Can 7 Women Travel in Harmony?

7 Women in Harmony!

“She’s so bossy!” I said to my new friend, Rose, referring to my old friend, Lynn. Rose answered: “Yeah, right! Who in this group isn’t bossy?!”

We had been planning this “girls'” outing for weeks, coordinating the trip with the arrival of Sue and Rose, friends of Isa’s from Colorado where she had lived before moving to Atenas, Costa Rica. Rose and Isa originated in Queens. I was born and raised in Brooklyn. Mom grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the Great Depression. Sue is ex-military. Lynn is a GRIT (girls raised in the South). Diane is sweet as sugar; she cuts her own hair close-cropped blonde and styles it with camo spots; don’t mess with her. Need I say more? We were headed to Micki’s (my mom’s) place, “El Sueno de Mariana” (Marion’s Dream) in Playa Nosara, Guanacaste.

I had tried to get Lynn and Lucas, my dear neighbors in Roca Verde, out to see my mom and her hubby, Don, for months. All of us, type A’s, (well the women anyway) in our group of friends are so busy here in “traquila-ville” where life is supposed to be slower, well … isn’t. Everything has to be scheduled, rescheduled, and adjusted right down to the last-minute flurry of who can’t make it, and who is bringing what. We got on the road only 3 hours late on Thursday morning. The men didn’t make the cut. Next time.

We packed enough wine (well, we thought we had enough) and our passports – everything else could be purchased or dealt with in some manner… And off we went – like a herd of turtles in a cloud of dust! Hyah!

I had done my research on available activities; horseback riding on the beach, river kayaking, zip-lining, , surfing, yoga at the world famous Yoga Institute, Tica Massage, monkey tour of the Sibu catch-and-release preserve, the Nosara Festival including the Tope (horse parade),and the leatherback turtle arribada in Ostional. We did none of these.

We arrived at the paradise retreat Micki and Don built from scratch and there we stayed. We went to the beautiful Playa Guiones once, walked along the shore solving the problems of the world, and returned to swim in the most beautiful infinity edge pool on the planet.

Rose, Isa, Sue, Lynn, Diane, Micki

The most exercise we had was taking Micki’s famous water-aerobics class where she blasts the music and turns into a task-master leading the group in a series of arabesques, attitudes, and jumping jacks, all the while counting forcefully lest we lag behind. Bossy much? She kicks butt!

Water Aerobics with Micki

Nightly we gathered on the spectacular upper deck for sunset cocktails. The ritual included staring at the sun waiting for the green flash, after which we voted for activities we would participate in the following day. Hands shot up as I recited each one. We shrieked with gales of laughter at our enthusiasm for these fabulous activities that sounded good after cocktails but would never happen come morning.

What did happen was hammock swinging, Bloody Mary sipping, pool lounging, and facials; Oh the facials! Who needs Tica Massage when we had Sue?! Sue, who generously administered her version of a facial which was more like a massage which rivals anything offered by La Costa.

Sue giving a facial to Micki

Lynn and Sue pampering Mom

The time flew off on the wings of the chapulin, the ginormous night grasshopper (6″- 7″ long) whose wings when spread display a gorgeous sheet of crimson. They are frequent visitors this time of year and often land on the dining room chandeliers or a person’s hair. I’m used to them, so didn’t get too excited; I just cup the creature(s) in my hand and gently push them outside to fly off into the night. Sue was speechless when one landed in her hair. As I scooped him up, she said: “It landed on me. That’s lucky. I need to buy a lottery ticket! Now. What’s open?” In Nosara at night? Nothing!

As we set out for home at the end of the weekend, I took a moment to reflect. Considering we are ALL bossy women, there was not one moment of discord. There were no power struggles, no moments of tension, no hurt feelings or pouting Prima Donnas. There were seven happy women nurturing one another, and wishing each other well. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Visit  http://www.vrbo.com/199490 to check out this piece of paradise. I heard CNN and National Geographic have recently touted Nosara as one of the top ten vacation destinations in the world. Just sayin’.