After several weekends of being stuck inside with a broken foot, I finally ventured outdoors with nine other students teachers this past weekend. We went to Monteverde, which is in the Cloud Forest and is famous for its Zip Lines. I didn't really realize that I had been fairly bored until I got the chance to travel this weekend. We decided that ziplining was a low-impact activity that I would most likely be able to do with my foot still recovering. So many amazing things went down, so I'll just start from the beginning:
5:00 am: Wake up (waaay too early), eat breakfast, call taxi and head to the bus station. The nice thing about Costa Rica being so small is that you can take a bus anywhere. The busses are cheap and go everywhere, but they do leave SUPER early.
6:00 am: All ten of us pile on the bus and find our assigned seats. After we all got seated, the bus driver explained to us that the safest place to keep your bag is underneath the bus in the basement storage area. If you want to keep your bag with you on the bus, they are not responsible for it. We all decided that we would hold on to our backpacks instead of storing them underneath.
6:30 am: Bus leaves San Jose and heads for Monteverde. When we all got on the bus, we picked people we wanted to sit next to based on what we would do for the 4 1/2 hour drive. Hannah is one of the student teachers from ASU that I've gotten to know pretty well so far. Neither of us were going to sleep on the bus and everyone else was, so we sat together to keep each other company. 7:30 am: more driving...
8:30 am: even more driving...
9:00 am: By this point during our ride there, we had stopped several times to pick up other people on the side of the road and there was standing room only. Hannah and I were still awake while everyone else was asleep. This guy had gotten on the bus a few stops back and was looking a little shady. At one point, he was standing next to a girl from our group who was sleeping and was staring into her bag. We woke her up and told her to hold on to her bag in her lap. About ten minutes later, we saw the guy grab another backpack and run off the bus and immediately into a taxi. A man who was riding in the front of the bus chased the guy off the bus and yanked him out of the taxi. A couple of guys held him down and got the backpack back. Then we sat and waited for the police to come and arrest him. Although I was nervous to have seen a robbery right in front of me, I felt reassured that a good citizen stood up for the girl who got robbed and fought to get her bag back. I am really glad that I decided to keep my backpack in my lap the entire ride. And I'm also glad that Hannah and I stayed awake to watch the bags of those who were sleeping!!
While we waited for the police to get there, we saw some horses grazing the land on the side of the mountain
Another view from the bus window. That is the Cloud Forest
9:30 am: Bathroom break, Sun Chips and Fresca for breakfast!!
11:00 am: Arrive in Monteverde after a very long bus ride. Luckily, Hannah had been here before and knew about this awesome hotel. We didn't make reservations before we left, but they had enough openings for us. The hotel was called Tree House because it was built around this really old tree that is all crazy looking. But it's not an actual tree house.
This is the base of the tree. It goes up all windy and crazy for four floors.
Night shot of the Tree House hotel
We got this room that had seven beds, two of which were double beds. Since there were ten of us together, Hannah, Sage and I squished on one of the double beds. But it was really cool that we could all stay together.
"Show me your excited faces!" (Sage, Rachel and silly Hannah)
Dressed and ready for zip lining! (Serena y yo)
Sexy, no? (All ten of us)
2:30 pm: Begin zip line adventure. We began by walking up to where the trails began to get a safety demonstration. The guides were really funny and were joking with me about doing all of this with a broken foot! After the safety demonstration, we all walked up the first few flights of stairs to the first platform. The first line is short and slow so you get a chance to feel it out before it gets crazy. After that, they get increase in length and speed. Some were so long that for a good portion of the line, you couldn't see the other end!
On our way up to the first line
The view from the first platform, the Cloud Forest
"Cross your legs", not to be confused with "Close your legs"
3:30 pm: More zip lining!
Hannah tried the running man on one of the lines, and the guides didn't like that. The rest of the day consisted of us quoting "Don't run your legs!
Mas Serena y Yo
Me getting ready to do the Tarzan Swing!
4:30 pm: By this time, we had been zip lining for about 2 hours and had come to the final line. I had heard stories about this last line, but it was way more intense than I was expecting. It was by far the longest and highest line of the whole day. It was so long that we had to go in pairs because the wind was too strong. We needed the weight of two people to keep from spinning around and around!! Hannah and I did the last one together. Since she's taller than me, she was behind me and was controlling our speed. This left me a free hand to take a sweet video! Watch us on the last zip line here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Ly6AzQbfw).
The hike up to the final platform
Heather and Sage doing the last line as a pair
We made it without dying!!!
5:00 pm: End of zip line adventure, walk back to main lodge, observe pretty flowers. The last zip line put us almost at the same place we started. We only had to walk for a few minutes to get back to the main lodge. Along the walk, we some some really beautiful flowers.
6:00 pm: Drive back to the hotel, eat yummy pasta for dinner, play games in our hotel room. After a long day of zip lining, we got cleaned up and went out for dinner. The town is very small, where everything is on one street. You can walk through the entire town in approximately 4 1/2 minutes. There isn't much to do unless you want to go the one bar and drink all night. Instead, we headed back to the hotel and played cards and charades.
11:30 pm: Lights out!
5:30 am: Wake up (toooo earlyyyy!!), pack and head to the bus stop. Have I mentioned that I am not a morning person? I hate waking up at all, much less at an ungodly hour. But I did get up early enough to snag this cute picture of Serena. Her head was entirely off the bed...that can't be comfortable!!
6:30 am: Grab breakfast to go, find bus buddy, begin loooong ride home. The bus ride home was uneventful and went much faster than the ride there. Hannah and I sat together again to watch out for everyone's backpacks. This time, we took pictures of the awkward sleepers, and Serena takes the prize again. At least she was totally protecting her backpack!
9:30 am: More driving....
9:30 am: More driving....
The view of the sun rising over the Cloud Forest. God is so Good!
11:00 am: Arrive in San Jose, walk to two different restaurants to realize that everything is closed on Sundays, walk to Megasuper to buy lunch, have picnic on a basketball court. The nice thing about taking the early bus home is that you get home very early. We were home by 11 am, which left us plenty of time to get homework done and go to bed early. We tried going to two different places for lunch before we remembered that it was Sunday, so we went to the grocery store and bought stuff for a picnic. It was the perfect end to an amazing and fun-filled weekend. Sage, Jessica, Hannah and Serena
I've decided that I am really going to miss the ASU girls when they leave in May. They have been such a blessing so far and I have loved their company. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the ASU group, but we have discovered that out of all 14 of the student teachers, both ASU and Westmont, 10 of us are Christians. How amazing is that?!? We've started a weekly Bible study to stay connected in the Word and to challenge each other to grow deeper on this trip. God continues to amaze me with His blessings. I couldn't have hand-picked a better group of people to share this experience with!
Amazing country, amazing weekend, amazing friends :) Could you ask for anything else?
xoxo
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