What's in a word and all that

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The other day, I was thinking about the word garden. “Of course you were”, Marc said.

In a garden in the Caribbean plants are growing just as they are in the rest of the jungle. Although some are planted and some are organized, to be able to get through, they all seem to grow wild. With the functional purpose that Mother Earth gave them. Medicinal food is just outside your window.

the landlord's garden

In Sweden, we cut the grass short and grow colourful flowers in different rows for beauty. And that is also the picture I get in my head when I think about the word trädgård (garden).

One word. Many perceptions.

What does a garden look like where you are?

Mi querida selva

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at Banana Azul

 Instead of giving you another floating Yoga post, I thought you might appreciate a brief explanation of what I actually do here. Surely, some of you must wonder if all I do is yoga.

Sirsasana

Service By Magie offers all kinds of content writing, editing and social media managing/marketing. And that is precisely what I am currently doing in the jungle, for a wellness center named Hidden Garden. The beauty of it all is that, in addition to my writing, I get to attend yoga classes, herbalism courses, take photos and network with likeminded around town.

post-yoga Fika at Caribbean with yogis Julie & Marc

I work a few hours a day: I write, have meetings, edit texts/photos etc. I also go to yoga every day and I meet amazing people from all over the world.

potluck at Cocles beach

Cocles beaach

My days have routines and look the same but are yet so different. On Tuesdays we go to Tasty Waves for live music and tacos and on Fridays we go across the street to dance to African Caribbean drumming. Saturday mornings, we visit the farmers’ market to buy local and organic food for the week and, if it’s sunny I might stop by the beach. However, most weekends I spend a few hours working as well. I don’t mind. I love my job, and the jungle.

(We also study by the pool)

This last Friday, I caught another bug and have been in bed since. No fever this time, but a troubling stomach and joint ache. That’s what to expect from the jungle life, I guess. Especially in a small place like Puerto Viejo, where people constantly come and go: bringing all kinds of diseases. “It’s like in a kindergarten”, my friend said.

Our house and patio

Mariella and I rent a small house with great location. After all the troubles we had, we finally found a place with walls and a roof! We even have a beautiful garden, with a little porch where we can sit and work, while watching the colorful frogs and the hummingbirds. The gardener, Jacinto from Nicaragua, takes good care of us and brings us fresh fruit almost every day.

Frogito

Despite the humidity and various social problems around, I meant what I said about hanging my hat here. The Caribbean is a lovely place and I hope you get to experience it one day.

View over Puerto & Cocles

Pura Vida

Seeing the world upside down

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It’s early Sunday morning and I’m slowly pedalling my bike to the Shala for a 4 hours inversions practice with Ashtangi Mariela Cruz.

I slow down even more as I pass my favourite part of the path. The trees of the jungle are high on each side of the road and behind them you can glimpse the blue ocean. I always ponder about their greatness. Standing there, tall and proud, basking in greenness: completely rooted and reaching high towards the sky. Like the foundation of an asana: feet are grounded and all four corners are connected with the earth to stay balanced, and the spine straightened.

The foundation of posture and the basics of life: to keep balance in every storm.

Los árboles altos

Since I moved to Costa Rica I’ve met many strong, independent, inspiring and enthusiastic women. Mariela is one of them. Mother of 7 and a great teacher, how does she do it?! Committed to her practice, she talks about moving one step forward and two back. Determination. Love. Healing. I remember again. Ashtanga, my first true love. My guidance. Even after 4 hours of practice I’m not tired, but filled with energy and love.

During my travels within this loving country, I’ve also met many inspiring men. Men who acknowledge and cherish the feminine energy, who see the importance of Mother Earth and to keep both sides balanced. They understand love, and they understand the oneness. It is indeed inspiring and I am grateful for all the unexpected meetings I’ve come across here.

And I’m grateful for everybody who teaches me about love

For my journeys

For the people in my life

For life

For Yoga

Nicaragua:SJDS

The inversions connect you with the higher chakras, and allow you to see the world from a different angle. It requires courage and laughter. And then you know. Maybe falling isn’t too bad.

handstand practice

Pura Vida

Life in the Caribbean

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Much has happened and still nothing has moved forward. Time is a mysterious thing and the Caribbean seems to have its very own version.

I started my day with Forrest Yoga and continued with pipa (coconut water) and banana pancakes for brunch, before getting comfortable on the porch. Today I was trying to get some work done while watching the pouring rain. Indeed, it was a productive day. Most days aren’t like that. They seem to rain away somewhere between brunch and the afternoon darkness.

brunch

Working in the Caribbean sounds romantic and beautiful, but life treats you the same way no matter where you are. We still have to find a way to make friends with time and work schedule and we still have to remember to nourish our relationships with the self and with others. It’s the same but different. Time here is slow and blurry. It is easy to forget that days have names and that things have to be done if we want change and development.

 

You struggle with snow that never wants to leave. We struggle with rain during dry season. Climate change.

 

Yes, we have fruits growing in the garden and some of the most beautiful beaches around. We also have various bugs eating our food if we leave it out too long, boa constrictors that eat puppies, scorpions that like to come inside when it’s raining and a humidity that makes everything you own mouldy.

 

Boa constrictor 

The touristy high season makes us poor and occupies the houses. We have struggled to find a place to stay. February gave most people in the village a bad bacterium that made us sick for weeks. I went camping in the mountains and got sick again.

 

Punta Uva

March is here and so is the fire. We are no longer sick and we have moved into a house we like. Mariella is teaching Afropowerdance and Core at some of the various yoga places around. I have started my communication project for my internship with Hidden Garden. We argue about the same things as we did a year (or 20) ago but we are happy to have each other.

 

puppies!

Today I had cottage cheese and pesto, a luxury so rare that it was my first time since I moved here. While writing this, Spiderman in Spanish is on tv and I have a humongous craving for snus. I don’t miss Sweden, but some things are beautiful. Enjoy them.

 

Lingonberries jam

Pura Vida! 

 

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Night at the jungle

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I hear screaming and squeaking. I hear clippedy-clip as their claws scratch against the tin roof. They’re running and chasing each other, looking for food and playing along the wooden balks above us. At times we can glimpse a long, fat tail or a curious nose pop out between the planks.

The complete darkness surrounds us already at 6 in the evening, and that’s when it all starts: the motions, movements and the sounds. That is when they all try to move in.

Jungle house without walls

At night we sit under the stinky mosquito net, listening and watching. We are watching the lamp move although there is no wind, we keep an eye out for insects and scorpions and we listen to the clippedy-clips.

The house is big with two floors, two toilets and two bedrooms. We only use the master bedroom on the top floor since we have a feeling that something is already living in the one downstairs. Everything is built in a dark, robust and beautiful wooden material. The house itself is art. The walls are not built together with the roof but all over the house is a space of a few decimetres between them. It’s a beautiful handicraft but it invites both the animals of the jungle and the cold to come inside.

We lie close together in the bed and trying to keep warm, despite the socks, cardigans, scarfs and leggings we are wearing. Finally we manage to doze of. But a few hours later, we awaken suddenly from screaming and a bunch of noises we don’t recognize. I’m too tired to investigate but decide that birds and racoons are having a party outside.

The next time we wake up it’s almost noon and the jungle is quiet and peaceful again. All we can hear now is the wind in the trees knocking on our windows. The nightly activities are gone. Everything that was playing, screaming, running, climbing and keeping us awake has now gone to bed. The sun is here to warm us but we are too tired to notice.

Who knows, maybe soon we too are becoming animals of the night who sleep during the days.

Breaky with Sister <3

Pura Vida

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