Quote from Paulo Coelho's "The Pilgrimage"

I'm currently reading Paulo Coelho's first book, "The Pilgrimage" (author of "The Alchemist"). There's a paragraph on travelling that I'd thought I'd quote.

p.35 Chapter "The Creator and the Created"

"When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you don't even understand the language people speak. So you are like a child just out of the womb. You begin to attach much more importance to the things around you because your survival depends upon them. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in difficult situations. And you accept any small favor from the gods with great delight, as if it were an episode you would remember for the rest of your life.

At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive. That's why a religious pilgrimage has always been one of the most objective ways of achieving insight. The word peccadillo, which means "small sin", comes from pecus, which means "defective foot," a foot that is incapable of walking a road. The way to correct the peccadillo is always to walk forward, adapting oneself to new situations and receiving in return all of the thousands of blessings that life generously offers to those who seek them"

Manuel Antonio

Backing up two weeks, nine of us trainees and AIESECers went to Manuel Antonio National Park, on the Pacific Ocean. It was gorgeous and soooo much fun. It was the first large group trip for me since Turkey and traveling in big, diverse groups is the best. We were nine people from Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Japan, Finland, Turkey, and Panama. To feel like you know people better all it takes is one trip. I think there’s a good comfort level between everyone.

The highlight was that I surfed for the first time!!!!!!!! Whooooooooooooooo and I got on the board!!!! It was only because a really nice Tico guy helped me out soooo much. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him, seriously. It’s freakin tough. That’s just getting out beyond the breaking point of the waves, then there’s the whole standing up issue and keeping a balance. I’m gonna try it again as soon as I can!


The park itself has beautiful beaches and we saw a few monkeys and iguanas here and there.

Other highlights include:
- predrinking fun: drinking games, telling stories and revelations
- chilling out and drinking coconuts on the beach
- dancing salsa and reggaeton (hahahah or trying too- apparently all you move is your butt and nothing else, totally different from hip hop)


Next weekend, it's time for Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean coast is like a little Rastafari town, oh ya.