"When I look back at it all as i know I will (...) I wonder will I really remember how it feels to be this alive? And i know I have to go i realize we only get to stay so long always have to go back to real lives where we belong When I think back to all this and i'm sure I will (...) will I forget the way it really is why it feels like this and how? And we always have to go i realize we always have to say goodbye always have to go back to real lives But real lives are the reason why we want to live another life we want to feel another time another time..." I have been killing this song for the last couple of days cause nothing can mirror better what I have been feeling inside than that. Costa Rica has been just one stop on this journey but yet another one that overwhelmed me exceeding all expectations. Even today some random people have been asking me for the rankings of the places I have been to - but how can you even rank them? Postcard-like island beaches of Fiji full of tropical vegetation, white sandy Mexican turtle sea beaches, and huge, wide-open, deserted & magical Playa Hermosa with the biggest waves I have seen. Again I feel I have been part of something unreal - the sensation of being at that beach in the very early morning, running thru the waves, Ipod in my pocket, just me & the ocean - this feeling is in me all the time. And again, how can I ever go back to normal again??? I have just arrived back in San Jose after 7 days in Playa Hermosa. I was supposed to get here yesterday but I truly enjoyed my stay in Playa Hermosa and the people running the house probably enjoyed my presence as well as they asked me to stay for one more night for free. So essentially not much time to see the Costa Rican capital as I am heading to New York as early as tomorrow. Back to Playa Hermosa, the Nicoya Peninsula and the Pacific Coast are perfect for surfing but the main surf destinatons are Mal Pais and Santa Teresa playas- these are essentially surf villages. Playa Hermosa is located just 10 min drive from Santa Teresa but it is the area where the tourism has not expanded yet - no shops & very very few houses. Bruno, Simon and Oli (2 Austrian guys and a girl who are running the house) have come to Costa Rica with an idea of running the surf camp after their experiences in France and Spain. They were looking for a quiet location and a house with a soul. The building at the hill that they have been renting is precisely that - amazing location with ocean view and close to a beach with hardly anyone as far as an eye can see. And perfect spot for surf. A house where you feel at home - no check in/out times, no reception desk. A house. In spite of having my own room, if I wanted to grab any of the beds at the roof and sleep with the breeze of the ocean - there was nothing that could stop me from that. Any music at any time at any volume. Never finishing supply of beer in the fridge. Drums and electric guitar at obvioulsy huge speakers & amplifiers on the roof - the three have their own little band. The atmosphere of a place where you just want to be. Quiet, Beautiful, At the Beach and Yet Every Thing you need at your hand. Need I say more? The guys are special too - very much surf & hard rock culture people - all with amazing tatoos, listening to very hard rock - probably not the kind of people I would have thought of becoming friends with back at home. But they're all great - they are doing something meaningful as they are living their dreams and having a lot of fun by doing it. And they re just good people. People at the house are either the ones like myself (coming thru some kind of a travel agency) or friends of the guys (usually from their home town) - the idea being they just need enough money from the business to get by, otherwise anyone is welcome. In this way there were 2 other Austrian girls and a guy (friends), a Costa Rican couple (friends), an American couple (tourist - my daily tolerance of 10min) and an American girl (tourist - no tolerance) in the house. And a minor detail - best food I have ever had on my trip & best cook I have known - Simon. A day would start at 6am at the beach (whoever wanted to wake up - I was notariously the LAST to wake up and most often would just join everyone at the beach a little bit later...:) Lay on the beach or surf, late breakfast at 10am, then chill out, sleep in the hammock, go back to the beach at around 3pm and enjoy Simon's cuisine at around 7pm. Then sleep at 9pm, go out in the town (rare option) or watch a horror DVD - I m not into horrors at all but watching them in that place in the night on the open roof was just part of the atmosphere. Surfing? I have tried. And I have given up. It is an absolutely amazing feeling when you catch the wave and you ride on it and it's sooo bloody fast and it feels like riding a wild horse...But obvioulsy it is so unstable, and it goes all sides and how on earth can you stand up on it in the middle of the water at this speed??? I tried, had the board flying over my head and landing into water in hundreds of different positions - but it takes time. I was afraid of it but I loved it at the same time - I would just laugh to myself like a kid whenever I would fall down in another spectaular way and get yet another hit of wave just after raising my head after the fall. It never stops - you're out there and the waves just form meters from you, catching you from all the sides and treating you like a grain of sand in the wind. So a surfer I have not become. And I don't think I ever will having seen what those people do with the waves or rather what the waves do to them. But I had immense fun. What I enjoyed more though - and that's in my nature - was a 4x4/quad. We first rented them with the Austrian friends of the guys (with girls at the back) but then I had some proper session on my own where I could naturally break all the speed limits and no worry about the passengers. Quads are the best way of moving around the area as it's all dirt roads - the only problem being you get DIRTY. And if you're hair is dark that's a natural way of making it blond:) I have never ever got so dirty in my life - after the whole day I could virtually write on my skin there was such a dust cover. But it was huge huge fun, I could be doing this forever. I would go to some remote roads where you would pass by wild horses. And even though it is forbidden to drive a quad on the beach nobody could stop me - the best feeling is to speed on the desert beaches, you go miles and miles and there is hardly anyone. Breaking laws and no speed limits, wind thru my hair - definitely a defining moment. Another things I will remember: *a trip to the rainforest on the bike and spotting monkeys, iguanas and getting all excited about every little noise around me *Taking my t-shirt from the rope, shaking it well, putting it on, brushing teeth in the bathroom and looking into the mirror realising there is a well-sized scorpio walking on my shoulder (the next thing is givig it a little kick with my finger - was actually amazed I stayed cool-blooded) *whiskey night - we went out and had whiskey in all possible forms (shots, ice, coke) and kinds (JD, JW, Grant and the ones I dont know) - subsequently getting carried away from the bar in a chair and put in a car. Making a huge fuss about losing my camera which just fell from my pocket in the car but the whole brigade of people searched the beach anyway:) What i loved most though was looking at the pictures the day after and seeing the pix of Me, the Costa Rican couple and the Austrian girl with me embracing Alejandra (female part of the Costa Rican couple) - I obvioulsy do not remember embracing her but I am standing there, next to her boyfriend and holding her in my arms as if me and her were together - this was just WEIRD and felt really ashamed in the morning:) And probably more and more moments in my head. Feelings impossible to describe. And so unreal. I wonder will I really remember how it felt to be this alive....