Everywhere I turned, it became obvious this country had one important export… it's quality and quantity of fresh air. Just being still and breathing felt like I was hooked up to some special oxygen rich air generator. My lungs, body and mind were being renewed. I began de-toxing immediately. The morning cough I had been experiencing after Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Wilma left an abundance of mold in our city back home began to clear away, and I started to feel better… really alive! A diet of nutrient dense raw foods which my friend prepared daily also provided the opportunity to cast off a few excess pounds, and watch my body becoming stronger in just a few short days.

Trips to the ocean for natural hot sand body treatments and ocean water swims became "breakfast." Eating all the mangoes, papaya and pineapples I could fill myself with became "lunch." And "dinner" became the opportunity to open my eyes and feed my soul on the gentle breezes and lavender color which seemed to permeate everything… from the skies, to the mountains, to the extraordinary bougainvillea vines which seemed to grow everywhere. At the same time I was being nourished with fresh foods and ample sunshine, I realized what was REALLY happening. I was being nourished according to a Higher Order… falling in love again with Mother Nature. I remembered her as a child, but this trip boosted me into another time zone where Earth and Sea and everything and everyone in between became ONE.

The opportunity to work with people there… part of the reason I went in the first place… became a secondary backdrop to all this natural splendor. I could feel that Mother Nature didn't REALLY need me, or my energy skills at all. She had it all under control just fine, but allowed me to assist Her with some hands on Reiki healing. I began working energetically with the people who lived in the area including a 5 month old baby named Harmony. We worked outdoors for all the energy sessions, and the healings took place very easily, smoothly and rapidly as the Earth provided all that was needed.

Back in Miami, I offer hot stone massage to anyone looking for a very deep form of relaxation. Here in Costa Rica, I found myself laying on the massive hot rocks jutting out of the cool, clear waters… a powerful waterfall closeby charging up the air quality and oxygen supplying vegetation all around. It's amazing how Mother Nature gets those rocks to just the right temperature so you can lay on them without being burned… no temperature gauge required. I was in full-tilt recharge. Energy ampage was running through me in a way I had never quite experienced before, and I loved it.

A hiking trip through the primary rainforests was another adventure I will never forget… there were monkeys squawking overhead as we climbed higher and higher up the mountain. I am forever grateful for my friend's sense of adventure and sense of direction too in places I thought we might never find our way back, but we did. He had planned to stay and live in Costa Rica, but at last… returned to Miami. Now, when we meet again, all the feelings and memories of this indescribable adventure come to the surface. The few photos taken there are reminders that this experience wasn't a dream, but really did happen.

My head spent a week in the clouds, and my feet grounded to some of the most beautiful soil in the world. All I can say now about this experience does not come in words, but in the feeling of what people in Costa Rica share everyday, and that is… "PURA VITA."

(Thank you Tim for your tender loving care on this adventure into the great unknown of world travel. May it open up many other opportunities for each one of us to venture out a little further, and connect with this beautiful planet we call our home.)

Abundant blessings,
Juanita