Exploring Different Places

MICROLUXEbeauty Magazine

Volume III - The Travel Issue

Unbelievable Destinations

If you were to ask me where is the most magical place I’ve ever traveled to is, without hesitation, I would say Costa Rica. It’s almost inexplicable. Whether you’re getting lost on roads less traveled that unknowingly lead you straight to awe-inspiring, electric blue rivers (that’s a true story), or you’ve been hiking miles through forests, now begging for rainfall and immediately receiving it (that’s a true story too), it is the gift that just keeps on giving.

Did I mention the sloth? If you’ve never seen a sloth in real life, go book your flights. Now. Watching that creature move at the speed of snail literally brought me to tears. He was just there. Hanging from a tree. Amazing.

Gain important perspectives

Many magical things happened during my visit to Costa Rica, but the one that stands out the most was this:

We had been traveling for a couple hours, driving from San Jose to Tamarindo, when it was time for a pit stop. The road we were traveling on was filled with construction and not much else around, so once we saw a little store, we thought, “this is our chance!”. What we thought was just a corner store-like place was actually a mini store built into the front of a house! They were so gracious and let me use the restroom. Now, I had just lost my glasses before this trip, so all I had to see were my prescription sunglasses. Because it was so dark with the glasses on, I took them off and put them on top of the toilet. I proceeded to use the restroom, pick my snacks, and head back to the car. Onward we went!

Quite a bit of time down the road, when I went to put on my glasses, I realized they were GONE!

Do we go back and lose a lot of time and covered-ground? Or do we proceed and I enjoy my vacation through a blurry haze? We opted for blurry haze, and I made peace with the fact that the glasses were gone. From Tamarindo, we travelled to La Fortuna (Arenal). Because we were traveling in a big circle (from San Jose, to the coast, up a little north, and back to San Jose) we wouldn’t be traveling down the same roads where I lost the glasses.

Then, we came to a fork in the road, where one way is to our next destination, and the other way is back towards the store. We went back and forth; should we go check, should we not, how are we sure we will be able to find the store, etc. (but remember how magical I said Costa Rica was?). So we went on a hunt for the little store!

My oh my, not only did we find the store, the people were SO HAPPY that we came back to get the glasses. Mind you, this is several days later. They held onto them for me, keeping them safe, knowing I would return. It was a truly wonderful experience with these locals!

Casa Colibri

If you're looking for the ultimate yoga retreat, or interested in training to be a yoga master in one of the most beautiful places in the world, check out Casa Colibri.

Steph Gongora (@casa_colibri) is a 200HR E-RYT, 500HR RYT yoga and aerial arts teacher currently based in Uvita, Costa Rica. She moved down to Costa Rica in the Fall of 2016 to start construction on a Functional Medicine/Yoga retreat center on the South Pacific coast (opened March 2018!).

Not ready to take the leap to Costa Rica? No worries! Steph offers many online resources, including *free* classes on YouTube! Check them out here: Study Online.

Why yoga?

Yoga has multiple benefits, such as boosting health, assisting blood circulation, enabling increased focus, improving sleep quality, and helping people become less stressed in their day-to-day lives. When performing yoga poses, you're massaging your organs and strengthening muscles. When focusing on breathing techniques and meditation, you release stress and improve your immunity. All in all, yoga can help you achieve a lower-stress lifestyle!

To read the full Volume of MICROLUXEbeauty Magazine, head over to microluxebrows.wix.com/microluxebeautymag.