I first went to Costa Rica for a 7-day new year’s yoga retreat with Shiva Rea, a teacher of mine from my days in Los Angeles. We did yoga a few times a day and spent the rest of our day surfing and finding peace in the quiet jungle. One morning during class she told us about the arribada that was taking place just down the beach from Nosara in Playa Ostional. An arribada is defined as a synchronized, large-scale nesting of sea turtles and they happen on this coastline each year between August and February. She said that she and many of her students that had been coming to this retreat for years were like those turtles, returning to these beaches each year to create something new. I knew in that very moment that even though it was my first time in Nosara, it would not be my last. I would also be like those turtles and return to these beaches time and time again.

After the yoga retreat ended, I had one day to explore the area. I had fallen in love with the laid back pura vida lifestyle and was curious about how much the land cost in the area. I recalled that an old time friend of mine had moved to Costa Rica to do real estate a decade ago. I looked him up on Facebook and low and behold, he was a real estate agent in Nosara. I sent him a message and the next day we drove around and looked at property. Most of it was way out of my range but there was one little lot that wasn’t. Two months later it was mine.

Now I look back on these moments and see all the magic in them, because I too am joining the arribada, quite literally.

This is a photo I took of the arribada in Nosara last August.  This wasn’t my first arribada but it was special for me because I had just found out I was pregnant only a couple weeks before and was already planning to return to this beautiful coastline to deliver my own child. For the past five years, I have been traveling the world, like these turtles, in constant motion. Now the time has come for me to join the arribada. Today, after four years in Kinshasa, I am heading back to Nosara to build my nest and deliver my firstborn.

Magic 30/365, Arribada at Playa Ostional in Nosara, Costa Rica, August 16, 2017