Monteverde & Guanacaste

On Saturday we left at like 7 AM for Monteverde. It was probably 3 hours away from here, not a bad bus ride. We went straight to our hotel, or shall I call them cabins in the woods (!) and had lunch. Our rooms were awesome, log cabin style, with 3 to a room. I stayed with Ana and Kristen. We had to take a small bridge across the jungle to get there from the main lodge! All around there were the white faced monkeys, mischievously swinging and traipsing through the trees. We saw 2 babies, the most I've ever seen at once together. Cute! 

Lunch was very elegant, a 3 course meal of salad, fish, and tres leches (a very authentic, incredible dessert). After this, it was time for the Sky Trek canopy tour. Now, I had not given this part much thought. I just figured we'd be coasting through the forest, no big deal. But that was not the case. I'm actually glad I was so in the dark, now, or else I might not have done it. It was probably the scariest thing of my life. I have never been so nervous, my heart pounding out of my chest. But the thing is, I did it! I did it solo, the whole time, without breaking down (I only cried one tear, partly because of the cold wind). What you do is: you get all harnessed and strapped in around your legs and waist, and then there are 2 pulleys and locks that connect to the rope. You're supposed to use your strong hand, to put behind you very lightly on the rope, your middle finger and thumb forming a circle, the rope barely passing through. This is to keep your balance, so you don't spin. The other hand holds the 2 pulleys together. Now, the important part is to keep your strong hand from touching the rope to much, as that will slow you down, and make you come to a halt. This is the last thing you want when you are 100ft or more in the air (I don't remember the height, it could possibly have been 300+). At first, we did a series of small ones, the way I had pictured it the whole time. This wasn't so bad at all, but I came to a stop on the first one because I couldn't figure out how to not touch the rope so much. I had to turn myself around and pull myself to the other side. It was weird, but not that bad yet. I think the next two weren't bad, but then we got to this really, really big one that was like a kilometer far away. Ugh, I was shaking I was so nervous. I was thinking, what if I get stuck in the very middle, and I never get across?? It was so freaky to tell myself, don't grab the rope, don't grab it. It was very hard mind control. But I ended up doing OK, much better than before. I slowed down too soon, but it was probably 20ft from the end, and the guide came and pulled me out. He told me "thanks, I'm really tired", because he had just pulled Olivia across, but he was laughing about it. I guess Olivia had spun, she said it was freaky. I don't think anyone of us had done this before, FYI, beside Don Jorge and Ana. The next few were OK, because we had to hike to them, and there were a couple really small ones. But then we did some huge ones, that resembled the 1 kilometer or more, and those were all in a row, but by then I had figured out where to put my hands. It was so much easier, so much more enjoyable to know how to do it! That sounds dumb, but it's true. I was able to look around and marvel at how tall I was compared to the itsy bitsy trees beneath me. When we got to the last one, I wanted to freeze then run, because it had to be a mile long and a thousand feet high. I was peeing my pants. But then the guide said we got to go with partners, so Kristen became my new best friend. She went in front, in the position with her legs bent and up, and I attached my legs around her and held the rope in front. It was quite cozy! So here we are, going the fastest I've ever gone in the air, over what looks like the entire cloud forest. You can see an itty bitty bridge down beneath us, and the gigantic domed building isn't so big anymore. It was incredible. I screamed my head off, and loved every thrilling second of it. Oh and I forgot that when you go to land onto the platform, there is this big thing that breaks you, more like jolts you to a stop. It's really scary and unexpected, but fun. So that was that. I got great footage of everyone, I actually took 45 minutes at least this weekend, and filled up the memory! That's great. So, the last thing we did involving the canopy tour was to do the Tarzan jump. This involves hooking yourself up to a rope, doing a suicide, jump, and swinging for a few swings. I had no idea, I just followed the crowd. It was so freaky. It really feels like you're going to die. You bend your knees, step off a platform, and just before you do die, you are swept back up by the rope, and start the swinging! It was fun, I really enjoyed it. It wasn't a good view or anything, but the adrenaline was pumping. I was so sore after this entire escapade, not to mention from the day previous, where we all trekked up the mountains of Santa Ana, an 1.5 hour trip straight up, I mean straight up a mountain. So here we are, in the early afternoon, and I am just spent!

