Hammock Review:

Liberia, Costa Rica

Wayne Dyer said to Manifest Your Destiny.*

I manifested a hammock.**

I cannot recall—and this can be supported through other much lengthier Hammock Reviews—a hammock presenting itself so easily.

I landed in Liberia, Costa Rica. Quickly made my way through Immigration and Customs. Changed some money. Got a cab, with no room reservation and sans my typical request for a hotel or hostel with a hammock.***

The first hotel had no available rooms (did they have a hammock? Perhaps we will never know, but I did not see one).

The next hotel, same situation. This was New Year’s Eve after all.

Then we went to the next hotel, and what do you know, they had a hammock right there in the foyer, to be seen right from the road. When I was about to tell them I’d be happy to sleep right there in that hammock (erroneously anticipating a potential blackout of available rooms on New Year’s Eve and not-so-secretly desiring the “need” to sleep in a hammock), they informed me they also had rooms.

But, as the hammock was closer to the front desk than my room, I lounged in the hammock even before I had lounged in my room.

In less than an hour I had gone from landing to in a hammock! Without even trying.

What could be better than that?

Nothing.

This is what Rod Stewart meant by “Some Guys Have All the Luck.”****

But this speaks of more than my luck, more than of any hammock-seeking prowess or determination of mine.

This speaks of the hammock prowess and determination of this hammock-loving country: Costa Rica.

They, ever so rightly so, have hammocks in many places.

Costa Rica, I tip my cap to you.

In other words, I lay in your hammock.

This specific hammock was in Hostel Pura Vida. The sister hostel, I believe, of Hostel Dodero, right down the street. This was a friendly hostel, a nice place to stay, as I am sure Hostel Dodero would have been, which I noticed–during my hammock research the next morning–also had a hammock. Had I been thinking, I would have taken a picture for this review. But I was preoccupied by not thinking.

Such is the life of hammocks, and their reviews thereof.

But I think staying in the Hostel Pura Vida because “pura vida” is the saying of Costa Rica and very much in the spirit of Sweet Livin’.

After having a calm, relaxing New Year’s Eve and a good sleep, I took a morning stroll.

And encountered some new friends along the way.

Friend 1

Friend 2

Friend 2 looks like he indulged in a little more of the New Year’s Eve festivities than Friend 1 or myself (citation: spoon & drink).

For me, both New Year’s Eve and this New Year’s Day stroll were peaceful and quiet, with so many places closed and so many people sleeping in. The sun itself had only somewhat awakened, which was perfect, providing a nice warmth and tender mildness instead of its midday heavy handedness. A gentle breeze joined in. It was a very hammock-like stroll.

And so I got to experience two of my favorite things, arriving at night in a warm Latin American country and experiencing that warm welcome, without the sun beating down. I like that humidity, when it is night and new to me, a stark contrast to the northern New England winter. And then the morning stroll to bookend it.

A great way to end the year, 2023, on a hammock.

And begin the next year, 2024, on a hammock.

Concluding 2023 on a hammock.

Beginning 2024 on a hammock.

Classic hammock sandwich, in calendar terms (Citation: Gregorian; Julian; Et al.).

Classic before-and-after photograph pairing, but in a hammock, where there is no drama, no dramatic shift in life or the lighting to make oneself look better or worse than they are.

Shall we always have that hammock integrity.

Shall we always have that hammock happiness.

Shall we always be so lucky.

Life always is, when there is a hammock around.

But don’t worry; I won’t take all the luck. Hammocks for everyone, I say. Luck for everyone, sayeth the hammock. Happiness for all, another hammock replieth in return.

Life doesn’t have to be as polarizing as Rod Stewart makes it out to be. Just listen to Wayne Dyer: we just have to manifest the hammocks and they will manifest the luck because the hammocks themselves are the luck (citation: circles).

*In his 1997 bestseller I never read, but feel like I did because my family talked about it so much when I was growing up. I did, incidentally, read the title of the book, so I do feel like I have a pretty solid foundation of what’s going on there.

**I’m not sure I did it in the exact way Dyer prescribed, but I did it. Having been yammering on and on about hammocks, as is typical of me and I do daresay should be typical of others, I manifested a hammock. I believe.

***Some cabbies are pro-hammock; some are not; during my travels I have developed a keen sense to read such a situation. A cab is not a great situation for converting someone to pro-hammock.

****”Alone in a crowd on a bus after working, I'm dreaming [of a hammock].

The guy next to me has a [hammock to rest on; instead of standing next to other sweaty people on this jampacked bus, I’d love to have a hammock to rest on during my commute home from work; that would be Sweet Livin’].”