YouthInkwell Publishing

I will now express all my thoughts in a most singular, emotional, poetic, soul-baring statement that reaches into the deepest, darkest recesses of my soul:

            Today, I felt like a toucan.

            But, more on that later.  First things first.

            The first thought that entered my mind this morning, as I woke up, was that, the previous night, I had forgotten to put on my night contacts. 

            And, I’d also forgotten to change out of the previous day’s clothing.  I didn’t even remember falling asleep.  So as I got out of bed, the room looked fuzzy and soft.

            I followed Noel through the Casino to the breakfast restaurant of which I do not recall the name.  There, we ate a most delicious meal of fruits, rice, eggs, yogurt, and some odd alien fruit that Matthew, Cate, and Noel agreed was a giant kumquat.

            As it turns out, they were wrong.  As Matthew and I cut open the fruit, a gray goo-ball speckled with cute little seeds tumbled out onto our waiting hands.  Yummy.  Apparently, although Passion Fruit Juice back in the States is yellow, real passion fruit is gray.  In the future, I shall keep this incident in mind while I order my drinks at Lollicup.

            At 9:30, we boarded our bus for our uh, forty five minute ride.  Forty-five minutes managed to stretch themselves into a long, winding, three hour delight of carsickness.  During this ride of utmost pain and misery, we bestowed upon one another the most charming of nicknames, which I will reveal to you, dearest reader, towards the finale of this updation.  Ah, lucky you.

            I actually don’t remember much about the bus ride, because what came next completely overshadowed whatever events that transpired on that little white bus.

            After recovering from my bout of carsickness, we were strapped into harnesses so that we could go zip-lining on our canopy tour.  A worker put a giant metal pulley on my hip.  As I followed our group, my right side threatened to overpower the rest of my body and drag me down into the dirt. 

            And Noel strapped Maurice into his harness. 

            Now, about the rainforest.  (Yes, that is a fragment, and I don’t care.  It’s for dramatic effect, which I just ruined by typing this explanation.)  The rainforest was a huge blanket of green, which sprawled out into the distance and onto the mountains.  As we ascended the nature-made steps to our first platform, I felt as if I were tramping through a green, leafy wonderland.  Yes, my vision was terrible and fuzzy from not having worn my night contacts the night before, but that only added to the dreamlike beauty of the rainforest.  And as yours truly is not as poetic as Mr. Noel Mollinedo, I will move onto zip-lining before I begin to seriously embarrass myself.

              You know how in action movies, the hero slides down a telephone line with some random useful little pulley thing he just happens to find?  (That rhetorical question was way too long.)  But, that’s basically what zip-lining is like.

            We soared through the trees—literally!  Now, back to my philosophical statement made earlier in this blog.  I felt like a toucan.  As ridiculous and “unpoetic” as that sounds, I was really given the capability to soar through the rainforest canopy like one.  I had ample opportunity to look around and take in the rainforest.

            And yes, it was–is beautiful.  If I were a toucan, this peaceful green haven would be my home.  I’d wake up every morning in a leafy paradise.

            Yet people want to chop and burn this place down? 

            The idea is unfathomable.

            As for the rest of today, there were two more incidents of note.

            Number one: Here are those nicknames I’m sure you’ve been dying to hear.

            Noel is Carol (the First Noel is a Carol, HAHA..no.); Matthew is Kermit because he looks like said froggie; Cate is a faun; Ivy is FangXi; and my nickname is
Shannon.

            Number two: We found ants in our room and cheese in Ivy’s bed.  No doubt that this was the handiwork of the one and only Cate and our ridiculous gumdrop war the previous day.  Housekeeping came in to spray ant spray, and it honestly really, really smelled.

            And Ivy said that it’d kill us all in our sleep.  That is an extremely unpleasant thought.

            So tonight I retire in Cate’s room.   

 This is perhaps the most beautiful place that I have ever been; I wish I could stay here forever. Everything is green in
Costa Rica. There is a mysterious aura hidden in these jungles. It is almost like a scene from Jurassic Park which I learned was filmed in
Costa Rica. This could be compared to Oz and the
Emerald
City because we are following one main road and because everything is as green as theEmerald
City. We are now on a bridge and just like a painting, the trees part and there lies in the distance rows of hills that flourish with foliage climbing towards the heavens. The hills are consumed by a fog that whispers to you and creates even more illusions in this land of wonders. Trees soar up with branches as thick as elephants and leaves that are so beautiful that they appear to have been fashioned by Aphrodite herself. Palm trees sprout profusely and give the atmosphere a more tropical mood. It is impossible to tell where the sky begins because it bleeds into the fog which disappears into the mountains. There are small villages amongst the hills where life is much more simple disconnected from our normal emotionless lives. The fog rolls over the hills climbing just to fall again. It floats ethereally, white and surreal, casting long shadows. The fog slowly swallows the forest as its prey.

