Monteverde

            Entonces, este fin de semana fue divertido!  The hotel we stayed at was by far the nicest one yet.  The view from our room was amazing as you can see below.  The ride to the hotel was bumpy and a little discomforting because we had to go up a one lane dirt/gravel road in a huge bus.  The road, by the way, was right along the side of a cliff with a HUGE drop off.  Our bus driver was great though and we made it there and back safe and sound.  When we got to the hotel we checked in and then ate dinner.  After dinner I just hung out in the hallways of our building listening to Emily play the ukulele.  She’s very talented in playing and singing.  She wrote me a song about a horse named Thunder and played it for me.  Haha.  It was an awesome song.  I want to learn how to play the uke now.

View and sunset from our balcony.

            The next day was the ziplining/canopy tour.  We had to leave the hotel at 7:20am so we had to get up early to eat breakfast.  Ziplining was awesome!  I didn’t bring my camera along with me to the park but some friends got some photos of me doing it.  The Tarzan swing was the best and most fun.  It is exactly what it sounds like.  Props to Josh for doing all of this too.  After canopying we were shuttled back to the hotel, relaxed a bit before lunch, and then ate.  All the meals were included this time for the trip which was nice and inexpensive.

Part of the Continental Divide

            Before lunch, Greg and I decided it was best to run up the hill to our rooms (the hotel is on the side of a mountain by the way).  Turns out, it was probably a bad idea trying to sprint up the hill.  About half way up we both started to have chest pains and difficulty breathing.  First off, it was a freaking mountain we were trying to sprint up.  Second, the hotel is 4,662 feet above sea level which made the air much thinner.  We eventually made it to the top through a mixture of running and walking but it was a battle.  Lunch later was a nice reward.  After lunch, I found some hammocks the hotel had half way up the mountain and took a nap in one for an hour or so.  I ended up getting cold by the breeze.  Plus, a silly annoying bird started chirping and woke me up.

As I was getting back to my room after the hammock nap, some people were going hiking so I joined in.  The hike was fun and we saw some sort of raccoon like animal (sorry I forget the name) and a really rockin’ squirrel.  After dinner I watched a movie called Ponyo with Quincy, Claire, and Nicole and then just relaxed the rest of the night in the hotel talking with friends.  Sunday morning, most of the group went on a 2 hour hike through the national cloud forest park.  While I didn’t see any animals and only a few birds, some people from the group saw sloths.  I did, however, get to see part of the Continental Divide.  We had lunch at the hotel when we got back and then enjoyed the 4 hour bus ride home.  

Mr. Squirrel

It’s amazing to think that after this week I will have been in Costa Rica for a month.  Hopefully next semester I will be able to take the next level of Spanish.  I think Caroline and me and maybe a few other people are going to go to church this Wednesday at a place that’s run by Christian surfers.  Since ISA is done with its planned tours, a group of us might go to the beach this weekend on our own…we’ll see how the week plays out.