Monteverde

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So, this weekend I went to Montevrede. I think it's supposed to be a rainforest but I think cloud forest is more appropriate. The trip there was the most beautiful yet, so beautiful that the bus actually pulled over at one point so we could all talk pictures and just soak it all in. I was in awe...I saw a sunset I have only dreamed of. I just sat on the bus listening to my music and staring out the window. It is hard to convey how amazing it felt...it was almost like a moment of clarity. It's unreal to be so close to perfection.

That night we stayed at a hotel on a mountain and it was FREEZING! There was a bonfire, which was great, though, and we had a perfect view of the stars. Definately different from the other excursions, but I felt more at home, like I was camping. Even our rooms looked like wooden cabins.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to go on our Canopy tour, which basically means we got to zipline all through the rainforest. It was awesome! First, we put on some hardcore gear that definately started weighing me down by the end. There was a line at first to send people off, so my friend Sammy and I made friends with the people behind us (go figure, right?). They were an older couple from Canada and so much fun. the lady wasn't so sure about aipñining, though, so we had to encourage her. My list of international friends now includes: many from Costa Rica, one from Guatamala, my mamá from Columbia, one from Italy, a handful from Austria (one who's actually studying in Emory next semester and I'm going to help her out!), some Canadians, one from Scotland, and one from England...I feel I should add my friend Rebecca from Alaska just because that is so random and I have learned many things. FYI, there are no penguins in Alaska....

So, back to ziplining. I finally know what breathtaking means. It was so freeing and I it honestly took my breath away because of the sheer power behind the feeling, the view, and just realzing what I was doing. At one part, we did the Tarzan swing...Oh my God...Basically, it's this really high platform you jump off of and swing and hope you don't die. No, it's not really that bad, but I did almost vomit before I did it. I had to tell the guys empujame (push me) because I knew I would never jump. After a con gusto (with pleasure) and a bending of my knees, the next thing I knew, I was free falling and screaming my lungs out. Once I started swinging back, though, I was loving it and didn't want to stop. They caught me with some weird tire thing, though, before I knew it and dragged me in...that part was kind of fun too 😊 What an adrenaline rush...I could have done it like 50 more times.

Then, I lunched, took a long nap, and went out to the discoteca with some friends. We had to hagle with the taxi triver to pick us up at the end of the night because we were like 6 miles from town and the taxis stopped running at 11pm...luckily my Tico friend did the talking, although I'm sure I could have done it! I was so proud of myself because I had like an hour long conversation with a local in Spanish about work and all kinds of things. It was amazing- I love to speak in Spanish and I'm getting better every day.

Sunday, I woke up at like 6am to go to the Reserva Biologica, which is basically the rainforest preserve. I explored with Sarah and Sammy and we had so much fun. It was about a 3/4 mile hike there and then we hiked around for about 2 hours. There weren't many animals, but it was still amazing. There was moss on everything and so many crazy trees and plants. It was also nice every once in a while to see a colorful flower or berry amist all the lush green. The three of us found a tree we wanted to live in and even found berries we decided we could eat if we got lost...apparently we read the map wrong and went backwards, but it worked out for us. I even climbed some tree with a crazy vine thing...not so well, but I tried, which is all that matters. Then, we heading home. By the way, watching the Superbowl in a foreign language is quite interesting and quite confusing. I couldn't tell what part of the game it was because those are words they don't realy teach you in school either, but it was definately an experience! This was my last trip through ISA and they definately got my feet wet, so I can't wait to explore on my own....

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