On our 3rd day in Costa Rica, we returned to the Best Western hotel at 6am to meet up with the rest of the retreat group. There were 16 of us, including the organizer, Hailey, but not including the only two men in the group: Brice, and Eduardo, Hailey’s husband and a Costa-Rica native.
As a side note, this was a pretty different traveling style for us from what we’re normally used to. If you know me, you’ll know I’m a planner, and an organizer (which is also what I do for work). Whenever Brice and I travel somewhere, I usually take charge of the day to day planning, what we will do and where (he takes care of the accommodation and transportation). I love maps, I love looking at them to see where we’re going, where we are, and where we might want to head to next. On this section of the trip though, everything was organized for us, so much so that I barely paid attention to where the lodge was located on the map and what the daily program was. And it was awesome! In the last few weeks prior to leaving, I was pretty focused on planning the Patagonian portion of our trip, so not having to worry about the first 10 days was great. Every once in a while, being told what to do and where to go – obviously in those pretty ideal circumstances – is just the best!
The 2-hour bus ride was a chance to chat and get to know each other. The day before we had already, on our rafting and zip lining adventures, become acquainted with Kate, Lindsay, Valerie, Bea and Kara. We were joined by Melissa and her sister Heather, Jackie, Jodie, Amanda, Alicia, Kristen, Lisa and Alex. Most women where from different parts of the United States (Oregon, Utah, New York just to name a few…), and a small portion was from Canada. All of them were recreational runners, with varying degrees of experience on trails, but all with an equal love for it. The excitement for the days to come was clearly palpable as we rode out of the city.
The bus took us from San Jose to San Jeronimo, a rural town located between two major national parks of Costa Rica: La Amistad International Park and Biosphere Reserve, which is the largest conservation area in Costa Rica, and Chirripo National Park, home of the Cerro Chirripo, the highest summit in the country with its peak at 3820m.
In San Jeronimo, we were introduced to one of Costa Rica’s main agriculture, coffee. The slopes of the mountains surrounding the village are covered with coffee plantations, and harvesting coffee is what most locals in the area do for a living. We visited a small coffee plantation and processing farm and learned about the harvesting and processing of the bean, before it is packaged and exported. In fact, most of the Costa Rican coffee is purchased by independent distributors for world-wide exportation, and rarely roasted or even sold locally.
After the visit of the farm we enjoyed a delicious lunch prepared by the farmer’s family. Then it was time to hike up the 5km road to the lodge. The weather had been pretty unstable all day, but the light rain eventually turned into downpour in the last couple of kilometres up the hill. Somehow I didn’t care too much as the climb was keeping my heart rate up and my body warm.
After 5km, we literally reached the end of the road and were able to look up at the lodge’s main platform, perched a few metres up on the side of the mountain. We walked up the short trail to the “front door” and then there we were.
Even with the pouring rain and dense fog, it was easy to instantly fall in love with the place. The main platform had banisters along its two sides facing out to the valley, an open view to the incredible nature around it. From there you could see some of the 20 hectares of land that is part of the Chakra domain, and had been purchased for conservation purposes, returning it from cattle farming grounds to its original untamed rain forest. (You can learn more about the Chakra lodge and preservation project here)
The main building hosted a kitchen as well as a large wooden table for meals, and the rest of the platform was left mainly unfurnished, to allow for yoga mats to be laid out for our daily practices. During down-time between activities, hammocks were hung between the pillars, providing a pretty perfect way to relax and reflect in this serene environment.
While the lodge had no electricity, two showers with hot water had been built near the main platform. Five cabanas were also scattered on the mountain side, each set-up to sleep 2-4 people and accessible via a short trail.
We were all drenched from the rain after hiking up the road, but once we had changed into dry clothes and warmed ourselves up with a cup of tea, we had our first yoga class of the retreat.
The fog was thick and the rain was pounding on the roof, and from that point on, I felt completely disconnected from the rest of the world, in a moment suspended in time, but ultimately, at home.
Our practice during these few days would be lead by Maria Fernanda, our local yoga instructor, who had joined our group on the way to the lodge. Something about her accent when she spoke English, the tone of her voice, the softness of her gestures and her altogether soothing demeanour, made her seem very familiar to me, one of these people you feel you might have met before, in a slightly different shape or form, and without remembering when and where.
