Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions. — Peter Hoeg

Unsure of exactly when I may press onward to Costa Rica or another part of Nicaragua, I stop and realize that I have been living in the Pacific paradise for just over a month. When I stop and think of all of the places I have now considered to be temporary places I have called home, it makes me appreciative of all the blessings in my life, both those that are more recent and those that continue to exist back in the States. I cannot thank my family, friends, and even coworkers that have made an imprint on my life through their influence even without knowing it themselves. Because, they have in retrospect affected my life, just as each person has with those they have encountered through their own individual journey that each person must walk for themselves, and when I take a step back, it makes me just that more thankful. My second week of working at The Surfing Donkey Hostel brings with it a bit of chaos as the staff attempts to keep up with an irregular system, but both the personalities of the guests and our small knit group of staff members make this part of the experience of hostel life that I have found to become more of an ease than a burden or a struggle. From day one, I was unsure how I would reinstate myself into living in communal settings, especially after living alone in a four-bedroom home that was spacious and what I thought was essential for my own sanity. The largest challenge for those that continue to wonder how I do this, it is a mindset that you must adopt, but I will promise if you are able to overcome the ideal of what you need to live as opposed to what is an essential, life will surprise you.
