Punta Mona is a secluded island on the southern coast of the country (almost to the border of Panama) and that’s where we went on our first excursion! The story behind Punta Mona is very empowering/inspiring, it makes you want to change the little things in life. The man that created Punta Mona was traveling through Costa Rica almost 20 years ago and encountered an unfortunate issue that he would soon find the solution to. Bananas marked with Dole, La Chiquita, and Del Monte are imported from Costa Rica and the process of growing bananas has not always been a flawless one.
Steven, the founder of Punta Mona, watched a crop duster spray a field of children playing soccer while fertilizing
The mud did come out of my shoes
How we felt during the hike obviously
The hike was pretty I’ll admit
Boat ride to Punta Mona
Casually eating leaves
The most attractive I’ve ever looked I think
Swag
BEAUTIFUL FULL MOON
Jen!!
This is indeed the “bathroom”
COMIDA
Making chocolate with Solmates
All the emotions
My lovely roommates for the trip- Abbie and Kaleigh
Making chocolate
Went straight for the hammock as soon as we arrived
Right before bus sickness truck
the banana plantations.. which makes my heart ache. Steven knew he needed to do something to fix this problem, so he did. He began implementing the idea of Permaculture into his life and the lives of many others.. which lead to the establishment of Punta Mona. Punta Mona is a 7 hour bus ride from Heredia and 30 minutes to the point, an organic farm where they up cycle compost everything… and by everything I mean everything. I didn’t know that feces was in demand these days if ya know what I mean. If you don’t know what I mean, let me enlighten you:
Saturday:
We took a bus to Manzanillo, Costa Rica so we could go by boat across the ocean to the little island. Let me also add that I have never been so car sick in my life. Anways.. We arrived in Manzanillo and got in our boats (with our things in trash bags to keep from getting wet). This part of the trip made me reflect on how much God loves me. My life has not always presented me the most enjoyable experiences and I have had my heart broken many times, but even through those times God knew that I would one day be here to experience the beautiful things that come even after the most difficult of times. That was one lesson I have learned so far: there are always good things to come. The boat ride made me emotional because I experienced the magnitude of God’s love and provision in my life and I was overwhelmed by how much he cares for me.
Once we arrived in Punta Monta, we were all SO anxious to run onto the beach and experience the salty joy of swimming in the ocean. After what seemed like YEARS, we finally got to swim in the ocean- something I have been itching to do since the last time I was in Nicaragua. Later that night we had a campfire and my friend Tino began singing worship songs which made for a very sweet, special experience with my fellow Christian Solmates!
Okay so brace yourself for the next part of this recap because this is where the waters get choppy… too soon.
Saturday morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and the sound of the howler monkeys in the trees. I went to a yoga class which was pretty relaxing and I think I even started snoring.. oops. Later on we walked 1o minutes to a river where we covered ourselves in mud/clay to make our skin and hair soft. It was so cool to casually have our own naturally spa day 😉 We washed off in the river when our mud was dry and made a beeline for the ocean. I got a not so cute sunburn, like… all over my body. BUT in my defense I put sunscreen on two times before it was even noon. I also got to go snorkeling in the coral reef close to shore with two of my friends Abbie and MariaClara. We only saw little fish and a few sea urchins, but it was cool nonetheless.
We later took a tour of the farm where the, for lack of a better term, Hippies grow their food and raise their animals. It was interesting to see how they maintain and preserve a natural lifestyle. I also got to eat some fresh Maracuyá which I mentioned in my previous blog post!
AND HERE IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING:
The… people that inhabit Punta Mona… picked some cacao fruit from their trees so that we could make chocolate from scratch. So basically the process of chocolate making goes like this (take the seeds out, toast them, put them in the grinder a couple of times, mix with desired flavors, and refrigerate). So that’s what we did. The chocolate tasted really good, but as they say.. all good things come to an end. We went to the stage where the yoga class took place and to our surprise we made a circle around some candles and listened to these people basically worship mother nature or as they put it “Pachamama”.
Cacao has been considered as a natural medicine for many years because it brings forth instant happiness so that was the main goal of this “Cacao ceremony”. We went around the circle three times and each time we had to say something different.
The first: Something that nature had taught us during our stay
The second: Send our love to someone who needed it
The third: Put up an offering
I know, I know… none of you will believe me. Naturally, I openly spoke about God and all the things he has done for my life.. I truly felt like the name of the Lord needed to be spoken in that place, so that is what I did. At the end of the ceremony, one of the ladies told us that she wanted us to pick up an article (on the way back to the main room) to “let go of” in the ocean. Although I did not feel comfortable participating in the nature praising events, I felt something stirring inside me. That morning I actually woke up with something heavy on my chest, something I haven’t had to deal with for quite some time, and I wasn’t quite sure why I was worrying about it then.. I know that this moment was the reason why God sent me to Punta Mona because I grabbed a shell of the sand, prayed over this particular heaviness/burden that I have been carrying around for so long, and threw it into the waves. That is no longer a part of me anymore. I found my freedom. Although the singing to Mother Nature was too much for me, I know that there are good things hidden in difficult moments.
