Fit Foodie

Mareya Ibrahim is The Fit Foodie, a TV chef, holistic nutrition coach, author and award-winning entrepreneur and inventor. She is the author of “Eat Like You Give a Fork,” and a signature chef to the NY Times bestseller “The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life”. Mareya is the host of “Recipes For Your Best Life” Podcast and is a frequent guest on national cooking shows. Connect with Mareya at mareyaibrahim.com.

THE PATH IS THE PRACTICE

BY CELEBRITY CHEF AND INDUSTRY EXPERT MAREYA IBRAHIM, THE FIT FOODIE

We were headed to Tamarindo, a place that lives by the motto “surf, eat and party.” We had surfed the white-wash waves and had eaten enough gallo pinto to stuff a small horse, but it was the fireball sunsets from our last trip that were our kind of fiesta, and has us looking forward to reuniting with the Guanacaste region’s Gold Coast jewel on our honeymoon. Yet the moment we drove into town, it started pouring. This was, after all, the rainy season in Costa Rica but we were only here for a night and we weren’t about to let that thwart our wave time. It was too early to check into Cala Luna, the area’s first boutique hotel on Playa Langosta just a few hundred feet from the center of Tamarindo, so we parked near Iguana Surf, stripped down to our swimsuits, and waited in line to rent a boogie board for me and a surfboard for my husband with about 20 other people who had the same idea. When we got our gear, we weren’t about to wait for the rain to subside. We played in the water for hours, raindrops dancing on our heads.

Costa Rica is not a place where you go to be an uptight traveler with an agenda. You have to ebb and flow with it like the tide. No one here is in a big hurry. The roads aren’t great and driving 25 kilometers might take an hour. You might wait longer than you think you need to for things. To that, they will say ‘Pura vida.’ People are too caught up in gratitude to let the little things get to them. Catching a wave or drinking a cerveza, walking through a rainforest or watching the monkeys above you like you’re in an episode of Wild Animal Planet, all seems to make the stress of the world dissipate like the rain did and in this moment, I welcomed that with my whole heart.

The walk to our room was quite literally through a jungle. A path lined with dense, green plants and trees of every size held the last of the rain’s droplets, clinging to the leaves and shimmering in the humid air. We changed quickly and headed to El Mercadito, an openair food court with options from Poke bowls to Florentine-Style Pizza, helado (ice cream) to authentic Costa Rican comfort food, which is exactly where I landed. I was famished from all the water play and ready to eat with abandon. For $7, I got a real homestyle feast loaded up with gallo pinto, stewed chicken and potatoes in a coconut sauce, salad and a side of pickled cauliflower and carrots. Nothing had ever tasted quite this satisfying that I could recall, so when my husband deftly wedged his fork

into the chicken then the potatoes, awaiting his Margherita Pizza, I felt myself getting territorial. Never get your fork in the way of a hungry foodie.

We spent the rest of the evening picking up souvenirs and chatting with business owners along the main drag. COVID had taken a toll on the business owners here and you could tell how happy they were to see people walking in. One of the many things I love about Costa Rica is people are never pushy. They might suggest you come dine in their restaurant or offer you a look at their wares, but I never once felt uncomfortable, and I never saw anyone solicit for money. People are content with what they have.

The next day, I had breakfast with my friend Melissa, an American living in Tamarindo with her family. We had met her and her husband in the town of Nosara three years before during a World Cup game where we watched with a bunch of locals, cheering on the US team while eating grilled octopus and sipping Imperial beer at an outdoor bar. They had just decided to transplant and now, with several years under her belt of acclimating to the Tico lifestyle, she felt she had found home. She shared with me how different it was living there, and that her teenage boys didn’t get caught up in the trappings of Cali life, or feel the need to have tech gadgets or the latest fashion. So much so, that on a recent visit to the US, they seemed to have lost their shoes – or maybe they just forgot to bring them at all – because they never wear them at home. We agreed that the food in the hotel’s breakfast bar was exceptional – fluffy scrambled eggs, fresh cucumber and tomato salad with olives, succulent slices of papaya and pineapple, slabs of white queso fresco and thinly sliced uncured breakfast meats with whole grain bread and local butter. Everything tasted so pure and flavorful, simple yet exceptionally fresh. Melissa shared that the owner of the hotel, Griet Depypere, a Belgian native who has made Costa Rica her home for almost 30 years, supplies most of the food here from her farm, La Senda. “Oh, and they have the world’s largest labyrinth there,” added Melissa. Labyrinth? A farm that grows Mediterranean ingredients in Central America? I was intrigued and with a quick mention to the front desk manager, we had an appointment to visit La Senda that afternoon.

Before we got on the road, we made a lengthy stop at Almacen, the town’s health food store. Looking like a shop you’d find in Laguna Beach, the bulk bins were brimming with beans, grains, spices and superfoods. I perused every label and package, always curious about what indigenous foods and unique items I might find. picked up some local ginger lemon kombucha, cocoa nibs, black sesame seeds and a package of Blue Zones Morning Brew, a blend of maya nut, seeds and Costa Rican coffee that I had tried at Casa Chameleon in Las Catalinas. I also grabbed a low sugar, gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookie the store touted as homemade, and I appreciated a little creature comfort from home.

