True Nature Travels Blog

Peace Is Always There – Letters From Lindsay

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yiguirro-ave-nacional-costa-ricaI just went to share a cup of tea with my mother and we found something interesting in her porch. There was a nest and three little birds on it. The baby birds are called yiguirros. They are not as beautiful as the colorful toucans or the scarlet macaws we usually see flying in our rural town, but yiguirro is our national bird and these birds decided to make their nest in my mother’s home!
How amazing and what a real honor to host the birds at home! We talked about this blessing from Heaven and took some pictures and the birds continued there, in peace.
That makes me think of life. We can feel peace if we create peace inside us; when we start to see the positive things, when we take a minute to see the colors of nature and when we listen to the wind, to the silence, peace is all around, peace is always there.
P1060703Sometimes I get presents and I love to open presents, that is why I want to share this with you guys, because the way I am opening this present is sharing this amazing moment with you.
The baby yiguirros are going to leave their nest soon and they will be always free… But they will always have a place to visit and to stay if they want to come again.

May you have an amazing week…

CK_Costa_Rica_True_Nature_2014-189 Lindsay Padilla is a nature lover and mom of two boys. She has been teaching Spanish since 2006 and working for the development of rural communities in Costa Rica. She enjoys writing, reading and swimming.

Are you interested in learning more about the Costa Rican way of life, called Pura Vida? Our service programs which can be added on during any of our retreats include opportunities to stay with Lindsay and her family and support our efforts in their village.  Learn more here.

True Nature Travels Blog

Dolphins, Monkeys, and Crocodiles…Oh My!

Another post from The New School Montessori’s blog that highlights their travels and service learning projects in Costa Rica!

We woke up early, had pastries for breakfast and said goodbye to our friends at the Monkey Sanctuary and Blue Banyan Inn. Bye Bye Tikki!! We headed to the marina for our snorkel/dolphin expedition. We sailed around and found a new island which we have decided we want The New School to settle on as the new Costa Rica base. We are calling it The New School Iguana Island! After finding the dolphins we sailed to the bay off of Manauel Antonio National Park and snorkeled. We were surround by schools of beautiful fish.

We had some fresh fish and chicken from the ocean for lunch while Marley and Robin fed the fish with their own special food. After lunch we sailed back to the marina and headed to the National Park for a tour. On the tour we saw: howler monkeys, white-face monkeys, squirrel monkeys, sloths, iguanas, bats, hermit crabs, and more…

Freddy our guide has an amazing telescope to view the animals. Following our tour, we jumped into our bus and began our journey to Luna Nueva.

We just stopped at the crocodile bridge and saw a bunch of crocodiles that were bigger than us. That brings us to this moment, as we journey down the road to our next destination, The Luna Nueva Eco-Lodge Hotel. We will be in touch soon! -Hope and Sam Reporting from Costa Rica

True Nature Travels Blog

Catch a Wave

The New School Montessori is still in Costa Rica, and having a great time! Here’s another except from their blog:
We woke up this morning and started the day with a group meditation and some yoga. Following a great breakfast (Jim’s famous banana pancakes) we split into three groups for our morning service project. Some people did worm sorting (monkey food), some painted recycling cans, and some returned back to feed the monkeys. It feels fun and awesome to do service work. The whole time we were seranaded by the resident parrot, Kikii!

Following our service time we drove the windy, bumpy road to the beach. Yeah!!! The beach was fantastic but the parasailingwas magnificent. We had the opportunity to look at the world from a different and incredible view. While on the beach we swarmed the snow cone man, then called over the coconut dude, and we rode some waves the rest of the day. For dinner we ate at the Mono Azul (“Blue Monkey”)! Tonight we are going to have a sharing circle and rest early for a big travel day tomorrow. (Don’t be surprised if we take a day off the blog.)

