The Optimistic Traveller

The expensive months-new iPhone slipped from my pocket as I perched on a gnarly grey branch for photos. We were taking as many as we could in the last hour before the car arrived to take half of our foursome from the resort in Guanacaste to the airport in Liberia, Costa Rica. In slow motion, I watched the surf come and claim it, even though my body moved quickly to leap from the branch and swim into the rising tide.

I am a strong swimmer, but it does not take a genius to quickly uderstand that I was about to be in over my head, so to speak.

The photos right before these were particularly splendid. There was a sign on the beach – I believe it said “Love,” even though it probably should’ve said “Pura Vida,” the Costa Rican equivalent to Hawaii’s “Aloha,” and the morning sun was just right.  We got another guest to shoot us all amidst the giant letters, on my phone. Of course my phone, because why wouldn’t it be mine, the one that was about to fall into the swirling abyss?

You know your Optimistic Traveller likes to climb…well, on several occasions on this trip, she (I) had made friends with a huge driftwood trunk and had just mounted it yet again for one last series of “Hi, I’m up here,” or “I’m up here, high” photos.

It’s truly amazing what bitchiness comes out when one feels abandoned or misunderstood by friends. I have replayed (for I have the ability to slow and stop memories of quick incidents, much like the character played by Harrison Ford in that spy movie where he identifies the guy in the rearview mirror he saw for maybe one second. But I digress.) the “phone fall” scene innumerable times, dwelling pitifully on the others’ lack of “hoptoitness” as I flopped around like a dying salamander. Also, and I know now there wasn’t much they could have done differently, but their compassion in the aftermath, as I rushed to print COVID test results I’d intended to show on my phone, was almost nonexistent. And this was my birthday trip. Good thing it was the last day, or this event would have most certainly put a damper on things, no pun intended.

It’s relatively easy for girls’ trips to go awry (see another OT column for further fun stories). This was an expensive, though brief, vacation, and travel regulations in post pandemic-height were still strict to and from many destinations. We had agreed on an all-inclusive resort to make things easier and more relaxing. I realize now that I was trying to be accommodating and selfless and would have preferred to get out and see more. My first choice had been Cuba, but the other ladies weren’t going for that. So I had arrived in Costa Rica with a bit of a chip on my shoulder — not the delicious ridged kind unfortunately — my husband warning me of our dire financial situation immediately beforehand and making me feel guilty for taking the trip to begin with or ostensibly any spending I would do while on it. One woman had brought DIH’ed tee-shirts for each of us, commemorating my birthday. They were so cute; I adored them and the gesture. On mine, my name was misspelled. The second day of the trip, I learned that one friend, knowing I’d been looking for work and was kind of down about my employment “status,” had given an editing job to another friend’s daughter as a side hustle to her regular full-time job. Editing is something I can practically manage blindfolded with my hands bound, but no matter. It wasn’t the first or the last time I would be disappointed in or misunderstood by friends. I’m sure I’ve let down quite a few folks myself. Probably today alone.

We were also an odd gaggle of ladies, with me being the only one who is a night owl, as it turned out. Should I have polled them first? The one evening we agreed to “party” (by seeing a show and listening to live music) felt forced. The girls clearly were tired before 10 pm, and the night more or less ended. When I go all-inclusive (this being only the second time) I don’t feel comfortable unless I get my “money’s worth,” whatever that is. So I wanted to be up late every night eating and drinking. There were snacks and drinks in the room, also included, but no one joined me, and their lids got heavy as we talked and laughed a bit in our jammies.  I’m not bitter; everything is a learning experience.

The beach (that stole my phone) wasn’t a nice one, while the pool and landscaping were, conversely, exquisite. I’m more of an ocean person, so I must say the descriptions and anticipations were misinformed. No one was at the beach, the sand was grungy, the water murky. We had chosen this resort at a higher price because it was on the water.

We did get out for a day adventure on some ATVs, which are just my speed, as it were.  We muddied ourselves up really good, spied on monkeys along the way, and had some beer and birthday cake as an ending celebration in the sweltering heat. This adventure, with me driving one of the vehicles and thus satisfying my “need for speed,” salvaged the entire trip for me. No one had wanted to on the water slide at the attached family park with me, and on the last day when I was determined to do it anyway, it was closed. It might have slightly elevated my spirits, given I felt naked without my phone and had to rely on Asha to send me photos, etc, since we were headed back to New York together on the same flight — thank goodness. She was patient with me. And thank goodness she was patient with me.

I’m on my fourth or fifth phone since then, but that was the first time I’d bought the lost/stolen/damaged protection. BUY IT, you cheapskate! There was a new phone waiting for me when I got home. Yes, I know, you won’t be as dumb as I was, climbing above a riptide in loose-pocketed shorts, but other accidents do (and will) happen.

If it’s not clear by this point in my story, I needed a do-over in Costa Rica. The next time, I went by myself, and Limon was one of the stops on a cruise.

It was only a day, but it was a day to remember.

I saw sloths in the wild, and other creatures, including ants that sting as painfully as bullets, and flora I’d never laid eyes on before. I drank some good beer and interesting liqueur with our tour guide. I walked on a high wooden swinging bridge through a jungle. In that one day, I felt I saw more of Costa Rica, or its heart, than I had with the girls in four or five. When you can manage to redeem a destination, or it can redeem itself, in such a short time – enough to make you want to visit again and again – you’ve had a great trip. I’m headed there again this winter.

And I don’t mean to suggest that the first visit didn’t have its moments. We bonded by the pool, the food was good, and, as mentioned, the ORV experience was exciting and different. The guys that took us out (and served me cake after) were the very epitome of Pura Vida. In a way, so was losing my phone. It was a moment of (quite literally) letting go and accepting the forces greater than one’s own.

If travelling lets you surrender yourself to chance a little, you’re on the right track.