Later:

            Zip lining ¾ of a kilometer, just a normal part of our day. Today the crew and I drove two hours to the San Lorenzo Canopy where we did what most people will never have the opportunity to do. All of us zip lined across the rain forest which is an amazing experience, but I also had the special honor of carrying Maurice in my harness the whole day. Holding our mascot was the greatest honor I could have ever asked for.

            The day began with a fresh start. We woke up bright and early and ate hearty breakfasts in order to prepare for the long day. At nine we boarded the buses and drove for three talkative hours. I had a great bus ride because the tour guide asked how many provinces were in
Costa Rica and I magically guessed seven and won a traditional Costa Rican candy. When we finally got there we geared up quickly and set off immediately for action. Awkwardly we stumbled along full of heavy equipment until we finally reached our destination. At first most people weren’t sure if they wanted to be the first victims of this new experience, but after the first two cables, mostly everyone was loving it. Later when we felt like pros, some of us dared to let go of the pulley and dangle tauntingly, suspended out of the grasps of imminent death. After all of the zip lining, we settled down to devour a scrumptious meal of quesado provided by the tour. During that time I made a new friend named Carmela; she was small, cute and had short brown hair. She would follow me around everywhere and I always had fun petting her. Oh yes, did I mention she was a beagle?  

 Matthew

     I woke up in the morning and was treated to a delicious breakfast almost immediately.  Plantains, potatoes, rice, and beans filled my empty stomach.  I also cut open a hard yellow fruit with a vile, green, slimy fruit inside.  I think it was an alien egg.  After Shaina was daring enough to slurp some of that up, we got in a bus and headed to the rainforest to go zip lining!  But first we just had to stop at the souvenir store.  I purchased a few things for family and friends and a shirt that had a dove and “
Costa Rica. Peace.  No army since 1948” on it.  Shaina, Cate, and I found Maurice or “Maureen” a nice dress that was a little too expensive and proceeded to look around only to find some nice wooden xylophones.  After we managed to scratch out a simple tune, we departed and arrived at our destination.   

     It was absolutely amazing!  Even though I have done it before in Puerto Vallarta, this time was actually better.  After getting a quick demonstration from the kind and friendly crew, we started trekking up the stairs to the first zip line.  They started out very short but got longer as we got farther.  Towards the middle of  the tour we got the chance to swing on a rope over the wildlife.  We got hooked up and they shoved each of us into the trees like Tarzan!  I guess I can cross “swinging through the rainforest” off my to-do-list.  I did earn my share of battle scars.  On the second line, I forgot to lift my legs at the end and hit my ankles on the ledge, earning me a small, bloody cut that has already dried up.  Lovely, huh?  Then towards the end, I was racing Noel so I got the camera and taped him going down the line; however, with only one hand on the pulley, I lost my balance and started to spin.  Then in the middle of the line, for what reason I do not know, started to break with my free, left hand.  But I put my hand a little to far back and accidentally put my wrist on the line which gave me a burn that hurt like the devil.  Thank God for band-aids.  The last line was absolutely unbelievable!  It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  Lush green hills covered with blankets of trees spanned the surrounding area.  Clouds lurked floating just above your heads and a dome shaped hill with one, bare, lone tree popped out in the middle.  I felt like I was in a dream. 

     We headed down the 750 meter zip line and went out for food.  There we met Carmela, the local dog who was absolutely adorable.  She guided us to the restaurant where I ordered a delicious salad followed by the cassada: beans, rice, cheese, eggs, vegetables, and tortillas.  We waved goodbye to Carmela and left as a canopy worker ran to the bus and handed one of the women a flower through the window.  Que romantico! 

     We took a three hour drive back to the hotel, during which Noel was tossed everywhere including on my shoulder where I made faces at him while he slept.  Cate took lots of flattering pictures of Jennifer and Ivy sleeping. 

     We ended the night with a wonderful dinner of lots of meat (great! I’m a vegetarian!) joined by a wonderful mariachi band.  After I defeated Shaina hands down in a dragon drawing competition and had an interest conversation with a Rotarian named Peter about great 80’s movies, we headed back to our hotel rooms where we discovered a trail of ants in Jennifer’s room. (thanks for the gumdrop war, Noel!) We got a worker to spray some Raid on them which scared Ivy and Shaina out of room out of fear of dying in their sleep of inhaling toxic fumes.  I headed to my ant-free, fresh-smelling, and gumdrop-less room to get a good night’s rest for the next day.