So after the already interesting weekend we had urinating on trees, taking freezing cold showers, dealing with pesky cockroaches, endlessly scratching our legs due to sand fleas, and many other overwhelming encounters, we were more than ready to come home to our Mama Tica. So we woke up bright and early Sunday morning with expectations of getting on that boat and going home.. to which were soon destroyed by a tropical storm.
We all got ready for the boat ride by putting on clothes that could get wet and packing ones to change into… we had to change. Into hiking clothes. Into shoes that could get muddy. Because the tropical storm made taking a boat across the ocean extremely dangerous, so we HIKED through the jungle for 3 hours. Which, now that I look back on that moment, it’s extremely cool to say that I hiked through a jungle in Costa Rica, but it was very challenging at the time.
I actually captured a few photos of our emotions during the hike, which I hope you all enjoy because they are very entertaining and comical.
The point is, we really just wanted to go home and not smell like feet. But I will also say that another moment made everything worthwhile for me…
When we arrived on land/to civilization, we washed off our shoes in the ocean. I was standing near a little boy and his father playing in the ocean. The little boy was more than ecstatic to be playing in the water and the sound of the his laughter and the huge smile that he had on his face put so much joy in my heart. It reminded me to enjoy the simple things in life, like being able to swim in the ocean and feel the salt water on your skin or getting to trudge through a muddy hole aka the jungle with your Solmates.
My roommate Megan and I were OVERJOYED to return to Heredia and our Mama Tica because our emotions were rampant and we could not control the waterworks (we even started crying when she brought us clean towels and told us we smelled bad hahah). Of course, we didn’t get home until after our taxi driver asked us to go dancing with him.. an idea in which we shut down quickly. Sorry sir… I just wanted to go home.
All in all, something I learned from Punta Mona is this:
Life is about enjoying the hidden blessings and making the most out of challenging circumstances that make you uncomfortable. As Hannah Montana said, “Life’s what you make it so let’s make it rock”. Pura vida 🙂
I thought I broke my jaw playing soccer. It hurt for almost 3 weeks and I had to ice it while Mama Tica was out of the house so she wouldn’t ban me from playing all together.
One time in Nicaragua our bus driver crashed into this car and some innocent bystanders helped him escape without a consequence…
Cami moved in for a couple weeks and took over my room.
When Ileana (sweetest, most precious human ever) took us to the Eólicas and bought us Plátanos smothered in cheese. Just look how flawless and adorable she is. 
The time Cami and I decided to treat ourselves and have a relaxing night. Travel can be hard sometimes. 
Minor told me he didn’t know what snapchat was so I, naturally, had to take a selfie to demonstrate.
When Kaleigh and I just couldn’t get the picture quite right. 
First time having bacon in 3 months. Everyone knew my struggle… I think I cried once ust thinking about how much I missed bacon. 
Trying to make a really situation (having to apply SPF 85 to my skin) light-hearted.
The time we almost died of heat exhaustion and regular exhaustion on our history field trip. 
David and Morrissa left this lovely little surprise on my phone.
The time we went on our history field trip and David got nominated as the selfie king. Look at the stance, the arm position, the lighting… wow.
When Anna held some random guy’s hedgehog on the streets of San José. 
I got my second tattoo in Costa Rica at a place called “Sailor’s Grave” and then afterwards we walked to get ice cream.
When Megan tried taking a cute picture of me but instead I look like I got hit by a train.
The unnecessary amount of time we took random mirror selfies… this one was to show off our food babies I think. 
Morri and I took too much drammamine and felt the side-effects, that’s for sure… 
When I tried making Nicaraguan pottery but instead it looked like poop, actually though.
I introduced these homies to Pithaya ice cream. If you’re ever in Nicaragua, get it!
When our waiter was too obsessed with us and wanted us to drink beer and also gave us some really interesting relationship advice.
All the times Plátanos could have been mistaken as poop.
Morri and I ordered this ice cream and the guy called it “Cremachips” 
When Morri took it upon herself to take a picture of my double chin 
When we realized how delicious Guava cookies are.
The time I received the nickname “Shenny”… thanks Starbucks barista. 
When Morri just wasn’t havin’ it.
Pura Vida 