After this, we go right next door to this insect museum. It's one of the biggest ones in Costa Rica! They have all types of insects: butterflies, moths, spiders, ants, beetles, scorpions, flies, etc etc. It was really cool. They all looked awesome. And the sizes! I could not believe how big some of the bugs were. And some look so space age. Like flies with bat-like ears, stick bugs that look like little logs. It was insane. I read a lot about spiders. Like the tarantula isn't fatal, but it hurts really bad to get bitten by one. In contrast, the wolf spider common to north america is fatal, and results in many deaths each year especially in kids and pets. Just saying, that's not right. That's gross. Anyway, there were oodles of other facts I soaked up, and irony of ironies, we ended up meeting the man who put it all together, arthur walker or something like that in our hotel later! He is from the US, and doesn't speak much Spanish. Apparently him and his wife were opera singers! We ran into them with Jorge, and they all started singing together! It was truly bizarre, we are surrounded by the most random, famous people. How cool though. Apparently he isn't that well known in the states, and hasn't been in CR for 3 years. He was really appreciative of our enthusiasm for his collection. He was a funny guy. He "taught" us some of his key spanish phrases, which ended up involving "those girls are very pretty, with big boobs". He didn't mean to go this direction, I think he just blurted this out. It was really funny, nonetheless, to see the look on Jorge's face. He was trying so hard not to laugh

After the bug museum, we went back to the hotel, were able to have hot showers, which were an incredible welcome, as it had been lightly sprinkling and then pouring the whole time, which was freezing. I was completely soaked, as I had forgotten my rain jacket again, and Chels and I had decided to take pics in the rain. It was just a drenching experience. Anyway, we had dinner, which was another 3 course with a salad, fish, and then some unremarkable dessert. By the way, they don’t just give us fish, they give you a choice, but I feel like when they offer fish you should just take it. It’s not often you get a lot of fresh fish that’s free or already paid for. So I had the fish with rosemary sauce. It was delicious. They did such a good job there with food, I was happy. Plus we got rolls. Dinner was funny, we had some good talks. I told them about how E and I used to put on salt and pepper weddings. They hadn’t done that before. We made so much fun of Ian, and the way that he makes such bold statements, such as “I’m 100% positive this” and “I swear that”. He is ridiculous! He never knows what he is saying. We just laughed a lot, it was fun. 

Anyway, after dinner we had a little warm-up dance party in Olivia and Chels’ room with Paul and Ana before we went out. O, Chels, and I head-banged to Disturbed’s ‘Inside the Fire’ for the entire 3 or 4 minutes or so. It was intense. Probably the worse idea in a while. My neck has been so sore ever since. Still, I’m proud. 

Then we headed out to explore the little town of Monteverde. We ended up going to a bar where they had a dance floor like a club. They also had ‘The Wedding Planner’ movie so we were happy watching that. When I was paying to get in, the guy gave me my change back and it included the old fashioned 5000 colones, which in fact doesn’t count for as much anymore. This happened because IAN, being a complete moron, had used the old 5000 colones that Don Jorge had given us earlier in the week to get in. (He gave us these as part of the history of CR, they are only worth like $1 now). Anyway, Ian gave him the fake money and then I got it back as change. I noticed when I was checking my money after, and I am very proud, because I went right back up to him and told him in spanish it was wrong, and asked to have a different one. And he gave me a new one right away! Hah! You’re not ripping me off again, ever CR ticos. We danced and stayed there for probably 1.5 hours, but then left. I fell asleep like a log, right into my plushy queen sized bed. Well not right away. I had to bang on the guys wall with my fist because I could here Paul and Ian rambling on and on and it was obnoxious! They are really dumb sometimes. Maybe not dumb, but really indecisive and deliberate. They take FOREVER to get ready to go anywhere, make decisions, etc. They're what you would expect out of girls on the trip. It was funny though, because I could here them deliberate on whether there was indeed a knock or not, what kind of noise it was, what they should do about it, who would do something, etc, etc. I fell asleep laughing at them. It was pretty funny. 

