Most people dream of a white Christmas. Mine was spent on a white sandy beach. There were no snowball fights or decorated sugar cookies, but there was an afternoon game of cricket and plenty of golden toasted marshmallows. I wanted to hang stockings by our campfire, but soon remembered the only socks I had were smelly and at the hostel anyway. Five Aussies, one English-Colombian, a Swede and one Canadian celebrated Christmas with me this year. We brought our traditions together and had a blast; I didn´t have any lefsa to share, but I did lead a round of carols while swaying in my hammock.

For four days and three nights I was barefoot - atop a surfboard, stepping gingerly over slated shale rock and sprinting full speed at low tide along the beach. At sunrise I saw jumping dolphins, at sunset I tried to make yoga a routine. Playones beach was both a place of abundance and scarcity. There was passion fruit, papaya and pineapple galore, but not a trace of my vice - dark chocolate. I was always in the water, but I never actually felt clean. My body was salty from the sea, greasy from sunscreen, and gritty from blowing sand. We had everything we needed right in front of us, without wireless Internet or cell phone towers. A small generator was all that was required to power the blender for fresh fruit smoothies.

Today I traded in my bikini for more appropriate city ware. I´m now back in San Juan del Sur for New Year´s Eve, and will travel to the Islas del Ometepe on the 2nd of January. These islands are on Lake Nicaragua; they´re noted for incredible hiking on active volcanoes, broadening ecotourism efforts, and the lake itself hosts the world´s only known freshwater shark species - though their popularity in China´s markets for believed panacea-like medicinal properties have caused them to be largely fished out. There haven´t been any attacks on humans reported in recent years. Still, I think I´ll stick to knee-deep wading. Happy New Year´s everyone; wishing you a good one.

A Moment of Repose

Today is both an ending and a beginning. I sent my little sister, Erika, off on Delta flight 414 at 9 this morning, and have spent the remainder of the day resting and readying for the next step in this journey. Tomorrow a.m. I´m catching a TicaBus - Costa Rica´s most popular coach service - to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, where I´ll spend Christmas holidays with an English-Colombian kite surfer and a Swedish environmentalist. I met the first at a bus stop a couple of days ago, and the latter on the doorstep of a hostel I was staying at.

Unexpected encounters - opening up and being present to the experience - are one of ¨the greats¨ of nomadic travels. Each day is a river bend; one never knows what quite to expect. Erika and I´ve found ourselves building a bonfire twice our size on the beach in Mal Pais, celebrating at an ex-pat Israeli birthday party in Santa Teresa, grooving with ¨The Boom Booms¨ (a band from Vancouver, BC on tour in Central America in a hand-painted van) at El Coquito, and rushing to get off a rickety old yellow school bus yesterday because the driver thought it had caught fire.

There was a lot of shouting - ¨fuego!¨ - but after an initial assessment our driver said the billowing smoke was only the friction of brakes and would cause us no harm. We were ushered back on to the bus about as quickly as we were commanded to get off; some passengers weren´t convinced and decided to walk instead. Erika and I had a connection to make so we said a prayer and slid back into our seats. I think God-Allah-Buddha - something greater than ourselves - must have been watching out for us because we were flanked by two nuns in black habits on our next bus ride.

Jaime Koss - an artist I met at his studio in Samara - and I talked at great length about giving space and allowing for life to freely unravel. His words for it were: emergent creation, which he explained is like sitting down in front of a white canvas with no expectation, pre-conceived ideas or absolute image of what he will paint. He might have a feeling, one word - like ¨joy¨ - but will not know how he´ll express it until his brush starts moving.

This spontaneous spirit is something we all have the ability to tap into; it may manifest in different ways for each of us, but it shares a similar emanating and creative process. And so, during this holiday season - may you be spiritually guided by spontaneity and be present to the wonders that surround you. Peace and blessings - Elise

Pura Vida

Greetings from Costa Rica! I flew into San Jose late Monday night and have been collecting stories ever since - some more poetic than others of course. There is a certain glamor to life on the road, but it wears off quickly when you´re too nauseous to look out the window and busy heaving into a plastic bag. This is what happened to me today returning to the city from Samara beach. I´m not sure what caused my food poisoning, but I´m overjoyed to have a settled stomach tonight.

A runaway coach en route to Samara has been the only other unfortunate incident. I was coming out of the washroom when I saw my driver pulling away. I ran as fast as I could in flip flops while flailing my arms up in the air, only to realize he was just turning the bus around - not actually leaving me behind. Smiling eyes welcomed my beet red face back to seat no. 24.

So, perhaps the moral of the story is to stay off of buses and spend more time on the beach? I´ve had a marvelous time on sandy shores so far. Yesterday morning I took a barefoot skip, trot and hop; I saw a man playing his didgeridoo, two extraordinary jugglers, galloping horses and a long beaked bird who wouldn´t sit still for a photo. In the afternoon I rented a surf board; high tide was at 1:30 so the sets were consistently good. I spent the last 30 minutes just chilling and rolling along over undulating ripples, face resting on my forearms and eyes on the horizon. My shoulders, hamstrings and left cheek are a bit pink but I don´t mind at all.

Tomorrow afternoon will be spent in the company of U.S. diplomats. I interned at the United States Embassy in San Jose a few years ago and still have contacts I´m excited to re-connect with; in the evening my sister and I´ll go downtown for the Festival of Lights. I guess there will be a wild parade, tasty empañadas, lots of glitz and blinking bulbs of course. Stay tuned for more to come - most likely in a week´s time. Be well...