Last weekend, we took a trip to Monteverde, a rain forest northwest of San Jose. The sun didn't make much of an appearance, but the lush green around us was still beautiful. The first day of our two day trip we visited a coffee/sugar cane plantation, owned by a local family. It was beautiful and charming. We even got to make our own candy and at the end of the tour, the mother fed us, gave us lemonade and of course, coffee. We can now check a Costa Rican "must do" off our list, as coffee is Costa Rica's biggest and most popular export.
Another Costa Rican "must do" is zip-lining, and that's what we did on Sunday morning...
Zip-lining is the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. Maybe I'll regret saying that when I remember something cooler, but as of right now, I can't really compare it to much of anything else. I'll never bungee jump (I hate sudden drops) and it's doubtful that I'll sky dive (though I wouldn't completely rule that out just yet...), so yeah, this is pretty much the most intense "up high" thing I've done yet. A lot of people zip-line and because of that, in my opinion, it seemed like it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Well, it was. We hiked through the cloud forest from location to location and that was a TOTAL butt-buster. I loved it (and needed it!). The hikes were sometimes so intense that by the time I got to the zip-line, I looked forward to just relaxing a bit on the line. I can't really put into words how exhilarating it is to shoot out at a high speed, hundreds of feet in the air, surrounded by lush, green hills. During the first long zip I had to say out loud to myself, "Oh. My. God. This is the coolest thing ever." I couldn't believe my eyes. Sure, it was scary, but it was also spectacular and fun and wonderful. And I have to admit, I was proud of myself, because sometimes I'm kind of a tight-ass. I'm already looking forward to doing it again. I'm scheduled to pay a visit to Australia next spring and I'm going to try it out there too. If you have ANY interest in doing this, I highly recommend it! And if you want, I'll do it with you. Let's set a date!
After that, we were famished and exhausted, so we grabbed lunch and hopped on the bus back to San Jose (a four hour trip that's not bad because the views for most of it are gorgeous). We collapsed into our beds for the night and woke up the next morning at 7:30 am to do the Peregrinación a Cartago (Pilgrimage to Cartago), a 15 mile walk from San Jose to the Basilica de los Angeles in honor of the Virgin of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles. (See my most recent album for more details!) This is a tradition in this part of the country and
Cameron and I figured, "When in Rome..." and plus, we both welcomed the challenge to walk 15 miles! It was a beautiful walk to a lovely mountain town. It's always a good feeling to work (or in this case, walk) towards a goal with a large group of people. It's unifying and gratifying. I'm glad we did it.
SO, that was about the most active weekend I've had maybe ever. My body is still thanking me for it and asking for more! This weekend we've stayed in town and hung out with some local friends. Next weekend we are planning our last trip to the coast. I can't believe my time here is already drawing to a close, but my sadness is dwarfed by my overwhelming excitement to discover a new place, rich in history and culture!
((View my pictures from Monteverde and Cartago HERE))
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