Last Saturday I checked in at a Yoga Retreat at Costa Dulce, which is south of San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. Costa Dulce is a very remote community with a beautiful beach. I have never seen such a busy beach. It does not matter where you look or step. There are marine snails and crabs everywhere.
Given that I am new to Yoga, I, of course, learned a lot about Yoga poses, but even more important after this week I better understand the connection between body and mind and how to become more conscious and being able to enjoy the moment. Yoga is so much more than physical exercise.
I will definitely continue with it and already got some books to understand the philosophy and medical aspects behind Yoga even better.
During this week, I also met an incredible person, Tim from Florida. He founded an NGO called Vital Actions. Amongst many other things, the NGO runs a turtle defense programme on the beach in Costa Dulce making an enormous contribution in saving different turtle species from becoming extinct. The philosophy of Vital Actions is excellent. Tim and his staff are always eager to find a way together with the local community to make the world a little bit better. For example, turtle eggs are usually sold at the food market. So instead of taking the eggs away from the local “egg hunters”, the NGO buys the eggs from the hunters ensuring, that they do not lose their income and can continue caring for their families. The eggs are then supervised 24h/day to ensure no crabs or similar are eating them. Therefore the team is achieving very high hatch rates and of course the turtles are released safely into the ocean.
Beyond turtles, Vital Actions also takes care of street dogs and cats and together with the local communities they have built a nature reserve, the Collado Reserve, close to Costa Dulce, where they watch over the wildlife and also plant lots of trees to reforest the jungle. This is just a small list of things the NGO is taking care of. Vital Actions is currently also setting up a program for homeless people in San Jose, Costa Rica, given the rise of homeless people in recent years. Vital Actions is all about protecting nature and establishing social justice. They have programmes in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico and the US. There are so many more things Vital Actions is doing and given that I met the founder and people working for the NGO, I can ensure, that any donated money is landing in the right hands and projects and is not wasted. So, if you like to donate or just want to learn more about Vital Actions, you can find them on Instagram, Youtube and Facebook or you can visit the website https://vitalactions.org/ Thank you for making the world a better place 🙂
Wanderlust 