My Nosara arrival and the day of Jacob Sack's birth
Hi my people,
Myra and I talk on the phone [almost] every day at 8:30am. As I try to go phone-down as much as I can - "be where your feet are", if you will - she begged me to write a blog. So, here we are. Feel free to share with others who want to follow my Nosara pilgrimage.
I left NYC at 5am for a 7am flight. I was thrilled to be on a large [albeit old] plane that was only about 1/4 full. Because this 7am flight from Newark to Liberia is daily, it often doesn't book up. I had the entire row to myself! The flight was about 4.5 hours. I laid down and slept for almost an hour and otherwise read and wrote in my journal. Can we just talk about how chill that was for me to leave my apartment for an international flight only 2 hours before the flight actually took off? Mom and Erin, I'll let you two discuss your likely polar feelings on the topic.
We landed in Liberia at 11:45am (one hour behind NYC). The car I organized to the hotel was 45 minutes late which would really irk NYC Kiki, but Costa Rica Kiki stayed pretty coo. Pedro picked me up and we embarked on our 2.5 hour drive from Liberia down to Nosara. He was the perfect driver - didn't talk too much, shared one of the most delicious bananas I've ever had, and was a wealth of knowledge about the passing scenes and culture. We drove through small Costa Rican towns, many farms, small mountains, and ultimately arrived at the water. Of note, I saw hundreds of grazing bulls and tons of teak trees and wood. Greg Hadley, I thought of you as we drove by furniture huts with stunning teak tables and chairs laying on the lawns. The last 45 minutes of the drive was on deeply potholed, unpaved road. We finally arrived at 3pm. I only had to ask Pedro to stop so I could pee once, which was a major personal feat.
Nosara is known as a "surf town" on the pacific ocean and the northwest side of Costa Rica. Sendero handed me a coconut with a straw in it and a plate of fresh fruit (from the best friends ever) and walked me around the almost entirely outdoor campus - coffee truck, surf hut, pool, restaurant and bar, yoga studio. I walked down to the beach for a dip in the water and a walk on the sand. I compare every beach I ever grace with my presence to the Jersey Shore - everyone does that, right? Unlike the J-Shore, Playa Guiones is wide, jetty-less, with smooth, rolling waves far off the shoreline, accessed through a tiny dirt trail through jungle trees. The beach was fairly empty (I guess people also work here) and the water was 86 degrees! Les Quick would say that is far too warm, like a bath! But it was pretty nice.
I came back to the hotel, showered, and met my friend Conlan (Long Island boy and Dartmouth '09) at 5pm for a walk on the beach and dinner. Conlan moved here from SF and NYC in 2022. He fell in love with Nosara after a surf trip a few years ago. What was it about Nosara, I asked? His face lit up. The community and deep sense of belonging that comes with it. He compared Nosara to Dartmouth's campus - <10,000 people, beautiful surroundings, like-minded open hearts and minds, desire to connect human to human. He said the people here, on average, have done more work on themselves and how they want to show up in the world than anywhere else he's lived. That openness to learning and inner growth is palpable. And the spiritual experience that is surfing has changed his life forever - moving with the water, facing fears, creating ritual, quieting the inside and outside. In a world that is addicted to technology, Conlan said being in the middle of the ocean on a surf board feels like one of the only truly "safe" spaces away from it all.
I liked the way Conlan talked about his courageous move, though he struggled with pulling the trigger. He was a Dartmouth grad, tech entrepreneur, east coaster. People like him don't do this. But he said: "This is where I live now, because it feels right now." His journey to what is currently home was an inside one. He liked the way Nosara made him feel and is following that, for now. I could feel what pulled him here the minute I arrived.
At 5, everyone signs off from work and congregates at the beach or in the water on a surfboard. It was incredible to compare what the beached looked like at 3:30pm vs 5-6pm. We watched the sunset, saved an iguana from drowning in the ocean, and met a few old and new friends also walking the beach. Once the sun was gone, we walked into town (10 min) and had veggie bowls and mint lemonade under strung lights at a vegan restaurant called Luv Burger.
Conlan really amped me up on surfing. Not only did he stroke my ego a fair bit - you're a D1 athlete Kelsey, you're going to be a natural on the board, think of all the games that have led you to this moment, etc - I want to experience the spiritual movement too. My first lesson is today and I hope to surf every day until I leave!
More tomorrow and leaving you with a word I learned and am embracing.
wu wei [woo-way] Taoism
"effortless action", surrendering to
the natural rhythm of life without
resistance, cultivating a mindset
where we're letting go of control
and adapting naturally, like
water flowing around obstacles.
XO,
Nosara Kiki
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