Today was bittersweet. Unfortunately it was our last day and no one is looking forward to going back to Pennsylvania. This morning a few girls from my cabin woke up and we watched the sunrise. It was absolutely beautiful. I wish it lasted longer.
Before breakfast, Laura 1, Laura 2, Emily, Chelsea, and myself went on a morning walk with the Matlagas. We looked at the mangroves and saw a teak tree. We also saw an aloe plant. I suggested taking the plant with us since everybody is so sunburnt. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go to the bat caves but we still had a lovely morning walk. I had watermelon, pineapple, bread with guava jam, cereal and orange juice for breakfast again. Like I said before, the bread is so good. Today I took three pieces.
After breakfast we went for a walk towards the bat caves. We didn’t actually make it all the way to the cave because there was a bit of a ledge we had to get down and then back up, but we still had a nice walk. Kristen and I were in flip-flops, but somehow we managed to keep up with everyone among the rocks. I couldn’t believe how rough the rocks were. I heard they would hurt someone who was barefoot and I wanted to see how rough the rocks really were so I took off my shoes just to feel the rock with my foot, and they sure were rough! We also saw two herons fighting in the sky, which was really neat, and we saw a bunch of snails suctioned to the rocks. Pablo joked and said we should bring them back for lunch. We played out on the rocks for a while, snapping pictures and enjoying every minute we still had. Emily, Rachel, and Dr. Matlaga got in the water with nets to see what they could catch. They said they saw a shark! How neat. They tried to cast a cast net over it, but it got away. Pablo talked to me about Spain and how hot it will be and how their dialect is a little different as in they use a lot of “th” sounds. I can’t wait to experience this.
As the sun crept higher and became hotter, we headed back in for lunch: chicken, veggies, fries, fruit, beans and rice. I skipped out on the beans this time though. Rachel felt sick so she was taken to the clinic. Sam is back. She still looks a little green though. I hope she’ll be okay to travel.
After lunch we all compared notes on the species we’ve seen. We took a group photo and headed out to Marisqueria Las Vegas La Purruja for dinner. Tonight we tried ceviche – raw fish. I tried the fish and shrimp ceviche. I didn’t know what to expect. I had absolutely no idea what it was. I can’t say I was a fan though, but at least I tried it. I don’t like sushi or raw fish anyway. But I did like the friend plantains. A lot actually, I ate mine and someone else’s. After dinner we headed back to our camp for the night to pack and write in our journals. I can’t believe we’re leaving tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to waiting 12 hours after the first group, to leave. I much rather spend the day at the beach and then leave rather than wait somewhere in San Jose. Oh well. I can’t believe spring break is over already. I had a lot of fun this week learning about Costa Rica and it’s ecology and I enjoyed meeting a whole new group of people. It was fun being a bio kid for a week.
A Life Full of Laughter 