dominical
Known for killer surf breaks, relaxed vibes and hopped up hippies, the Pacific beachside
town of Dominical was our first Costa Rican port of call. Little did we know it would also be our last.
town of Dominical was our first Costa Rican port of call. Little did we know it would also be our last.
Arriving just days after a massive beachside music festival, my first impressions of Dominical could be summed up in one word…HIPPY! Combining music, yoga, dance and art into 4-days of sleepless fun, the festival claims to elevate spirits (whether naturally or unnaturally) and creates a lively commune of Tico, expat and tourists alike.
The festival spillover included everything from your neutral toned, holistic healing, tree huggers to your not so natural, drug and booze loving, vagrants. Not to mention a breed unto themselves. What I like to call, “High Maintenance Hippies.” Girls layered in ostentatious jewelry, thick fashion belts, Ug Style boots (in 90 degree weather), clothes that hardly covered their primary anatomy and yes, even furry faux animal tails attached to their backsides?? Not necessarily my definition of “hippy”, but their lack of makeup and minimal hygiene maintain the roots.
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A few other Dominical prerequisites - Dreads and Tat’s! Nappy short dreads or long, buttocks surpassing, weaves represent the Rasta roots while thousands of tattoos painting a history of the world through Peace n Love completed the look. Basically, if you didn’t have both, you were a minority. And if you didn’t have at least one or the other, you were a freak. Yep, I was the round peg trying to fit a square hole. Thank goodness for my "badass" nose and belly button ring...
A final Dominical snapshot…entrepreneurship is around every corner. All you need is hemp, floss and marijuana and shazaam, you’re an artist! Selling jewelry, paintings and head wraps from sunup to sundown, I’m not sure how lucrative these “business ventures” are but with cold beer in one hand and joint in the other, something tells me they are doing alright. My favorite entrepreneur, however, was the old man who collected driftwood to use as canvases for his natural dye paintings. A unique and eco-friendly way to support his expat ways.
Upon arriving in Dominical, we posted up at the famed Tortilla Flats Restaurant (the towns social pulse) for a scrumptious Western style breakfast. And while we enjoyed our pancakes and post-festival hippie parade, others enjoyed their first beers of the day (It's 5 o'clock somewhere right). Then again, who could blame them. With one main "street" in town, a bumpy dusty road lined in hammocks, surfboards and palm roof hostels, beer just seems to complete the picture. We eventually met up with one of Clays old rafting buddies and after a few beers and welcome shots of Jager, Scotti removed our hippy Dominical blinders and opened our eyes to his expat pura vida! For all those shenanigans, please check out my next blog: "The Trinlers". |