A thousand glows

by Georgia Desideri-Zigante (Italy)

I didn't expect to find Costa Rica

“Ay que linda!” this radiant woman exclaimed as I walked into the garden of my host-family. As Javier’s mother embraced me, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the symphony of cicadas seeping through my years, fighting with the high pitched squeals of Herons and the echoes of Tinamous to be heard by my impressionable ears. It came to mind that as a biology student, having dedicated myself to studying nature, in return, I thought that I knew her, whilst still able to analyze her, process her, turn trees into data sets and leaves into tabs on an excel document. Yet, at this moment, held in the arms of a woman I barely knew while rusting leaves and an orchestra of creatures seeped into me, I was not the expert data processor, the nature-connoisseur. I was the butterfly raised in a jar, and here, was I being set free, released. Released. She released me from her arms, and I was guided into a wave of hugs, cheek squeezing and repetition of incomprehensible but all the same flattering compliments from the entirety of Javier's family, leaving me to pocket my thoughts for later. Javier, with his doe-eyed sweetness, informed me we were heading to the beach, the place his family loves to be at this time of the year. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant, probably the presence of such a full moon, which would light the sea in milky white ripplets. In unison, we walked the 200 meters to the beach. We passed through a worn-out wooden gate; clearly, this beach was accessed only by locals on the outskirts of Limon, the popular tourist destination. With a full moon, we could see clearly Javier's father waving to us in the distance from under a set of 4 slender palm trees, whose silhouettes gave them a slightly sinister look, as if one had to thank them for their shadows protection in the exposing moonlight. Javier He replied attentively, “to show you magic”, and responding to my puzzled look he calmly continued “Look at the waves. Look close”. I did as he said, fixed my eyes on the waves, and couldn't suppress my gasp of awe. The waves, the light white foam that formed on the tip of the waves curl glowed, and glided along the wave as it progressively clashed against then peacefully reunited with the ocean until the next came and took its place. “Glowing plankton?” Javier croaked in a slightly high tone, wondering whether his english was correct. Without responding I grabbed his arm and hoisted him towards the glowing water, having him run clumsily to my pace just behind me. The glow got more intense as we approached, until I could see the turquoise singular spots swimming, in hundreds of thousands, on the surface and in the obscure depths where sand was upheaved. Never leaving the grasp of Javier's arm, we ungracefully splashed into the warm water down to our knees. I had never expected to see just a beautiful dance of glowing spots, I thought of the cells that flow through our blood and had the immediate image of these planktons, the cells of the ocean, the basis of all marine life itself. How selfless it was of them, to leave themselves exposed to our eyes, our ungraceful splashes and naive hands attempting to grasp them. I was lost in this thought, staring at a singular glowing spot on my hand, when I heard a distinct cheery voice call out behind me “Ey mi linda!”, just as I turned back, Javier's mum splashed me with enough force to drench me in the warm water. I laughed while wiping the salt from my eyes, not prepared for the sight of my glowing body. I had never looked at my hands, my upper arms, my chest, with such fascination, as the turquoise spots seemed to glow and fade, irritated plankton lifted from the warmth of the caribbean sea. I felt my body as a source of eternity, and as I looked around me, towards the glowing family around me, I knew I had encountered what it meant to not study nature, but to feel her embrace.