On our first road hike in Costa Rica from Colonia Puntarenas to Canas Mick and I arrived late into a town we were unfamiliar with, and the combination of thirst, hunger, the onset of night, and the uncertainty of where to spend the night had our morale depleting fast. At this point our feet were reaching the end of their journey, and our bags seemingly weighed twice as much as when we started. In situations like this, you prioritize and begin to address the most pressing issue and that was thirst. So, we went to a little convenient store to get something to drink and tried to get a little information about the area from the woman working behind the counter. Next was hunger. We then found the center of town and stumbled into a touristy dinner. I can't recall perfectly what we ate but I'm sure it included some assortment of rice, beans, cabbage, and some variety of pork. No matter how beaten up you are, a meal like that can restore your energy quicker than the fast fist-pumping boxing coach in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out.
Now that we took care of the most pressing issues at hand we were able to focus on the next set of priorities, where to spend the night. We had our hammocks with us and had tentatively planned to set up camp just outside of town. Mick, however, at some point thought that to be a bad idea due to the traffic, the fact that we were in a more urban area, and he just didn't want to. Faced with this new stipulation we went back and forth trying to figure out what to do. Then, what seemed to me like act of desperation, Mick suggested we go back and talk to the woman from the convenient store. Going off of a hunch he had gotten from this woman's good vibe or "positive X-factor" he thought, if we were to ask her about where the safest place is in town to camp out, that maybe out of concern for our well-being, she would direct us to someone she knew who could let us set up our hammocks on their property. Crazy huh? Even though everything about what he just suggested goes against standard practice, it made perfect sense to me. I also perceived that woman's positive X-factor, but could not make anything of that feeling until Mick proposed this hail mary play. Quickly agreeing that that was what we were going to do, and acting as if we could already reminisce about the success of the plan we settled back into finishing up our meal and resting our feet.
I don't remember any hesitance on our part while going back to that store and nonchalantly inquiring about where the best place would be to rest our tired bodies. What happened next was either a miracle or just something we both dreamed. This woman with, what I can only describe as, her genuinely welcoming eyes was taken back by our question. Not for the fact that we looked like dirty, hairy, foreign hobos, but because she was concerned for our well being. It strained her good-hearted conscience to think that we would sleep out in the middle of nowhere. Then, as if she overheard Mick and I talking at the restaurant, she got on the phone to call someone she knew who could put us up for the night. "The call went unanswered," she told us, but before we could even react she dissolved her hesitance and got back on the phone. This time, and too relieved to hear anything but the important details, she was giving us the directions of where we could spend the night in a covered wood storage garage. After thanking her many times Mick and I were off to our awaited resting place.
The walk there gave us a chance to digest the finer details of what just happened. We asked ourselves, "did that woman just offer us a place on her property?" And wait! Did she say her 8 year old daughter, who is home alone, would meet us and show us where to go! In case I haven't painted this picture clearly enough for you, Mick and I were unmistakably the spitting image of two people you shouldn't trust your home-alone-8-year-old daughter with. Nevertheless, that nice woman, who we never saw again, noticed something else about us, just as we did about her, that told her otherwise. We set up our hammocks, slept like babies, and Mick found a kitten that used him as a source of heat through the night. When we awoke it was too early to express our gratitude in person so we left a note and we were off.
Self Propel is a factor of self reliance, but this does not mean you extract yourself from your surroundings and disconnect because you have in some way relinquished yourself of all need. In fact it is the exact opposite. Self reliance requires a sort of heightened and acute dependency of others and your surroundings. What does this mean? Take out your ear buds, stop talking on the phone, put away your e-reader, and be aware of your surroundings. Curiously enough, we've developed the notion that minute control over insignificant things like the above mentioned makes us feel self reliant, when in fact they make us more dependent. Our minds have become numb, our interactions with others have diminished. If you don't believe me, then when was the last time you traveled a considerable distance in silence? Or, have you ever found yourself looking blankly at your phone or watch in order to give yourself an excuse to not have to look at the person walking by you? This Self Propel mission seamlessly required our minds to pick up where our bodies left off. The truth of the matter is, if you can make the mental rebound from physical exhaustion you reach a point of cerebral clarity and clairvoyance. Who knows what would have happened if we had been distracted by our favorite song, someone on the phone, our guide book, or by our own self involvement. Maybe we would have been distracted from less conventional opportunities presenting themselves. Maybe we wouldn't have read a little deeper into the eyes of that woman, maybe we wouldn't have doubled back to talk with her. Maybe we would have settled and slept in a nice hostel or even worse a hotel. No, those are not forbidden places but, when Self Propelling they symbolize effortless comforts, and result in a much less overall satisfying experience. I can't recall more than a handful of memorable experiences I had at hostels and hotels, but this is an experience I will share with my grandchildren.
- James
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