La Senda is an hour drive from the hotel, but only about 15

miles away. Much of the trek is on a dirt road that winds you through working farms and pastures, and yet another downpour had us going slower than usual, yielding to the occasional pothole or grazing cow. When we arrived, we were greeted by 9 dogs along with Griet, who welcomed us into the rolling estate. It was apparent that Griet and her partner, Ann, have created their own sublime haven here in the middle of the countryside. La Senda is a Ranch and full Wellness Center where they host farm to table dinners, sweatlodge events and other alternative health retreats. Her food ethic is extremely strong, and she holds a firm position on their practices. On 74 acres, they raise chickens and ducks, and grow dozens of different fruit, vegetables and herbs. Griet only buys her seafood from small fisherman in the Nicoya Bay. She would never buy frozen fish, anything caught with large nets or anything endangered. La Senda breathes sustainability and Griet is integrally involved in the sourcing of all the resort’s ingredients. They have eliminated nearly all imported items except for wine, olive oil and pasta. She lived in Italy for years and goes back twice a year.

“If you were using ingredients from other countries, it used to be exciting and interesting. Now, it’s totally different. I like using what’s local because it tastes better. Foraging is much more exciting. What we don’t raise or grow, we try and buy items sourced as close to the hotel as possible.”

“Have you always been an environmentalist” I asked.

“I’ve always been a foodie,” she laughed.

““It’s super important that we eat healthy and we eat responsibly. In this region, people never thought they could grow vegetables. We’re proving the opposite. We are showing people you can grow organically. We have four kinds of lettuce, three types of kale, three types of spinach, bok choy, swiss chard, arugula, different types of small tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, butternut squash, pumpkin, different types of beans, sesame, peanuts, root vegetables, yucca, taro root, broccoli, green cabbage, sweet potatoes, carrots and all the herbs you can imagine. We are working with people creating organic compost and introducing that to other villages nearby, and actively tropicalizing seeds to help them grow here. We take the seeds from Italy and the Mediterranean and grow them. The first year, I might not have a good production. But I take those seeds and replant them, and by the third growing season, I can have a regular growing crop, like our eggplant, tomato, cucumber, and so many others.”

Right at the perfect time, Anne offered us a tea made with 7 different herbs. “We also have a medicinal herb garden here.” After taking a big swig of the refreshing lemon balmy elixir, I asked Griet, ‘so tell us about the labyrinth.”

“Ahhh, the labyrinth. Do you want to see it?”

“Absolutely!”

We were about to get up when she startled me.

“Don’t move. There’s a tarantula next to your foot.”

“Ummmm, whaaaaaat?!” I tried not to scream like a little girl, my voice gaining three octaves.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry, it’s dead. I was hoping it wasn’t moving when I saw it earlier.” She didn’t seem to be that phased, being out here in the country, where all kinds of critters showed up regularly.

Meanwhile, I was feeling the blood in my body fall into my feet.

After quickly assessing our shoes, she suggested that we change into something a little less ‘nice’ seeing as the path there would be pretty muddy. I’ll tell you the white sneakers I was wearing are still caked in that red mud and I’ve made them my pilgrimage shoes, and the ones that protected me from the tarantula.

Led by the 9 dogs as our Sherpas, we followed the signs to the opening of the path about half a mile up the road.

And there was the entry. “Welcome to the world’s largest labyrinth.”

While a maze will get you lost, and you will have to find a way out, a labyrinth has only one path, symbolizing our life’s journey, taking us inwards.

Labyrinths in the western world are mostly found in churches, cathedrals, and recently in many hospitals. Are known as sacred gateways and have been found at the entrance of ancient sites around the globe. Often are located at the center of subtle Earth energies. These temples enhance, balance, regenerate and realign our biochemistry.

As the biggest in the world, this labyrinth measures above 2.5 acres (over 1 hectare) and the path is almost 2 miles (3km) long. It took 6 years to develop and now is fully planted with over 5.000 cactus, some more than 20 feet tall.

We came to learn the house was built on top of one energy vortex, and the location of the labyrinth took years to design. The fact that all turns had to take place in the central part of the labyrinth, there had to be 14 layers - two times seven or two complete musical scales - and it had to be built out of cactus to attract ‘prana’ or life force, according to the local indigenous tribes.

After taking one foot in front of the other, we made it to the center, yin and yang, male and female energy in perfect harmony, enshrouded by these magnificent cacti, towering and stately mixed with small and squat. We sat in the middle of the ‘finish line’ on rustic wood benches and took several minutes in continued silence, breathing it all in.

Costa Rica had given us all the answer.. It’s one foot in front of the other to the finish line on life’s path. If we’re aware of our surroundings, and we honor the prana and the ground that gives us sustenance and the sea that gives us energy and the air that gives us our breath, we can live by the code of pura vida. And the simple things sure taste a lot sweeter.