Elya Justina
Hello, my name is Elya, I’m 32 and from Ontario, Canada.  Moving to Costa Rica for this apprenticeship is the fulfillment of many years of dreaming.  I have travelled to many places throughout my twenties, and am grateful for those memorable experiences, but I have been desiring to live immersed in a completely new culture and have my daily activities profoundly shape me.

Being connected to Mother Nature in every step of the process to work, cook, sleep and be is going to be so rich and exciting!! I can’t wait for all the new sights, sounds and flavours this year will bring.

To give you a little insight into who I am, I currently work at a flower farm, planting and harvesting as well as creating bouquets and assisting with floral pieces for weddings (my favourite!).  I am trained as a massage therapist but have been on a soul-searching journey this year as I reconnect with my passion for the arts.  I love to paint, make jewelry, write poetry, dance, and do creative photoshoots.  Earlier this year I took some silversmithing workshops and I’m really excited to continue learning this craft.  One of my goals is to publish a book of my poems one day...sometimes the inspiration comes to me on a walk, while I’m working or even driving (and I pull over to write it down!)

I guess you could say that everything about the coming year - the beauty in the food, the planting, havesting and building - feels like a big art project that I will get to do with a team of amazing people!  I’m especially looking forward to all the new connections and what we can learn from each other.