my normal life is like being on holiday

central america | nicaragua | playa marsella

i’ve been living in costa rica for 2 months and enjoying most of it – more than most of it actually – and i had every intention of spending the holidays in guanacaste with old and new friends. but once it was confirmed that i was going to borneo in less than a month, all i wanted to do was go home for the holidays. for me, that meant spending 12 hours in transit to go home to playa marsella..

i planned to stay for one week through christmas and then head back to celebrate the new year in playa brasilito. as the week came to an end, i felt compelled to stay an extra day. and then another. and then another. i was asked more than once, ‘when are you leaving for costa rica?’ not because they wanted me to go, but because they hoped i would stay in marsella just a little longer.

so i decided to lean into what was clearly meant to be and instead of planning when i would leave, i just took one day at a time. after spending the entire week of christmas with my aussie family and countless new friends from around the world [new zealand, ireland, australia, canada, the states] – enjoying good conversation, food, flor de caña rum, and disc golf – i was able to move to ‘mexico’ and spend more time with my friends who ran hostal villas mexico.

in my previous stay in playa marsella, i grew close to the owners of the hostal while working on their website, but my spanish was insufficient to provide true connection. now that i was officially living with them, we grew closer in one week than in the months before. my spanish improved even more and i found myself filling in as ad hoc translator for their guests and helping arrange social gatherings [i.e. beach yoga], as well as helping serve meals and drinks. i was grateful to finally be able to develop a real relationship with karla and alejandro, as well as their children.

and then there was new year’s eve..