Cacao, Boa and The Meeting of Worlds

A Contextual Story of How I met Erik The Reptile Guy

23rd April 2025

There are places that appear as cafés, yet beneath the surface they function as portals of possibility, where life itself arranges the very meetings that take place. Often cafés are reduced to business: transactional, efficient, curated for quick stops or planned meet-ups, with tables sealed from one another. In that design, the magic of a living encounter seems to slip away. Yet some cafés resist becoming mechanical, and remain alive as portals.

CariBeans, Puerto Viejo, is one of these places. Known for its homemade chocolate and cacao tours, it is also a hub for synchronic encounters, where stories and their deeper potential, like the humble cocoa pod itself, are reborn through the art of reimagination.

One day, I arrive at the café, trying to figure out how to economically survive without betraying my values and simultaneously, at the time, living off-grid and cut off from electricity. But those worries began to be replaced by the conversation that transpired right beside my table. It was a conversation about the qualities of a boa. Though I was not physically part of the conversation, I immediately felt spiritually woven into it. Any mention of god, (animals/nature) attracts my attention hehe. Something in the cadence, in the passion for life Erik carried when he spoke, stirred me to begin voice recording and capturing the moment. Later I would learn that Erik was a biologist who devoted his life to reptiles. In that moment, though, all I heard was Erik speaking a language I recognise and deeply connect with. A language that translates nature with profound reverence.

Apparently there had been a boa spotting at the hostel adjacent to CariBeans, and Erik spoke of how boa’s do not wander far from their territory, how they like to hide, so there was a chance that it was right here in the cafe’s viscinity. Erik curiously stood up from where he was seated, took one step toward his left, and peered into a neglected crevice in the roof adjacent from him. Three simple steps. Then, in excited disbelief, there it was. The boa itself, a silent herald, peacefully resting. The voice recording captured this synchronicity unfolding in real time, and it was this very moment that tangibly stitched Erik and I into the same story.

Three spirits were in subtle communication throughout this experience. The one that sensed the boa’s nearness and discovered it, the one that recognized the energy of magic in the air and managed to capture it before it took full form, and the ultimate spirit that guided the entire experience, wishing to be both discovered and captured, not for ownership, but for revelation.

Our excitement was immediate; screams of childlike joy, goosebumps, widened eyes, the shared knowing that these encounters are never meaningless. In the awe of it, conversation opened. Erik asked about my work, and I spoke of it not in skills or titles but in truths: that my craft lies in perceiving the anima of life, in capturing the living thread between experience, experiencer, and witness. Just like this very moment. I explained how I am not a professional videographer or storyteller, but I am a listener to the subtle realms, one who feels into the spaces in between and feels to be in direct communion with the guidance of a higher intelligence. 

Some days later, chance revealed itself again. I was at a friends house when Erik was walking right by the front gate. He was heading directly toward the path that leads to David’s, whose land is known for its many snake encounters. Erik did not know this land was at the very end of the road he was traveling, yet he was unknowingly heading straight toward it. Another rendezvous arranged by the unseen, another ophidian sign intertwining our paths together.

We paused by the entrance of the gate and spoke, of vision, of work, of how to serve what we both felt pulsing at the center of life. What began as a moment of overheard conversation with a snake nestled between the roof, became a journey into Panama, where we filmed together for Menghayati, Erik’s children’s television series on PBS. 

Even its name was a checkpoint: Menghayati, an Indo/Malay word that encompasses all living things, meaning existence and spirit of life. To hear it spoken aloud was to feel language itself circle me back to my roots. It felt like another piece within the puzzle. What I valued most was how Erik’s invitation was not born from my résumé or credentials, but from shared recognition of the spirit of pure life. 

To read more about Erik and his work, click here

To glimpse into our adventure in Panama, click here

To read about how we met our tour guide Sugar, click here