Costa Rican Vision Quest 2011: Day II

Heading on safari rafting trip down La Rivera Pena Blanca

Earlier in my quest to discover my vision I was considering how my passion for travel might figure into my purpose. Ever since I was a child I loved to travel and did so at every opportunity. I think I inherited this love from my mother and perhaps her mother who I referred to as my “nomadic grandmother” because after leaving Jamaica in 1976 she never stayed in one country for more than about 6 months choosing instead to keep no residence moving between our home in Maryland, Jamaica, Florida and Canada. Not only do I love seeing new places and learning about different cultures but frankly, perhaps also like my mother and her mother before her, I do not like to stay still for very long. Stillness breeds boredom in me and boredom I find deadly.

La Rivera Pena Blanca

When thinking about my passion for travel and how this might form into a vision (my true purpoe for which I am also paid well) I considered being a travel writer. Then I briefly considered just working to make enough money to take fabulous trips but it occurred to me that this did not feel right. It was while sitting by a poolside, of all things, in Kruger National Park in South Africa that I distinctly recall realizing that even while in the most exotic locales I feel empty if I am not productive or on some sort of a mission. Eventually this realization led to an understanding; my work must involve travel. This is, in part why Vision Quest Retreats is such a compelling vision for me. Doing what I love; helping women clarify and achieve their visions of success, traveling to exotic locales and “working” in settings that I love and in which I thrive.

All that said I am begging your allowance while I indulge my former fantasy of being a travel writer while I am here in Costa Rica. I will be doing this little travel blog while I am having fun, working on my book/s (always), and doing a little location scouting for future retreats.  

March 18, 2011: Today safari rafting trip down the river Pena Blanca that leads to Nicaragua, saw many birds, fish, howler monkeys, Jesus lizards running across the water, long nosed bats, a couple of dogs and… a cow?

In the Garden

Later went to hot springs thermal spa here at the Tabacon. The water is heated by the active Arenal Volcano and falls in a series of pools surrounded by lush tropical landscape. Lunch traditional Costa Rican food on the terrace overlooking the pool. The sun was divine after what seemed a long winter. Saw the first snake I’ve seen in CR…thrilling!

Siesta in my room late afternoon, then dinner at La Novilla Steak House. A nice meal in an open air restaurant under a full moon. Heading to bed after I do some real writing…

Buenas Noches y XXOO,

N