On Sunday, we had a delicious breakfast of omelette, and headed off for our 4 hour hike through Monteverde Cloud Forest. This was incredible. It was the most we have been in a real rainforest. Or a rainforest like the one in our imaginations. This was a beautiful, albeit fast-paced trek, through miles of lush forest. I love it. We went to see the 2 window, the continental divide or whatnot, which is where on a clear day you can see from coast to coast. We had about the exact opposite of a clear day, with gusting wind so many miles per hour and a little rain as well. I have plenty of great footage of us soaked and blowing about in the wind. It was incredible. Everything glistened and shined in the mist, and the trees loomed up out of nowhere on the look-outs. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, and I would love to go back. We had a great time taking pictures, looking for bugs, and taking notes. It was really interesting. O asked how much destruction it took to make the trails, and Jorge said that a lot of them had already been there, because it is where the indigenous and other antique peoples had walked through for years and years. That’s great. On the way back, Chels and I were lollygagging, just snapping photos, and then when we tried to hustle back up to the group, we realized we were quite far behind, and couldn’t figure out where they had gone. The path veered off the the right on an uphill climb, and for the longest time we couldn’t decide if we should go look for them up there, seeing as Jorge is adventurous and it would be somewhere he would go. We decided to head straight, but then about a half mile later we thought we should turn around, as we wouldn’t want to miss such an uphill adventure, but then once we got back to the path we stopped to calculate how far up it would be. Then when we had gone a little ways, we decided to turn around again. Upon walking back to where we had been, we heard some wild animal calls, that ended up being Ashley and Ana who had come back to save us :) How sweet! So they ran us back up about 5 minutes to Jorge, and then we walked the last 5 minutes out. It was a long way, that total ten minutes, as we hauled it to get back to the group. we felt really bad for making everyone wait, but at the same time, I got some of my best photos while lollygagging. 

After this, we headed out of the forest and into the town area, where we stopped at this dairy place that sold dairy products and ice cream. Delicious! I got some yogurt, as I never get to eat it here, and O got cheese, but everyone else got scream. Yum yum! But at Paul pointed out, the yogurt had additive in it! Isn’t that disappointing? On top of having mango and peach puree in it, it had artificial flavoring. Lame! And you couldn’t even taste it. Super lame.

After this, we went to the Monteverde Cafe. Here we tasted some coffee, checked souvenirs, and learned a little bit about clean and dirty roast, if I remember correctly what they’re called. They could have said clear and dark. I’m not sure. But obviously dark, or dirty, is the best. Always the stronger one, I say. 

Then, we went back the the hotel, to stuff ourselves with another large lunch, where I ordered fish (again! for the fifth time in a week). It was delicious again. From here, we hopped on the bus and took a long ride to Guanacaste. Our hotel was more ranch style. Quite different kind of place. It is nestled right into the Volcan Miravalles, and has hot water pools, instead of cold pools, which felt incredible. I roomed with Chels and Kristen. Our room was funky, but with great big windows that let in the breeze. We had coffee and toast when we first got there, then ran off to the pools. We found the hottest ones, and then tested out the water slide for a while. This was fun, until I scraped up my hip big time going down on my stomach. Ouch! After that I just watched. Don Jorge was hilariously excited about the slide. He was the one corralling the group to go time and time again, each one more precarious than the next. He is hilarious, his enthusiasm quite catching. It was really funny. 

After the pool for a bit, we changed for dinner, where I ate a chicken with white wine sauce. I felt very sophisticated and adult, until we started talking about etiquette with Pablo, who is a student ambassador like T and he knows all about those sorts of things. He was telling us tips like go to the bathroom as little as possible, as you don’t have that much time to spend with your guests. If you drop food off your plate try to put it back on as sneakily as possible. Grab the bread basket, offer to your left, and then take one and pass to the right. You’re finished eating when everyone else is, even if you aren’t done. Never bring up religion or politics, they’re taboo (kind of obvious as they are taboo in normal conversations in the US as well). Never speak with food in your mouth, whom you are speaking to should wait for you to finish chewing or swallowing. Also, you should cut with your knife in your right hand, then pass the fork over to your right, and take a bite. That’s the European style apparently. I was entertained when we were discussing this, but only mildly interesting in doing things correctly, so I asked him what is the point? Why should there be such elegance, when it just comes off as snobby? He had a good answer to this, which I respect. He said that his etiquette teacher said that etiquette is there in order to set the standard, so that there is no concern for precedent, no preoccupation about the manner in which things should be done. Pablo put it like this: you shouldn’t have to worry about the way in which someone is eating or drinking, or just behaving themselves. You should be able to focus solely on what they’re saying and who they are as a person. And that makes a lot of sense. Or a lot more sense than I had previously speculated. Anyway, that was dinner, and then we went to lay out in the field and watch the stars. This was really rewarding, as myself and the girls (minus T, Ian, and Pablo who were taking splinters out of Ian’s body), had the best conversation, or the best conversation we’ve had yet in my opinion, about life. It was philosophy, science, religion, everything! It started out with just the stars and space, and then to everything else imaginable. I love talking about stuff like that. We talked about the reasons behind things, like religion, and most concluded that there doesn’t have to be a reason behind faith. I had brought up that if you are exploring your options, does that flat out mean you’ve lost your faith? I’ve been pondering this for a while. They said no, that if there wasn’t that doubt, then there would be no point in faith. It wouldn’t be hard. They all admitted to feeling the same way, and said that there was a point in time where it changed a lot for them, but for the most part they sometimes still have doubts. This is reassuring to me. Our conversation went on and on to a lot of different things. We probably talked for an hour or two. It was really nice, it made me feel so comfortable and at home, because that’s what’s going on in my head 24/7. My head is just falafel-izing machine. It was nice to be surrounded by fellow falafel-izers for a bit, because for the most part, people generally seem reluctant to falafel-ize.. It is hard to find a good place and time. Anyway, then we slept. It was loud with gusty wind, because the windows were open, but like usual I slept like a log, it was great.

