We just finished a 7 Day retreat in Nosara, Costa Rica led by Peg City Yoga’s Noah Krol. The whole feel for the trip was to escape your chaotic stressful lives at home and reconnect with yourself in a quaint natural setting. We stayed at the Nosara Bed and Breakfast, located a short walk to Playa Pelada Beach. The accommodations were basic, but provided guests with basic amenities, however the grounds, the yoga pavilion, the communal areas, and the food were the perfect fit for our retreat.
Noah did an amazing job accommodating to the needs of the group and leading us through some great practices. It was one of the participants dream to be able to do a handstand and she conquered her fear and was doing them on the beach by the end of the week! The yoga pavilion was surrounded by a lush garden equipped with howler monkeys playing in the nearby trees and the occasional lizard walking on to the yoga platform. As you practiced, you would hear the wind rustling in the trees and the birds chirping away, which provided a sense of peace and a closeness with Mother Earth.
One evening we were invited to partake in the opening ceremony of the Temascal (sweat lodge) led by Francisco, a local Shaman. They were so welcoming in letting us join in and learn about their traditional ceremonies. It was very similar to the First Nations sweat lodges in Canada, so it was interesting to experience a different take on it.
We also volunteered one morning at Santa Marta School in the nearby local community. We weren’t exactly sure what we were getting ourselves into, but were greeted with open arms by the students and staff. Since none of us were fluent in Spanish there was a bit of a language barrier but a young confident student about 11 or so years old stepped up to the plate to be our translator. We taught the kids a bit about Canada, then we were off to the football field to play and mingle with the kids. We were playing football, colouring, and teaching the kids a little photography skills. So much fun to interact with the local community. Definitely another highlight of the trip.
The food was prepared by a fantastic husband and wife that specialized in raw vegan cuisine and traditional Costa Rican & Latin American food. The combination of the two of them was delicious! A lot of love and care was put into the food and the group couldn’t wait for their next meal to come! Some standouts were the vegan lasagne night, and Isaac’s homemade pizza! Yummy!!
Another one of the favourite activities on the retreat was spending time at the beach! Playa Pelada, our local beach was beautiful and had fun but powerful waves to play in and low tide provided opportunities to explore the tidal pools and we even discovered a bat cave! Further south their was Playa Guiones which was a popular surf spot with fun waves to play in and a little town that had delicious gelato – a crowd pleaser with our group! And just north of us we discovered a hiking trail that led us to Playa Ostional which was a beautiful stretch of beach with rarely another person on it, with amazing soft sand and calm waves that were easy to go boogie boarding on. This was one of my personal favourite spots.
Although some people may have been out of their comfort zone accommodation wise, being surrounded by the beauty of nature, the amazing peaceful grounds of the retreat centre and the delicious food made our week special and memorable. For unique travel ideas or information on our retreat planning services contact amanda@travelroots.ca.