Beginning the New Year with friends from all over the world in a club built into the cliff on Colombia’s Caribbean Coast.
Catching a last minute flight to Seattle just in time to celebrate my nephew’s first birthday.
Seeing dolphins from the highest point on Isla Carenero with my best friend of sixteen years in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Spotting American tapirs, squirrel monkeys, Jesus Christ lizards, and pumas in the wild in Corcovado National Park.
Discovering hidden beaches, diving with sharks, listening to reggae, and stargazing on Little Corn Island, Nicaragua.
Showing the place I love most in the world, Puerto Viejo, to the person I love most in the world, my Mom.
Riding on the back of a motorbike through the national park on Cat Ba Island, climbing into secret caves used by the Viet Cong, and swimming in crystal water surrounded by massive limestone karsts.
Releasing my lantern with thousands of others inside of the temple at Mae Jo for Chiang Mai’s annual Yi Peng celebration.
Eating myself silly on dumplings, stuffed potatoes, mango sticky rice, samosas, green papaya salad, phad thai, and hundreds of other delicacies in Pai’s night market.
Hiking to hidden beaches, swimming in crystal water, and playing with local kids on Koh Rong, Cambodia.
Following a Hindu procession up the hill to a hidden temple carved into a cliff, watching surfers at sunset, and dancing all night to a live Rasta reggae band on Bali’s Bukit Peninsula.
Standing barefoot in the sand, dancing around a bonfire with locals, and watching fireworks with dear friends on New Year’s Eve on Gili Air, Lombok.
Today, the first day of 2014
I feel overwhelmed with gratitude
for how blessed I am to have lived every moment of 2013.
How lucky I am to have experienced more beauty and excitement in one year
than I could hope to have in an entire lifetime.
Wherever you are today
I wish you adventure, magic, and contentment.
This year, may you truly enjoy the present.
May you truly feel light.
May you truly be free.
Happy New Year from my world to yours <3
Thank you for all your passionate poetry about your experiences. My wife Jenny and I are going to Costa Rica for two weeks in March for the first time. I dream of travel as you are doing, but of course the fear of being released of possessions is overwhelming. I hope this trip will open our eyes to Pura Vida seeing life for more than the “American” way of life, having to be busy and have a purpose all the time.
It’s wonderful and amazing that you’re taking the first step, something many people never do! I’m excited for your journey and all that you’re bound to discover 🙂