Monday: This day was full! We had a nice tico breakfast of gallo pinto, and eggs that were partially covered in mayo (gross!) and a cold plantain that was gross! The food just didn’t compare to Elieth’s. It would be impossible to compare. Anyways, we set off to ride horses, explore the waterfalls and the bridges. It was kind of fun to get on top of a horse and being able to see a little bit higher. But I immediately felt bad for it, as it had to climb uphill very steeply with lots of rocks probably interfering with his hooves and he probably had some pain. I hate that. I hate how humans forget that horses are animals, too. That horses can think, can feel. If there is a God, who put horses on this Earth, I hope that he didn’t do it for the purpose in which they are serving now. Because they have such awful lives. Well these seemed to. The guide had a little whip for his horse :(

It was sad. I told my horse all these things as we went upwards, but I’m just not sure he realized how sorry I was. It was an easy ride up, though, I was very grateful. We went about a mile or two, and then stopped to hike through the bridges and waterfalls. This was gorgeous! We ended up going to 3 different waterfalls. In the first one a few of the girls and I bathed in it, and stood in the falls. Freezing! But very cool and the water smelled and tasted so fresh. It was a paradise. Ian and Paul were posing for a picture with T and both of them ended up falling into the water. It was a nice laugh, but they could also have fallen into the rocks, which would have been pretty rough. The second waterfall was bigger and steeper, so we didn’t go in, but Ana and I climbed up some steep rocks for a cool picture. I love climbing on the rocks! It reminds me of Canada, when we met those french canadians and few times and went hiking on all those rocks. There are some pictures of Elise and I with that little girl, but I don’t remember her name. Or else they remind me of Wawa, Canada, when we went to see all those waterfalls and explore. Those were the best times! Anyway, the third waterfall involved crossing this very precarious bridge, that was super thin and super rickety, and we were swaying over a gigantic waterfall and river and it was really scary. For me at least, it seems like I’m the biggest grandma of them all when it comes to heights. But anyway, we crossed, and then Paul, Ian, Chelsey, and Olivia decided to jump off a rock probably 10-12 ft over the waterfall’s pool. Ahhh! I am still so proud that they did it and survived. I got great videos of all of them, I hope that goes in. After all of this, we went to ride the horses back down and get back on the bus to go to lunch. This would have been fine, and was going fine, until I decided to take off my rain coat. I was trying to zip it, and pull it down, and I must have zoned out cause I was pretty tired and I must have yanked on the reins or something, because all of a sudden Gancha reared up and bucked and then took off at a very fast pace with me swinging on his back. Now I am probably the smallest girl, weight wise (Chels is shorter) and I had one of the highest horses. Cool. So as Gancha runs toward the ditch and spins, I swung my left foot out (my right was already out), and threw myself into the side of the road. It didn’t hurt so much as it was shocking, as I had screamed really loud, everyone was looking, and then I fell and Gancha ran away. My right hand was scraped and stung pretty bad like icy hot, but today it is only a little red, bruised, a little swollen, and only hurts a little. So at least I didn’t break it! But it was a pretty crazy moment, so unexpected. I’m pretty lucky I didn’t get hurt worse.

After this, we went back to lunch, in which we all received lovely valentine’s flowers from our waiter as a surprise, and then from here we boarded the bus for a 4/5 hour bus ride home.