These are a few of my favorite things...

Favorite pictures, here we go. 

The first one is the view from one of the doorways of the dining room at the biological station (Campanario). I love this photo because every time you go eat (or when you’re leaving), you get to look out onto the beach and the greeness of the tropics. From experience, it’s very difficult to be in a bad mood with a view like this, especially with the soothing rhythm of the waves crashing on the beach. I wish I could have that everyday at home. I remember below the plant area that you see in the picture, there was a giant golden orb weaver (the web is golden and fascinating to look at, but the spider was HUGE). The dining room also has  many fond memories. Their food was amazing, especially the fruit (some of the best pineapple I've had in my life). Mealtimes with everyone is something that I miss now, because it's lonely eating at home when we used to eat together, a large number of us at one table, everyday for all 3 meals. Dinner was fun because that was when the sun was setting and because of the limited electricity, we wouldn't have lights on, even when it was dark outside. We had candles lit along the table, melting and sitting on top of green glass bottles. We played so many rounds of werewolf and mafia there (both with lots of vigorous finger pointing and shouting accusations across the table), and spent time with each other. I really miss all of it. 

The second photo is the day that we went drifting in a river through the rainforest. That was truly an insane experience. We jumped into the river twice from a high point, once when we first got there and the second time in a different place, shown in the photo. Personally, I’ve never jumped off a diving board from a high height. So of course, my brain was questioning my choices and my heart was thudding (I think in excitement and anticipation?) as I got to the front of the line. But I knew that I would regret it if I didn’t do it, so I just ran and jumped before my brain had time to process what was going on. I guess that time my heart won over my brain. The water was frigid and there was more impact than I expected, but as I surfaced, so did a smile. I’m glad it was freshwater because it could have turned out differently, not for the better, if it was salty. It felt so surreal but I’m glad I did it (and now I have an interesting story to tell!). 

Last but not least is a photo taken in Monteverde in the last week of our travels (I actually didn’t take this picture, but it’s a nice one). We climbed a fig tree that was around 120 feet (40 meters). As if we hadn’t already done enough mind-blowing things, the cherry on top was this activity. I rope climbed outside of the tree (like the 2 people in the picture) twice and inside of it once. Some people were brave enough to climb directly on the outside of the tree (there were footholds but it still looked very difficult). The rope climbing was exhausting, physically, because you have to use a coordination of leg and arm strength to progress upwards, little by little. The first half is ok, then it gets worse because everything starts cramping up. However, the view gets better as you go up and there’s a thrill (at least for me) being high up, so some breaks dangling in the air and looking around were nice. I wanted to make it to the top too, so I did that. That thrill is addicting to me I guess, which explains why I did it again, despite being winded after doing it the first time. Totally worth all the pain (it hurt the next day). 

Overall, the program was somewhat similar to what I expected. I knew that we were going to be doing pretty awesome things in nature, but it exceeded my expectations on the range and level of adventurous things we were doing. Maybe because it was a bit hard to process the things we did, because I never thought that I would ever do things like climb down waterfalls or catch bats. The program definitely helped me grow in terms of being independent and also communication. We had a lot of free time, so I learned better how to coordinate with others and how to spend my time. It helped me learn how to take care of myself. It also helped me make a lot of new, unique friends that I will never forget. Each had their own spark, a unique brighteness that they radiate and shine with, which makes every second I spend with them wonderful. I'm so grateful that I met them and plan on staying connected to them, because they're people that I want to keep being with.  

In one word, the whole experience was unforgettable. 

To the people who read this, thank you! Thank you for taking your time to read lots of words (it can be difficult sometimes, I know), regardless of if this is the only one you read or if you read them all. It's been a nice experience sharing my trip through writing, so thanks for reading!

¡Gracias a todos!
 

Helena

\(^O^)/