish. I’ll be back with another update on Sunday. Doug is enjoying family in Colorado and I’m so grateful for that and for all of you! More soon!