-Reporting from the Field Shelby and Lucy

True Nature Travels Blog

News from The New School Montessori in Costa Rica

The New School Montessori created a blog to highlight their travels to and service learning projects in Costa Rica. They are having a blast! Here are some posts from the past few days:

Day One:

We’re finally here!!! We arrived late last night and we were so happy to wake up in such a beautiful place. We woke up and had a Tipico (“Typical”) Costa Rica Breakfast, rice, beans, eggs, and fresh fruit from the trees. After breakfast we headed to the monkey sanctuary where we made breakfast for the monkeys. It was so fun seeing so many different monkeys. Ben’s favorite was the capuchin (“white face”) monkey. Then after we were done we headed back to get ready for lunch and the pool….
Pura Vida from Costa Rica!

Day Two:

Following an awesome pool party we went back to visit our monkey friends. Now that we knew the monkeys for our second visit we had an opportunity to feed them. We split up into different groups and fed the marmosets and tamarans. We fed the them worms and bananas. Bella, the marmoset, snatched a banana out of Christy’s hand (see the picture) and Marley played hide and go seek with Jesse, another marmoset.

By the time we fed the monkey’s the afternoon rains had come and gone. We headed to the Labyrinth. For a short time we walked in silence, saw the sunset, and even saw beautiful rainbow over the mountains. After a long day we ate dinner and watched the wizard of oz. (Well the boys watched Indiana Jones!) There is no place like home…but this place is pretty cool…

Stay tuned for more updates!

True Nature Travels Blog

A Letter from True Nature Education Village Representative Lindsay Padilla

Dear New Friends,
Receive our warm regards from the beautiful and natural village of San Rafael!

My name is Lindsay Padilla and I want to let you know that all our kids and community members are counting the days in order to meet you here and I am honored to say thanks on behalf of all your costarrican friends.

There are many people visiting our country each year, most of them want to discover the wonder of nature and that is GOOD. However there are a few visitors coming each year and making a difference… Beyond admiring our mountains, the still pure rivers, the multicolor flowers and listening the many species of birds, they really want to know our people, our traditions, our culture. That is what I call AMAZING.

True Nature Education has been helping us to improve the local communities since many time ago and I can list the different projects we have done.This time we will be making more dreams come true, thanks to you!

Thanks to your visit, the kids from the school have access to food at the school cafeteria,
they all have school supplies and toys for playing during the breaks.
They also have a small gift and a party for their middle year vacations.
You will be painting a kitchen at Chachagua soccer field, where our kids sell typical food in order to support their soccer school.
You will be painting the bleachers and the changing rooms and the dogouts too.

You will be improving our communities, you will be helping the locals, you will be sharing your culture and learning from ours.

It is so sweet when I listen our kids talking from their penpals, pronuncing the names and expecting to welcome you here.
That makes me feel very proud of what we all are doing.
Thanks for joining True Nature Education.
Thanks for choosing Costa Rica.
Bye now, Pura Vida y nos vemos pronto!

~Lindsay

True Nature Travels Blog

Adventure, Reflection, Integration

True Nature Education’s experience’s are multifaceted journeys which utilize the natural environment of Costa Rica while nurturing the True Nature which lies within all of our participants. In the final days of the Mind|Body|Fitness|Yoga Costa Rica Experience participants had the opportunity to explore a wide range of activities which helped to culminate this wonderful retreat. A highlight for anyone who visits Costa Rica is the Canopy Zipline. Soaring high above the jungle and river’s below is an unforgettable and sometimes heart wrenching experience. Still, after many years of ziplining I still feel the rush of energy as I pick up speed and feel my feet leave the ground. Pushing our limits often helps us break through barriers in our life. This Costa Rica experience is a key example of this.

Reflection is an important element in life and on retreat. As the week began to come to a close we had the opportunity to reflect on our full and rich week together. We revisited our intentions and began to look forward at the tools that we can take back to our lives at home. The closing circle was a moving opportunity to share our reflection, our intentions, and our tools that we will take with us to support our integration. Although the retreat is now over, it is an opportunity for a new beginning as we return home, with new insights, wisdom, and experience to share with the world.