How I Learned to Slow Down Time
Nomad Vlog 2 - In Traveling to Tamarindo, Costa Rica I discovered how to control time
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I’m currently sitting out on the balcony of my Airbnb in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. The first international stop and official start to my digital nomad journey.
It’s been a whirlwind of experiences already in traveling to get here to Tamarindo, Costa Rica.
I’ve only been in the country for thirty-six hours chronologically, but somehow it feels like weeks.
The feeling has me reflecting on the power of new experiences and how they affect our relationship with time.
It feels like time can literally be slowed down and filled with more life in less time.
A powerful ability that I want to be able to channel and recall on demand.
Arrival in Costa Rica
The flight to Costa Rica wasn’t too much different than any of the many other flights I’ve been on. And other than some mild acrobatics landing in some gusty winds and alternative cabin instructions in Spanish, it’s not much to write about.
The airport in Liberia, Costa Rica, is medium to small and pretty nice. It was an American Airlines flight, so all was pretty familiar.
The anticipation of the upcoming experiences and unknown had my attention and awareness piqued, however, so I could tell I was taking in more.
I was more present. Time was starting to get just a little slower.
The customs line was long, and while queuing up and looking up Spanish words on my phone that I thought I might need ahead of talking to the customs agent, I glanced around and noticed just how similar everyone looked.
They all looked and sounded like me. Caucasian and English-speaking. Many of them looking and sounding way more gringo than myself, having blonde hair and speaking with MidWest drawls and talking of Minnesota football.
I was a little disappointed at first, but then again, I already knew that it was the case, and was reminded that Costa Rica is a big vacation destination for North Americans. And it is peak season here after all, when there is little rain and it’s warm and sunny all the time.
It also works out well for my international nomad-ing experience to ease in a bit.
After connecting with my friend from their incoming LA flight, we were picked up by another mutual friend who splits time working remotely both in Los Angeles and Costa Rica.
It’s another advantage for acclimating to a new culture and language having a native speaker to hang out with and show you around, so we were grateful to have our guide.
Even better that our guide pulled up in a 1970s vintage Land Rover, the kind that you would see in an Indiana Jones movie.
The new experiences were starting to pick up.
Immersion Begins
We hopped in our epic ride and headed out into the wilds of Costa Rica, the adventure officially beginning.
Tamarindo is a few hours away from Liberia (where the airport is), and we needed to pick up our guide’s friend to round out the group for the trip towards the coast, so we headed deeper into the city.
Even though Costa Rica has a lot of tourists and expats, they tend to keep to certain areas, and Liberia is markedly more on the local side regarding its residents.
The city was very vibrant, with people outside hanging in the parks and outside storefronts relaxing and socializing on a Saturday evening.
Some parts of the city were definitely nicer than others. Similar to some big cities in the US and many cities in Latin America, the transition can be quite quick.
Costa Rica is a big travel and expat destination, but there is noticeable poverty in different parts of the country, and often with that comes some risk, especially for foreigners. This is where having a guide was again very valuable, and he was able to instruct me when to pull my gringo head back into the already attention-grabbing safari car so as not to grab too much attention of the bad kind.
Traffic, it seems, exists in all countries, so after picking up our fourth, we decided to let it die down a bit and grab dinner in the city before heading toward Tamarindo on the coast.
I’m definitely glad we did, as the restaurant had a beautiful outdoor patio, great Costa Rican food, and was pretty much a locals-only spot, so I was able to get a more pure experience of the local culture.
Our newly added fourth in the group, as well as the servers, barely spoke any English, so the culture experience started to heighten as well. I’ve long wanted to learn another language, and I’ve been practicing Spanish casually on the side for years, but Duolingo has nothing on sink or swim immersion, so this was the first test.
It went well, and luckily our guide is fluent in both English and Spanish, so it made for a very effective learning experience to try out my modest language skills and then have someone to bail me out when I inevitably failed, haha. Especially with our fourth member not speaking English, it was a great new experience to try and connect without the full arsenal of native language. It’s surprising how much you can communicate if you have the courage to try.
The Journey to Tamarindo
After dinner, we made the trek to the coast, winding through the grassy plains region of the country, passing local towns and their Saturday night street parties along the way. Some of the parties were absolutely bumping, with live music, BBQ, and people pouring into the street dancing in some parts. I was tempted to ask to stop, but ended up deciding that this gringo needs a little more Spanish practice before that level of immersion.
The roads in between cities don’t have many lights, so it’s pretty dark with not much in between, but I could occasionally see parts of the open landscape as we drove on the winding roads.
Costa Rica is tropical, but it’s not quite the jungle that I was expecting. There are different regions, and the Western side is more open plains with the occasional bunches of trees instead of dense forest. It’s also the dry season, so it becomes much more lush when it’s raining every day in other parts of the year.
As we got closer to our destination, I could start to see lights pop up on the horizon like fireflies flickering one by one at dusk.
They continued to spread as we approached until we started to see signs of a small beach city popping up around us.
Restaurants and shops started to line the street as we headed down the main road along the beach toward our Airbnb.
In the transition, it quickly went from Costa Rican countryside with street parties to a tourist beach town as we saw droves of non-locals crowding the streets, many of them dressed nicely and heading out for fun on a Saturday night.
