Thousands of worldly travelers seeking transformation descended on the tiny Pacific coast town of Uvita, Costa Rica, last week to attend the fourth annual Envision Festival. They spent four days listening to live, pulsating music, dancing with abandon and making creative connections in a lush jungle setting on the shore. In keeping with tradition, we present you with some of the things we overheard at Envision:
“I have blue hair. I thought I would stand out, but I guess not.”
“I feel like we all come from the trees. You see, you have to be rooted into the ground, but also reach to the sky. The branches go to the sky and the rest comes from the ground and the energy meets in the middle and explodes in love. We are all love. When we are babies we are pure love. We have to breathe deep and pull our shoulders back and feel the love.”
“A scorpion fell from the tree on to her shoulder. I need to learn Spanish cuss words.”
“More glitter!”
A man trying on a pair of shorts with fuzzy blue fur trim and tail: “I feel empowered in these.”
During the opening ceremony: “Open your eyes, let the magic in.”
A performer to a DJ: “Make the pretty people dance.”
“I can hear words coming out of your mouth, but I don’t think you are making sentences.”
“I can feel my chakras aligning.”
An early arrival steps off the shuttle and points to a group of people in the middle of a field: “Awwwww, they are already having a sharing circle.”
Overheard several times from people who had just run into a friend or found a place to sleep: “Yes, we manifested this.”
Woman: “You still have glitter on you.” Man: “Maybe it’s my natural sparkle.”
Pointing to a painting: “See that square right there? That represents Sally from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas.’”
“I lost my hat! My chi is escaping through my head.”
“I just can’t get my mind off of snow leopards. I think about them all day. I dream about them.”
“I can skip faster than I can run.”
“What exactly is a Portishead?”
“There is no time to sleep. We are carefully planning nap schedules.”
“What would we do without bamboo?”
Woman to a group in line for the shuttle: “I’m bummed because I lost my dress at the waterfall today. I hope I can find my boyfriend.” Someone in the crowd: “Wait, is your boyfriend missing, too?” Woman: “Yes, but I only want to find him because he might have the dress.”
“You can follow your heart. Don’t worry, the universe will catch you.”
Riding the cattle truck from the box office to the festival grounds: “Mooooooo.”
The Polish Ambassador (musician): “So much delicious fruit will yield from this gathering. Ideas shared, experiences gained, movements started.”
Two topless girls with neon feather skirts are on side of the highway in Uvita, drinking 40-ounce Imperials, hitching thumbs out: “Now THAT is how you get picked up.”
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Lindsay Fendt contributed to this report.
