Along the dirt road, along the path leading to the beach, I heard the morning song of exotic birds I had never heard before. It was like the beginning of a new day. I whistled.
Thanks to a bird app I downloaded, I was able to record flycatcher calls and identify them by their calls. Looking up, to his surprise he spotted two howler monkeys in the trees overhead. They were just sitting there looking at me. Gringo city.
It’s just past 5:30 am and the sun has already risen behind the trees. An empty beach and mountains in the distance, gently rolling waves. This was the purest form of meditation.
Tranquility, nature, low tide, mountains in the distance. I walked a total of 4.5 miles (4.5 miles) along the beach until I reached a large cliff-like mountain that could be seen from miles away. On the way he was the only one or two who passed early morning pedestrians. I stopped and did some exercises with a log washed up on the shore. This is the perfect curl bar that nature has to offer.
As we crossed the rocks, we sat on an old tree trunk for morning meditation, watching the ocean waves crash against the rocks. I passed a couple walking on the way home. The man had a bamboo stick he picked up on the beach. Exactly what I was looking for to do the bamboo stick exercise that I learned in Asia.
The slow way back seemed endless and much longer than walking around. My northern European skin is slowly fading from pale white to homemade vanilla.
During the walk, I heard smiles and “good morning” from some people. When we got back to marker 29, it was only 8:30. It’s already a fulfilling morning.
Back in my little casa was followed by a perfect cup of 1820 Costa Rican coffee.
A friend I was going to oversee the rental for the next three months happened to pass by, so we reconnected nine years later. Their kindness was the same as many years ago.
It’s time to stop. It’s now 11:00 am.
Follow Kirk’s adventures from the beginning:
start – Five years ago, I lived quietly in a tiny 1100-square-foot house just outside my hometown of Austin, Texas.
Day 1 – Journey to Costa Rica rich coast, It started at 4am on a breezy Sunday morning.
Day 2 – Arrival in Costa Rica was very smooth and seamless compared to our recent experience in Japan where things were done with another level of precision and detail
Day 3 – This morning I naturally woke up at 5am as the light was starting to come in through the windows.
Day 4 – There is a beach across from Tamarind that runs down to the estuary, where I picked up two native twigs washed up on the shore.
Day 5 – I fell asleep last night reading The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
About the author
Kirk Lee is a writer, meditation teacher, and nomad currently living in Costa Rica. Kirk has been a traveling explorer for over 25 years, having traveled to 14 countries and lived in Kyoto, Japan for a year. Kirk writes about his travels through the lens of simplicity and kindness found in people and places of all cultures.See his travelogue of Kirk at https://zenandink.substack.com/.
