Surfs up!!

Hola!

Thursday morning (also known as Reena's birthday!!) we had another relaxing yoga session on the roof of the hotel taught by our amazing yoga teacher, Reena. We then went back to that restaurant by the beach (where we stopped on the way back from the waterfall the day before) for breakfast. When Quique told us at the beginning of the trip that they literally eat rice and beans for every meal, he wasn't kidding. My breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs and rice and beans with the Costa Rican salsa sprinkled on top. A few of us also split some banana pancakes (panqueques!!! This one is for you Heather Kantrowitz! I took a picture of it, remind me to show you later). They were basically bananas wrapped in crepes. Yum. After breakfast we change into our bathing suits and geared up to surf some sweet Costa Rican waves. It was a gorgeous day for surfing and the waves were just right. The white wash was a little rough and it took awhile to paddle out to the break (not to mention A LOT of upper body strength) but once you got out there and caught a wave, it was such a rush. 

For dinner we decided to do a Costa Rican style barbecue on the beach instead of going out to another restaurant. We stopped at the local supermercado to pick up some ingredients and then walked down to the beach and started the fire. After about 4 or 5 hours of eating, drinking, laughing, talking, hammock swinging, and birthday singing, we headed over to the local bar for reggae night. 

This week has been just a whirlwind from one day to the next. I feel like the week went so fast but at the same time, I feel so disconnected from the person I was when I first landed in Costa Rica. Each day I learned more about Costa Rican culture, my friends, and most importantly,  myself. Fears that would have taken me years to conquer were conquered in just a matter of hours. For example, when I went to Camp Lindenmere I spent years freaking out over the dinky little zip line that they had in the woods. I refused to even walk by the zip line area for fear that someone would peer pressure me into going. It took me nine years to jump off the top of the rock wall and even then I refused to go a second time. Today, it was as if I had been zip lining for years. I was still so hyped up on the constant adrenaline from this week that as soon as they strapped on that harness I was ready to jump off the platform. Let's be honest, there was one or two "holy craps" and "wow this is high" that slipped out of my mouth but not enough to even remotely stop me from running over to the platform. For those who haven't gone proper ziplining, these are some of the fastest, highest, and longest ziplines in the world and it was SO much fun. I was able to video a few of them and I'll try to post those later. The views were absolutely incredible. One minute you're zipping through the rainforest, the next minute there is a clearing and you can see a waterfall and river rapids. There were about eight or nine different ziplines and when we got to the top you could see a clearing in the trees and the beautiful coastline with the pacific ocean stretching out past the horizon. It was absolutely picture perfect. I tried to take a picture before I jumped but I doubt that my camera was able to truly capture the view. 

About halfway through we ended up at the top of a huge waterfall. There was one pool that they said was about 45ft deep and then the second one was the massive waterfall. It was really hot out and the water looked so nice so I got into my bathing suit and jumped off of one of the cliffs into the water. After a couple of us jumped in we noticed that there was a rope swing on the other side. It was the second highest rope swing I have jumped off.  We then hiked back up to the platform and zipped down their fastest and longest line in Costa Rica...backwards :). 

This brings me to right now. After a quick shower and packing up the rooms we walked down to the bus stop to head back to San Jose.

I can't believe that we have to leave this beautiful and exotic country tomorrow. I'm going to miss the carefree attitude and the pura vida. I'll miss the sounds of the rainforest and brightness of the ocean. The sweet scent of a home cooked Costa Rican meal and the delicious pineapples that are so juicy, the pineapple juice drips all the way down your chin when you take a bite. I may or may not miss their unique sense of humor but I for sure will miss the people that I have met and become very close with. We are such an eclectic group of personalities each with our own story. But there is one thing we all have in common- a sense of adventure. 

We're now almost back to San Jose and although I'm not ready to leave this place or the people, I am ready to continue my journey of self discovery back in New York. 

Pura vida y hasta la proxima,

-E