How I Ended Up In Costa Rica Part 1

​Let me tell you a little about how I ended up in Costa Rica in the first place.... I came for a yoga and plant medicine retreat for a week in February of 2016, my ticket was booked to be in Costa Rica for exactly one week but after being in this magical place for a few days and feeling a sense of home for the first time in my life .... the lush rain forest, jungle, beach, land all gave me this peace that I had never feel before, truly like I was home for the first time in my life (even though I was travelling alone didn't know anyone and far away from my family). 
Oh and experiencing the plant medicine ayahuasca although I didn't understand it right away really helped make that decision to first extend my trip much easier!  So I extended my trip two weeks, then when the last week was coming up I sat in meditation asked for a sign if I should stay and I got not one but many that I needed to stay. 
One of the reasons the decision to stay was much easier for me was because months before I had been in very serious a car accident and my life flashed before my eyes so spontaneity came much easier than it had before. 
My car accident was the biggest blessing of my life even though it physically broke me, I needed it because I was spinning, burning myself out physically and lost in what direction to take my business because I was beginning to resent the fact that I was a fitness model knowing I was so much more than a body, yet still so attached to it.  So much confusion I was causing myself….it was also easy because I had nothing really pulling me back in Canada, sure my family was there but I didn’t see them too often anyways ands so used to being alone being a lone wolf for as longs I can remember.
So many things seemed to have worked out perfectly before I left to Costa Rica which made the choice to stay easier … like the new fitness facility I was managing flooded and had to close for renovations for a few months, my car was totalled so no more car, and 5 days before I left for the retreat I moved out of my apartment to my parents place and was going to come back and look for a new place to live and a car!!! 

So yeah thats how I ended up here the first time not knowing what the fuck I was going to do but trusting that somehow I would be okay... that theory proved right as the path just began to unfold, and every person I met felt like I had known them forever like they were somehow guiding me it was true magic! 
Met one specific beautiful soul who was working at a beautiful retreat centre and was just going to show me the place and one thing lead to another and I was able to stay and work at this magical retreat centre and eco hotel called Selva Armonia as a volunteer. the first retreat was for instagram famous @YogaGirl… I had been following her which was super cool, I was in the kitchen which is an open space overlooking the famous Whales Tail in Costa Rica, the last thing it felt like was “ work” we were eating and preparing farm to table vegan meals it was amazing… I also met more beautiful souls that became my new family.
The retreat went so well that I stayed for the next one which was a month long teacher training, more beautiful souls and more experiences including becoming a mom to a beautiful angel puppy Waska. Once April 1st came I was moving out to my own little jungle beach tree house under a mango tree and a 5 minute walk to the most magical beach I had ever been on called the whales tail in Uvita Costa Rica. I lived there for a month with a roommate who became my soul sister, we helped each other in so many ways and the love we shared and continue to share is beautiful.
I had my aunt surprise me two days before my birthday with two big stocked suitcases although all I cared about was seeing her because if you know you’d know our relationship is special and goes beyond this world! We adventured around Costa Rica for two weeks together pure magic! 
A month later my mom came to visit again so much fun, even though she did get sick, lucky for her I was able to take care of her :) 
The night before my mom was going back to Canada I though hmmmm I need to get my taxes done so why not go with her, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get on the same flight but I got a flight for the next day, so  back to Canada I went. Short stay but successfully got what I needed done.

When I came back to my jungle beach house it’s clear that things had changed and it was time for me to get my own space, I immediately found a cute little house with a beautiful little yoga deck so I went to go check it out and fell in love with it … made that my new casita! 
Having my own space I began to get my wheels turning on how to make it work in the jungle so I started teaching kids yoga and Spanish lessons from home, also became the Spanish Teacher for volunteers at the Villa Alturas Wild Life Sanctuary ….seriously this was NOT work I was blessed to be able to teach really cool people Spanish while I got to overlook the jungle and the sanctuary which had baby sloths monkeys and all kinds of other really cool wild animals!  I was also asked to Chef it at Selva Armonia when they had retreats ….truly living a dream! 

Although I was living this dream there were still things looming over me like my car accident and the legal portion of that which wasn’t fully settled …. also I was running out of funds and using my credit card for everything which didn’t feel good at all since I was getting myself into more and more debt daily!!! EEEEEEK and of course on the outside I was calm however this even though not on the forefront of my mind subconsciously was fucking me up!!!! 

Living in the jungle was been so humbling in so many ways! Nature has a way of humbling you ha, like crazy rain that causes all sorts of fun things like floods, landslides and trees falling and I'm not talking little trees but huge massive trees that block the road for hours at a time ha! 

Costa Rica was great but I felt a pull to go back to Toronto to surprise my family so I booked my flight and told no-one ….while in the jungle I decided that my pup and I needed a bigger place so I found a house that had 3 bedrooms was close to my friend and had a gate so Waska would be able to run around, I got to talking to the owner and was going to move in however it wasn’t ready in time before I left so I moved my stuff to my friends house two days before I was to fly to Toronto ….. Got to Toronto, my best friend from childhood picked me up with her little girl. The next day I surprised all of my family one by one and documented it all too much fun!!! 

Anyways thats how I first ended up in Toronto but there is SO much more to this story this is only part 1 …. so please stay tuned for part 2 which has more of what exactly happened in Toronto and what happened to my stuff and Waska while I was gone.