We made it to our Airbnb on the other side of the town and quickly dropped off our things and changed to head back out and catch some of the weekend energy building outside.
By the time we got back to the main streets near the beach, the streets were packed and filled with people. Music was emanating from every building facade, and the smell of street food permeated the air.
The energy was contagious and captivating. It had the excitement of some kind of international adult spring break. People of all races and origins were represented as they ducked in and out of restaurants and clubs, as I realized that the city was much more of a tourist destination than a chill nomad stop that I had originally anticipated.
We hopped from outdoor patio to bar, to club, taking it all in.
For a moment, it had that luring level of appeal that you get in Las Vegas, or holiday vacation how spring break used to feel, where you just want to live your whole life in that present excitement, and the drudgery of work and everyday routine life seems so pale and vapid in comparison, why would you ever live it again? You can just spend every last penny chasing this ultimate high and never looking back, tossing caution and responsibility into the oblivion in which it belongs…
I worried myself for a moment. That’s not why I came here… But eventually I snapped myself out of it, bringing my consciousness safely back to the present to enjoy the experience as it was in the moment.
Eventually, much later than I originally intended, we retired back to our condo and crashed out shortly after calming the buzz and excitement of our temporary new home.
Travel Slowing Down Time
The next day, Sunday, we headed out again toward the ocean to see the city during the day and have lunch on the beach before saying goodbye to our friends as they headed back to Liberia to their work and weekly routines.
After the beach, we ventured out to tackle some of the necessary everyday tasks like grocery shopping and scouting for various remote work spots.
In that, what would normally be a normal, boring task was again infused with the adventure of new experiences in seeing new foods and deciphering product labels while trying to get help from employees in my humbly mediocre ability to speak in my new local language.
It might be the kind of thing that causes stress and anxiety to some, but the experience of every little new moment brings me something new. A simple interaction, yet rich with new experiences. Something to be remembered.
As we were going about our evening of shopping and acclimation, my travel friend and I kept commenting that we weren’t sure what day it was.
We had just gotten here, right, or had we? Was it yesterday that we flew in? It couldn’t have been, so much has happened since then, it must have been last week.
We kept marveling at how much had happened since we arrived. It felt like forever since getting off that plane.
After checking my calendar and confirming that it was indeed only a day before that we had arrived, I was convinced that there must be some kind of time dilation or vortex here in Tamarindo, Costa Rica that causes time to pass more slowly.
Maybe not so much in a scientific sense, but definitely in my perception.
Ending the evening by taking in one of the more known local experiences, a Tamarindo sunset, I was convinced there was at least some kind of supernatural force at play.
Our Relation with Time and New Experiences
The topic definitely warrants an entry of its own, but I’m rekindled with fascination about our relationship with time and memory and the belief that new experiences are such a big part of how we perceive it.
When we are young, time seems to span eternity. Summer and holiday breaks mark whole eras in our existence with each occurrence jam-packed with memories and experiences.
Novels could be written (and have been) about the adventures of a single summer with memories that remain clear as day for the entirety of our lives.
The experiences of our young lives imprint deeply upon us and re-shape our perspectives and views.
What is that makes those youthful spans of time seem so long and feel so rich?
I know that there is a scientific explanation about the phenomenon. And it’s fairly easy to understand that time in which youthful experiences make up a greater presentation of our lived experience and memory at that time.
But I think that a key element of it transcends age: The concept of new experiences.
They engage us fully and bring our consciousness into the present to take in and analyze the new. To devote our full energy into the reception of something that we have never before seen, done, or felt.
Experience is a fuel for mind and the soul, allowing them to expand and grow.
Routine and familiarity serve their purpose and, in an evolutionary sense, serving to save energy and avoid uncertainty, but they certainly make time feel like it’s racing by at an alarming rate.
The decades of adulthood spent in work and sustaining the requirements of existence are often sparse with time expanding memories, seeming like barely any time has gone by with little of the new to recall.
New experiences lock us into the moment, fully captured and away, and make that moment seem like an eternity.
Some of this is inevitable, I suppose, but I believe that we can control at least some of it.
Travel is one great way. Meeting new people and sharing even similar experiences through a new lens imprints on us as something rich and new.
Creativity is another way. Internal travel, if you will, to expand and see new perspectives within oneself. To grow and see new perspectives within that will in turn enrich and expand the world that we see on the outside.
Settling into my local routine
It’s something I hope to capture with my time nomading, to steal away new experiences in my weekly routines while still making progress in personal and professional goals.
Even being slightly aware of the phenomenon of time and new experiences and the possibilities of even slightly controlling it, it is definitely easy to fall into routines. And routines after all, do make us the most productive when we are striving to achieve things never before accomplished in our businesses and creative endeavors.
But I think maybe new experiences can be part of our routines. And they can, and should, be prioritized, as part of something I’ve often struggled to find and achieve: balance.
And balance being a part of a greater goal or a life well lived. A life rich in experiences and without regrets.
That is something that I aspire to and hope to get better at recognizing and pursuing as I kick off a new era of experiences in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.
Michael
Remote Workspaces
I thought it would be cool to share some of the remote workspaces that I’m working from, for both creative and tech, as I visit different places. I forgot to share my Florida workspace last week before I left so here it is below.
Port Charlotte, Florida
A simple, effective setup with a great view 😎
