Spiritual Travel in Costa Rica: Mindful Travel, Poetry, and Presence
 |
| Arenal Volcano View on My Walk |
How Costa Rica Invites Spiritual Travel
As a “woman of a certain age,” I am often awake long before the rest of my family. Usually, I find this infuriating. But in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, it turned out to be rather fortunate.
We were staying at the gorgeous Los Lagos Hotel, and one morning, rather than lie in bed wishing I could fall back asleep, I put on my shoes and headed out the door. My plan was a simple 30-minute walk up toward the volcano.
But it was a perfectly clear morning, and I just kept walking. And walking. Every time I looked up, I thought, I'm almost there!
I'm not sure exactly how long it took, but it was at least an hour and what felt like 30 pounds of sweat. Still, something about that volcano was calling to me in a way I couldn't quite explain. I just needed to keep going.
Finally, I reached a viewing platform overlooking the magnificent mountain and lake. And standing there, I was struck by just how insignificant I was—in the most beautiful way imaginable.
It wasn't a feeling of smallness that made me sad or afraid. Quite the opposite. I felt an overwhelming sense of comfort in knowing that whatever was happening in my life, whatever chaos was unfolding in the world, this beauty had existed long before me and would continue to exist long after I was gone.
There was something incredibly freeing about that realization. For once, I didn't need to do anything, fix anything, or worry about what came next. I could simply stand there and be part of something so much bigger than myself.
I was drenched in sweat and completely exhausted. But I was also comforted.
And for the first time in years, I felt truly at peace.
Poetry as a Practice of Presence While Traveling
Sometimes we are given this gift of reflection like I had on my walk. Sometimes, we have to work at it. One way to travel spiritually is to bring words that open us up to presence and wonder. Poems do this especially well. They ask us to pause, to listen, to feel before we interpret, an experience Jewish theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously called radical amazement.
Radical Amazement and Noticing the World Anew
Heschel taught that the beginning of spiritual life is not certainty or belief, but curiosity, the capacity to be startled by existence itself. Radical amazement is the opposite of taking the world for granted. It is the practice of standing before reality and saying, this did not have to be, and yet here it is.
Costa Rica practically trains us in this discipline.
Not sure where to begin your journey? Learn about the best beaches in Guanacaste.
Poems to Carry While Traveling
Poems do this especially well. A line from Walt Whitman or a haiku by Matsuo Bashō doesn’t explain a landscape, it creates space to encounter it. Read these once and move on or return to them again and again as you change.
Walt Whitman
from Song of the Open Road
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Matsuo Bashō
Haiku
Every day is a journey,
and the journey itself is home.
Emma Lazarus
from “Fruits of the Sea”
Until we learn to reverence every gift
Of life, we cannot know true happiness.
Gerald Stern
from “The Dancing” (excerpt)
There are things we live among “and to see them
is to know ourselves.”
Bringing Presence Home After the Journey
Bringing presence home often looks simple: a few quiet minutes, a pen, and a place to write. Bringing presence home often looks simple: a few quiet minutes, a pen, and a place to write. Journaling can help you clarify thoughts, process your emotions, and make intentional choices on your current trip, and the next!
I’ve linked a few travel-friendly journals I like below.
.png)