Costa Rica: Whole Nourishment

My heavy eyelids pop open with the constant hammering of coconut on concrete.

It’s more jarring than the bubbling sound of a coffee machine, but the smooth and sweet coconut water waiting for me on ice as I walk into the kitchen is more refreshing than even the dark, liquid-gold café that is one of this country’s largest exports.

Costa Rican cuisine is simple and whole. When buying in bulk isn’t an option or a desire, shelf life becomes the natural span of existence for items, even what’s been packaged to sell.

Prepared cans of beans and fish contain baseline levels of salt, but added preservatives are not included in these regional foods. Fresh meat, fish, vegetable and fruit trucks pass through this small town on a rotating daily basis, and it’s common for people to purchase directly from them, exchanging American dolores and Costa Rican colones for their “farm to table” meals.

The lime tree in our finca has been good to us. Today I picked all that I could hold, and the firm, tart fruits have already brightened the flavors of a homemade ginger tuna and a red cabbage and cilantro salad.

This land offers more than ingestible nourishment, however, and it’s been a pleasure to explore physical wellness in a foreign climate.

Finding Fluidity

Fifteen strides from the front door of the Destino Pacifico, the property’s hammock hut is an open-air cabana facing palm and fruit trees in every direction. It’s a perfect personal yoga retreat, harnessing the sounds and sights of the natural world that surround the edges of my mat, almost kissing the tips of my finger and toes.

It’s easy to find movement here. The climate creates perfect temperatures for detoxifying vinyasa flow, building heat in the body as it rinses to purity with a clean sweat. It is not a practice without company, however, but I don’t seem to mind whatever insects or birds are present in this place of peace that is their home.

Afternoon showers are becoming more prominent as rainy season begins, and several times I’ve stood underneath the steady drops, glistening on my moist skin and riding down the loose waves of my hair.

You can feel the power that this place harnesses from its water. Large swells attract surfers to the Playa Negra from all over the world, and even as season’s change, the ocean is always a constant. Movement is made amidst nature here—a retreat of pura vida to feed the body and the soul.

Organic Soul writer Kim Fuller will be in Costa Rica for three weeks. Keep up with her posts on our website, and look for the release of her upcoming E-book for more on the “Pura Vida.”