“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.” -Babatunde Olatunji

I loved my adventure into the depths of the rainforest last weekend. Nevertheless, this weekend it is back to the beach. We will being going to Dominical, a tiny surfer’s town on the Pacific coast.

Dominical

Distance: 60 miles

Travel time: 5 hours

Transportation: Bus

Accommodations: Hostel

Friends: 1

Today is a Fiesta at school, although no one seems to know exactly why. When I asked my friend Mitch, he said, “Who cares, there will be beer. I’ll be there.” So, I guess I will just have to go find out.

I am looking forward to spending some time lazing on the beach reading my new book this weekend. I have used my research skills (thanks mom) to scope out a humongous waterfall nearby that I am looking forward to hiking to. Dominical is also known for its beautiful sunsets. I am hoping for another great weekend. I still can’t believe I am having this experience, I feel so blessed. 

 

 

 

     “Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for  you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.”
-Og Mandino

“You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it.”–Unknown Author

The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I truly believe that it is worth more than a thousand. While I have been blessed with a camera, I do not claim to have wonderful photography skills. However, upon occasion, I am lucky enough to capture some incredible moments. I have been sharing these moments on my blog since I arrived in Costa Rica; however, I have not been able to share them all. I am now denoting Wednesday as a day of show (and no tell). I will let these pictures speak for themselves with little commentary, except for the occasional quote, which I can never resist!

 

“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away”. -Eudora Welty

                        

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

“If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.” -Lewis Hine

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Through the blackest night, morning gently tiptoes, feeling its way to dawn.” -Robert Brault

""Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

I have to admit my blogging has been a little inconsistent over the last week. I have been extremely busy with school, and, to be honest, during the week there usually isn’t a great deal of exciting things that happen and are worthy of writing about. However, I did visit the National Museum today with two of my classmates. It was actually our second time visiting. The museum is very interesting. Costa Rica has a very old history starting well before the birth of Christ with the indigenous people. There are numerous different indigenous tribes that have inhabited the tiny land of Costa Rica for thousands of years.  

At the museum, they have a large display of what appear to be giant balls of cement. No one knows what they were used for or why the indigenous people made them. I have to give a presentation about the history of Costa Rica with my two friends and my friend on the left is going to present the theories of why the people carved these strange, perfectly round, balls and what they could have possibly been used for. Personally, I am very interested to hear what he thinks. They are a true mystery….

The museum also has a butterfly garden. I love butterflies. I can’t wait to go to a larger butterfly garden in Costa Rica. Their colors are unreal; They look like they have been painted. The one on the right is actually a Blue Morpho,  so when it opens its wings it is a brilliant blue color. The back side of the wing is actually brown as well; however, the iridescent covering causes them to appear bright blue.  

       

Monteverde Cloud Forest: “The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? - it is the same the angels breathe.” -Mark Twain

 

“A forest of these trees is a spectacle too much for one man to see.” -David Douglas

The quote really is exactly how I felt walking through the rainforest this weekend. I can’t tell you how many times I stopped along the path and said to Mitch and Pavel, “This is incredible. I can’t believe I’m here.” I have never been anywhere so lush and full of life. We weren’t able to see it, but you could hear life all around you.  The plants covered every inch of the forest, encompassing the forest in a magical green world.

Monteverde is a cloud forest. This meant that we spent a great deal of time in, near, and above the clouds. What a unique experience. Yesterday we hiked in the Santa Elena Cloud Reserve and saw Arenal Volcano, which is an active volcano 14 km from where we were. We went on a 5 mile hike around the reserve and then went zip-lining on a canopy tour, which included a superman line. The superman line was 700 m long and was strung between two mountains. We flew between them, over the valley of rainforest. I felt like a bird flying over the dense forest below.

 

 

While the park is full of life, we saw very few animals. However, I wasn’t disappointed in the least.  Can you even see the frog in the picture? I don’t know how my friend spotted him; he was only about an inch long. Also, notice that you can see the butterfly's body through its wing. It is called a glasswinged butterfly. We had planned on going on a night hike on Saturday, but finally the cloud that had been hovering nearby let loose and it rained for several hours. Instead of doing the night hike, we stayed in our hostel (the nicest we have stayed in yet) and watched a scary Kate Hudson movie while the rain pounded down outside.

This morning I  got up and read my new book. I was extremely excited to find a used book store yesterday, where I bought The Testament, by John Grisham. At a little after seven, I woke up the guys, (as usual, I acted as the alarm clock) so we could head out on our hike.  It was a half-hour drive on some of the worst roads I had every been on, over a stream, and up into the mountains, where it began at a banana farm. It was the most incredible hike. We hiked along a stream filled with small waterfalls for about an hour, the clouds hovering just a hundred or so feet overhead. I can’t put into words how lush the forest was. Even without rain, the clouds that constantly envelope the forest supply it with a refreshing mist of water.

After an amazing hike, we arrived at our destination – a 300-foot waterfall, San Luis. I won’t attempt to describe how gorgeous it was, and the pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice, but here it is. (It was so huge I couldn’t get it in one shot, or even 3, so I took a bunch and stitched them together with my new-found panoramic feature on my camera!)

 

Monteverde was another excellent weekend on my Costa Rican Journey.

“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.”

 Monteverde

Distance: 60 miles

Travel time: 5 hours

Transportation: Bus

Accommodations: Hostel

Friends: 2

 This week has been extremely busy! A whole new group of 60 students from the US showed up at our school. I began taking a new Spanish class In addition, I have been trying to decide where we should travel next weekend! I finally decided this morning that we would take a break from the beach and head inland to explore the rainforest.

This weekend we will be traveling to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. The reserve was actually founded by a group of American Quakers in the 50s who were avoiding being drafted into the Korean war. Now it is one of the best parks in Costa Rica.

 

Not only is it a rainforest, but a cloud forest; meaning that much of the forest is in and above the clouds. Large suspension bridges have been built to allow you to walk through the tree tops and explore the beautiful nature and wildlife. Monteverde contains hundreds of species of butterflies, which you can see up close in the butterfly garden. I also hope to do a night hike. The majority of the forest wakes up at dusk and I hope to catch a glimpse of all of the amazing creatures!