After practice came dinner – it was 6:30pm, and being close to the Equator, the sun had long set down way below the mountains. We ate all together around the big wooden table, in the candle light. Our meal was prepared by Luis, his wife Martina and their daughter Roxana. The family lives in the mountains nearby and harvesting coffee is their main source of income, except for when they participate in the Run Like a Girl retreat by preparing the food. Luis, 60-years-young, also does a lot of manual work to help maintain and expand the Chakra lodge.
The food was simple and delicious. Yams, yucca, rice, beans, meat and eggs, fresh pineapple and watermelon. The same ingredients were more or less used at every meal, but prepared one way or another and always incredibly flavourful. The fresh mountain air and the active days were likely contributing to our appetites, but still, I surprised myself with how much food I was ingesting, and the fact that it was so tasty made it even harder for me to not go back for seconds (and so I did, many times). One of the Costa Rican specialty is Pinto Gallo, a dish made of rice and beans, mixed together with a (not so) secret ingredient: Salsa Lizano. We all were soon pretty addicted to the Salsa, a big bottle of which pretty much never left the dining table.
With the sun setting so early and our wake-up time of 5:30am the next day, we were all in bed and sleeping by 8pm. It continued to pour throughout the night, until eventually we woke up to a different kind of sound. It was still water but it was no longer the pounding of rain on the roof of our cabana. It was the rushing water of the river down below and the nearby waterfall. Hailey and Maria Fernanda both told us at breakfast the next day that they had prayed with all their might for the rain to stop – the previous retreat, in November, had been a really wet one, forcing them to cancel some of the activities.
When we started our morning yoga practice at 6:00am, the sun hadn’t made it up above the mountains yet, so every one was still bundled up in warm layers. By the time we laid down in Shavasana, bright sunshine was filling the main platform and we were all down to our tank tops. Prayers had seemingly been answered.
As soon as breakfast was over, we headed out for our first trail run. We first ran/hiked along the river, coming across no less then 11 waterfalls in the process! The trail was pretty technical, with lots of roots and rocks along the way, and the recent downpour added a good layer of wet mud on top of it all. But once again, I felt right at home. While some of the participants were more used to dry, groomed trails, I realized how fortunate I was – in this particular instance – to have cut my (baby) trail-running teeth on the wet and muddy tracks of Vancouver’s North Shore.
Brice was of course totally in his element, running effortlessly back and forth to capture shots of everyone and the scenery alike.
After we reached the bottom of the last waterfall, we turned around and ran back to the trail head. At that point we had the option of returning to the lodge, or continuing up along a ridge to get closer to the top of the highest waterfall. The group split and Brice and I joined in with those who were continuing up.
While the first part of the run was mostly in the trees, we now were heading up along a ridge with wide open views of the surrounding hills – getting the full extent of how far around us the coffee plantations spread.
Eventually we reached the waterfall, rewarded our climb with a few photos and made our way back down.
The trick about starting from the lodge was that all our hikes started with a descent of the main road – which meant they also ended with an ascent of the same. So as we reached the bottom of the ridge and returned to the trailhead, the day wasn’t over. We still had to climb up the road to return home. This time I think we were less than a kilometre away from the lodge, but when you’re tired and hungry, a 500 meter walk a steep, unfamiliar stretch of dirt road can seem like the most challenging part of the day. When we arrived at the main platform, Hailey told us that if we kept going for another 100 meters, the road turned into a small trail that lead down to the river, with easy access to the water if we wanted to cool down our overheating legs and feet. Yes please! So we did and it felt amazing!
We had lunch and showered and had some down time to relax for the rest of the afternoon, until the second yoga class of the day, at 5:30pm. While morning yoga was a more invigorating practice, meant to wake up our bodies and prepare us for the day’s activity, the evening class was more restorative and relaxing, to help us recover from our adventures.
To be honest, while I do enjoy the occasional yoga class for a good stretch, I wasn’t sure how I would like having two practices a day. But Maria Fernanda made each class different and new, and after the 14km run/hike that day, I could really feel the benefits of the evening class. Towards the end of the retreat, when we relocated to the beach town of Dominical and said goodbye to our yoga teacher, I actually came to miss our daily practices, the relaxation and stretch and focus that I found in it.
Once again dinner was shared in the intimate setting of candle light. That night we enjoyed a delicious broth with yam and yucca bits and rice and it was once again a delight for our bellies, and dare I say, our souls.
