for the twins, jenn and heather...

saw this and thought of you both.

you both have meant the world to me...

pura vida!!!

like a kid in a candy store...

had my first two days of full surf.

got a new board from friends, an 8.5 longborad shaped by hans christian vandervoort...sweet!!!!

here is a typical tica breakfast before the waves...

meet andre. andre is brazilian who has lived and worked in l.a. for the last ten years. he is driving from l.a. back to his beach home in brazil. he will travel a total of about 17, 000 miles.

the waves were machine washed so we practiced throwing a hatchet. 

andre took me to marbella. 

here is mark the turtle guy. i helped him hide a nest of leatherback turtle eggs. they are seriously endangered and are poached by the locals for money. mark is enthusiastic, and thats an understatement.
more practice.
here is the pilgrim, a firefighter from california who travels and surfs six months out of the year. pura vida.
andres hammock. i couldve slept in for days.
andre and i are off to surf again, then he heads to the caribbean side to puerto viejo to surf the monster wave, salsa bravo. im sticking around negra but have made a plan to go and travel with him and stay in puerto viejo, a little rasta town for my last days.

om, om, om

morning yoga.

very challenging.

outdoor setting.

short path from mi casita.

tea and fruit post yoga...

scenes from casa papaya.

run by a welsh woman pamela.
gabrielle, the teacher and her nina, sudia...abosutely the most precious girl in el mundo.


i mean come on, you cant stop the cuteness...

and she loves to dance. we did the palm tree, the swim and i taught her the silliness of the roger rabbit.

and on the seventh day, she surfed...

tom, to answer your question, this beauty here, well she is a white-throated magpie-jay

got a 7 ft tri-fin long board.

and surfed. couldnt get up.

but got a feel for the board.

good day for it. surfed sandy beach, just south of the main break at playa negra.

first bowl of beans and flowers from the yard.

hairs getting blonde...
somebodys gettin a tan...

h.b.a.d.

went hiking around the teak forest where i live and foraged the land.

winds knocked down a banana tree so i brought these home...

found some limes and star fruit, and coco nuts, almelledas (almonds), and tamarind.

cracked the nuts open with a rock and ate them on the spot. delicious.
coco nuts...


bounty sampling...needs to ripen, i think...
its the dry season here, so the flowers are limited...
dreamt these momma turtles were hatching eggs all over my moms yard. 

they were orbs popping out like popcorn then sort of breathing on the ground.

i talked to them and their heads slowly emerged.

predators starting eating the eggs and i couldnt save them all.

eventually they were all gone.

mi casita en la rica...

i dont even know where to begin, but i wasnt supposed to get this place. the day i flew out i got an email about a cancellation. i got the casita for hundred less than originally quoted...and she threw in a mountain bike with lights...heather, you may be right, i am in touch in the universe, it seems.

the back where i wash my clothes...
my cups...made two espressos this morning...
i love lights...
hey, hey, hey...
where i lay my head...

cocina...


el bano...with cold and hot water...very hard to find here.
linens...

and the best part, monkeys!!! named him spidey, even thought he is a howler.
oh, and there is a yoga studio just up the hill. the bike is awesome because the roads here arent paved. 

mi amigo christopher, who i always want to call mike????

desayuno...la fruta

kooks dropping in on each other...a big no no!!!!!
chris' sweet jeep...he just corrected me. its a toyota...
meet chris...he is a happy tico/ gringo who speaks five languages...
chris took me to playa avellanas

where the famous pig, lola the third lives....the wave here is more my speed...
we found a nice bakery and had fruit shakes...
chris kite surfs. i make fun of him for this. he can take it. he is also a real surfer.
after all this, chris was missing a line. so, no kite surfing for him. wind  was funky too.

poor chris. i wasnt upset.
chris leaves ahora for liberia where his cousin lives. and ill go ahead answer the big question i know you are all asking yourselves...chris and i are amigos solemente!!!