Dear Cousin Peter, you would be so proud...

I am alive and well! Two and a half of the most wonderful weeks of my life, and I’m successfully plugged back in to technology. Where to begin….probably the beginning would be a good idea.

             The beginning is 8am on the 30^th of September. With my 30lb backpack (a modest weight, I swear) snugly buckled around my hips and my hiking boots double knotted, my classmates and I headed off into the wilderness that is the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. Within the first 20 minutes we arrived at the top of the Continental Divide—at one edge of the lookout we could see over the Atlantic coast, and with a quick turn around you could see out over the Pacific. Well okay, see is a relative term because, shocker, we were engulfed in a cloud. It was still exciting to think about what we could be seeing!

Pacific Side

Atlantic Side

            Singing and joking back and forth, our gringo parade continued down the trail. Over the next couple hours our group broke up as people settled in to their own comfortable paces. Being a much more graceful human being in the water than on land, I found myself in the middle-ish with my friends Julia and Caitlin as smaller groups of hikers formed. We charged through rivers, leapt across ravines (a challenge with a pack on, let me tell you), and finished the 10 miles together with only a few mental breaks. Usually these came at the base of a steep vertical incline when much cursing at the mountain ahead was necessary to fire ourselves up it. One break came after we made it across a skinny rope bridge over a rushing river that was being repaired while we had to walk across it and we had made it up the ridiculous hill that followed. Exhausted, we collapsed on some massive, mossy rocks at the edge of the trail. Cursing our tired legs and heavy packs, we claimed that we were “just going to lay our sleeping bags out and camp right here!” The griping continued for about 10 minutes, until we had finished our snacks and hydrated ourselves. Once the Snickers’ sugar kicked in (yes it works just like the commercials!) we realized that maybe, just maybe, we had enough energy to make it up a couple more mountains and get ourselves to the end. Skeptically, we hoisted our packs and bodies up, and started hiking again.

I’m not even going to tell you how silly we felt when, after about 10 steps around the rocks, we saw the little old farmhouse that was our final destination a mere 25 yards ahead.

Our little farmhouse abode.

A little old tico man named Eladio, who used to farm the land around the cabin before he sold it to the nature preserve, owned the little cabin where we camped for the next 4 days. When the park realized that leaving Eladio’s barn standing so that groups like ours could camp there was a good idea, Eladio and his sons tore out the animal stalls and built bunk beds. They added two toilets, showers, and a small wrap around porch. Although he now lives in Monteverde, Eladio and one of the men from his family, bring horses laden with all the cooking supplies out to the cabin. The horses are left to run around while Eladio plays chef for the campers—a role he fills excellently. His mac and cheese is the best I have ever tasted in my entire life!

Our group quickly inhabited the little cabin with our general happiness and stench. The days at Eladio’s were filled with mini hikes as we made the rainforest our classroom. We learned about the various plants and animals that could be found in the recovering forest around Eladio's. Our free time was spent laying in piles on the porch, playing cards, scrabble, and playing with the horses.

Bunk beds with Mosquito Nets

 On the 3^rd of October we hiked to a nearby waterfall, which involved crossing the river under the skinny rope that we had walked across on the way to Eladio’s. Luckily this time we were hiking sans backpacks, but the current was still pretty powerful. Everyone made across and back alive (did you hear that Mom? Everyone made it alive) but there were several close calls that had my inner lifeguard nearly jumping out of my suit (yes, the one piece came out to play). The waterfall was gorgeous, freezing, and refreshing after the long clamber upstream. We played for a while, forged the river once more, and were welcomed back at Eladio’s with piping hot rice pudding.

The next morning we packed up all our mosquito nets, stocked up on snacks, and re-shouldered our packs for the long trek out of the forest to Poco Sol.