Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful. – Van Gogh

Things I miss. Vol. 1

Before we move on to the rebuild of our hotel after the perfect storm, (since that was quite a heavy story), I thought I’d share a few of the things I miss about living at the hotel in the jungle, and what I learned through this experience.

Obviously, since we were living the suite life, we had all our needs taken care of-our laundry, the cleaning of our room and someone to make our meals.  But there are some unique things about living at a hotel in the jungle of Costa Rica and how it now makes me appreciate life daily, even though I’m not there anymore.

So, let’s get to it!

Animals

If you’ve ever been to Costa Rica, you know that the animals and nature are spectacular! Yes, there are many places where you can see animals, but living surrounded by the animals is what made it for me!

First, birds. Yes, there were birds everywhere! Toucans, parrots, and others. No, toucans there don’t look like the Froot Loops toucan, but they are amazing and fun to watch.

Costa Rican toucan by © Mark Leaman

Maybe there was a sloth that you or someone would find in a nearby tree. We had one living in a tree next to the restaurant for almost a year. We named her Linda (“beautiful” in Spanish). Do you know how long I could sit and watch the sloth? A long time. And you know what? You guessed it! Sloths don’t do much!

Our sloth, Linda. How could you NOT watch her all day? © Marlo Leaman

And the monkeys! By us, howler monkeys were plentiful! We also had capuchins (white-faced) and occasional spider monkeys. You’d wake up to the sound of the howlers at the crack of dawn. Your regular alarm clock. Fun fact: after whales, howlers are the loudest mammals on the planet. They are famous for their loud grunts, which can be heard up to three miles away through dense rain forest.

Howler monkey (l), White-faced monkey © Mark Leaman

I used to walk almost daily with a group of other people who lived on our mountain road. We were the ‘mountain hiking group’. Although we hiked the road for exercise, many, many times we stopped to look at a cool animal-monkey, sloth, insect, or bird. 

Read that again. We STOPPED to look at a cool thing. Even though we had all lived there a few years and had seen these cool things a zillion times, it was still mesmerizing!

My jungle friend, Linda (a human – not the sloth), loves howler monkeys, and has thousands of pictures of monkeys she took from her yard. Even though they are there often, she still stops to look. Our hotel staff-all Costa Ricans-also always stopped to see these cool things-monkey, pizote, toucan. And they have lived there their whole lives, and it still doesn’t get old!

So, why not take the time to STOP and pause and notice? You might miss something cool even if you’ve seen it a zillion times!

Open air/open windows

It’s now spring in Chicago-61F and partly sunny today. Coming off months of cold weather and having the heat on in our home, early this morning, I wanted the window open in the bedroom. I love having the windows open! Fresh air, nice breeze. In Costa Rica, most homes, restaurants, and bars are open air. The hotel common area was open air. Our room was screened, and although we had air conditioning, we hardly used it.

In Costa Rica, I got used to all-year-round open windows! The fresh morning air, the sound of the birds and howler monkeys was delightful. I very much enjoyed that. So now that I’m not in open-window weather 12 months a year, whenever the chance comes to open a window, I do it!

Coffee

I miss Costa Rican coffee. Despite living in Costa Rica for 5 years, Mark still doesn’t like coffee. I have a coffee every day and I make it myself in a French press. Not the same as the delicious coffees that Andrey or Jerson would make for me every day at the hotel. Even though they also used a French press. Oh, theirs was delectable- a frothy milk, sugar-free vanilla syrup, and a touch of cinnamon for me. In the hot months, a cafe frío, in the cooler or rainier months, a cafe caliente.

And it wasn’t just the way the coffee was made, but the actual Costa Rican coffee beans. We bought the hotel coffee from a small local family farm. Costa Rican beans are truly delicious. Juan Valdez and his Colombian beans…nah... gimme Cafe Lila, Don Emilio or any of our staffs’ family grown beans any day!

For as many coffees as I had and for all the times I watched and learned how to make the coffee they were making, I still can’t get it right at home. How many scoops of coffee for the 12 oz press? How hot should the water be? Do you froth milk when it’s cold or warm? Andrey, help!

Yes, I know. It probably was that someone was making it for me. Like how it usually tastes better at Starbucks or your local coffee shop, right? Right!

I’m not disappointed making my coffee at home although my local grocery doesn’t usually have Costa Rican beans. Mexican, Guatemalan, Colombian, yes and when I can find Costa Rican beans I buy them. I did also buy a cute little frother from Amazon a little while ago, and it makes me soo happy. Simple pleasures. Putting it in my special Pura Vida mug or the hotel mug that I was given as a gift, yes. And I remember Andrey or Jerson bringing me the coffee and it fills my heart with love. (And yes, I miss them too!)

Delicious Costa Rican coffee made with love at the hotel, and my 'at-home' products that don't produce anything close! © Marlo Leaman

Morning Greetings

I also miss morning greetings from our team. Always greeted with a smile or a hug, or a ‘Buenos días, Jefa’, our team, in the true Costa Rican pura vida way, was the best. Maybe the greeting was a ‘Cómo está?’, ‘Que tal?’, or ‘Cómo le va?’.

But when I was first greeted with a very unique good morning, ‘Cómo amaneció?’ I was confused. How what?

Flaco, our gardener and maintenance guy, greeted me one morning that way. I looked at him confused (of course I was, as I was doing the learning-on-the-go Spanish method!) he explained, ‘Jefa, how did you wake up?’.

Wake up, I thought? Well, I did wake up (always a good thing to be grateful for!). But as I pondered this, I remembered I had just learned the word amanecer - dawn, sunrise.

What he was asking me was ‘How did you rise or how did you wake up with the sun?’ Ooh, OH! Wow. Not, how are you, or how are you feeling or how’s it going, but how did you wake up with the sun! To me, a life changing statement.

Flaco was always grateful for the Costa Rican scenery and beautiful natural surroundings, and he praised God for its beauty. ‘How did you rise?’ to him meant how are you being grateful for getting up and praising God today? Wow.

So, whether animals, open windows, coffee, or morning greetings, isn’t it true?

Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.

Even though I don’t live in Costa Rica at the hotel anymore, I am so grateful to ‘miss’ these things. It has taught me to not take for granted little beautiful things. Life’s too short, so yes! Get the 2nd coffee!

Pura vida!