Christmas and Chirripo Mountain

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So Christmas and New Year's came and went...
Lot's of things happened here.

We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner, in candlelight and all...On Christmas day we were busy with welcoming the new family from the States who wanted to take Spanish lessons for the week. I opened one present that Shelley mailed to me, so that kinda felt like Christmas. Talked to the fam in the morning on speaker phone and then went on with my day. It was a good Christmas overall.

Last Tuesday was when we left for 3 days to Tortuguero. It rained most of the time but it was a cool experience. Got to our hotel via boat in a canal. Woke up early the next day to go on a canal tour and look at animals. Didn't really see too much because of the rain. Then on the way home we took a boat ride back to the drop off point. The whole hour and 45 minutes we rode in the rain with no top on the boat. We were all wearing rain ponchos. I was bent over with my head inside my poncho listening to my ipod. It helped make the ride go faster!

Then I went to Jaco/Manuel Antonio. It was pretty busy there. High season. The monkeys at the Manuel Antonio were way more aggressive this time. They stole my apple that was laying by my towel. They kept going into people's food.

As for the Chirripo Mountain trip, - well I did it!
I didn't think I'd be able to based on the test hike I did on Friday. I was the last one to get to the top and I was struggling. I felt really foolish and discouraged about it. I was seriously questioning if I should go on Monday. But thanks to people convincing me, I went based on their assurance I could do it!

So New Years day, we woke up at 5 am and got in the cattle truck and drove for 2 hours to the drop off point. Then started the hike. It took us almost 5 hours. I burned 2073 calories! I had a special watch on the monitors your heartrate and calculates your calories. It was pretty tough. I ate these power gel things every hour to keep my energy up.
The indigenous came and met us half way and took our bags. So I didn't have to carry anything which was a life saver. I had this super-duper hiking stick that Tony bought me. That helped too!

When we got there we were all pretty exhausted, but also felt exhilerated. We ate lunch then just hung around a bit. At night they had a special service. And 2 hours later we finished! They asked the gringos to sing some songs in English. So we went up to the front and sang "Jesus Loves Me". They all sat there and were mezmorized! The next night they had a second service and they asked us to sing 3 songs! So we sang "I've got peace like a river" and we did all the actions to it! At one point I started laughing when I realized how bizarre it was to be singing this song, in the jungle, in the middle of nowhere! We also sang "Amazing Grace" and "This is the day"

Earlier that day we played soccer (I didn't, I chose to play with the kids). There was no way I could keep up with those guys on a soccer field! Then we did a craft in the afternoon with the kids. It was cool to see them all interested in every detail.

This area has no electricity, and is the most rural place you can imagine! We all slept in a bamboo hut, which was actually not all that bad, other than the fact that I wished I had a thicker air mattress, cuz my back kept digging into the the bamboo on the bottom.

On the hike back, I was a little nervous, cuz I wondered if I'd have the same energy to get back. But somehow I did. I know it's cuz people were praying for me. I felt really strong both times. Even though I got a bit tired, I just kept going. When I got to the top and looked around and realized what I did, I got all teared up. I couldn't believe I finished! I was so happy. And I'm still in shock that I did it. An experience of a lifetime!

The people of Chirripo are so gentle and warm and friendly. They are so strong and have such a pure faith. Hearing them sing worship songs in their own language was really beautiful. It was incredible to think that God moves in people in the jungle, as much as he moves in people in the city.

I've now seen first hand how true it is that God can be found literally everywhere, all over the world.

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