the singing wilderness

Well, I have been at Yoga Farm about 2 weeks now I think. The internet is super slow here, so I´m not posting any photos, but below here are some of the things I have been up to.

Friday, we had yoga at 630am for an hour and a half, we have yoga every day but Sunday. Then breakfast. Then I worked in the garden until lunch, preparing a new bed for some pumpkins. I had to pull and shovel out a bunch of weeds, then turn all the soil and mix in compost, then build a big teepee thing out of driftwood for the squash to climb up. While I was picking the driftwood out of our pile, I got attacked by army ants! It is the worst stinging pain that lasts for about 10 minutes, and the ants are impossible to kill they were all over my feet and even after I smashed them repeatedly, their heads were still embedded in by sock twitching away. I am recovered now though.

Then after lunch, a bunch of of us, the yoga farm owner, his austrian friend, two swiss travelers, a guy from alaska and me (they all spoke german), went on a long loop hike through the jungle in the mountains behind yoga farm then down along a river and out to the beach and back along the beach. We started in the heat of the day (because you have to time it with the tides otherwise you will get trapped on the a beach with only rock cliffs behind you), the first part of the hike is about 20 minutes straight uphill, in the sun, we were all soaked with sweat and exhausted at the very start! Then the rest of the hike was through rolling hills, passing through jungle and fields that have been cleared for cattle. The entire time there were views of the ocean below us, the Golfo Dulce and the Osa Peninsula. The jungle is so amazing, pulsing with sound and life, the insects and birds are so loud it is almost hard to hear other people talk. Klaus told us the jungle is a special place and made us hike in silence he also told us to watch out for the vipers that like to hang out along the narrow parts of the trail. After that I hiked with a stick in my hand. The forest was so amazing, we were surrounded by layers of green with shafts of sunlight filtering through. And the path was deep red clay worn down about three feet into the ground from years and years of travelers. The end of the hike was beautiful, walking back along the beach at sunset. Then to recover I jumped in one of the tidepools, the water feels like bathwater, and floated on my back watching the pink clounds drift across the sky.

Also, most days also include a trek down the hill to surf. The waves in from of Yoga Farm at Punta Banco are fun, there are a few reefs and a little beach break. Not ever really crowded either. There are a few locals, a a group of Dutch surfers that own a little hostel at the end of the beach. But everyone is super friendly. We surfed Pavones once last week because we had a swell. It was a really fun but challenging wave, lefts that peel for about a mile, but so fast it was all I could do to just keep up with the face, and you just fly along even on little waist high waves.

Otherwise, the days include yoga, eating and lots of reading in hammocks. The yoga deck, which is also the hammock deck when there is no yoga going on looks out across the jungle and down to the ocean. So all the time I am looking out at the horizon. There are people from all over staying here, right now, a few Americans, a German and a Canadian. But every few days new people will arrive and then leave. My volunteer work includes working in the garden and helping with the cooking once in a while. We eat lots of fresh fruit, pineapple, starfruit, the best bananas ever that we pick right from the property, papaya, veggies and of course rice and beans and rice and beans and rice and…

Ok, thats enough computer time for now. Hope all is well back home.