9 days already?!

After our mini fourth of July celebration, we prepared ourselves for a big travel day. We left Nicaragua on July 5th. We took a ferry off of Ometepe Island, taxis to a Ticabus and a bus ride into Costa Rica! A couple stops and ice creams later, we had crossed the border. After our Ticabus ride we moved onto a new public transportation bus that unfortunately broke down 45 minutes away from our hostel! Luckily, MadMoore phoned the owner of our hostel who sent two buses to save us and some other passengers. The buses brought us to Hostel Sloth in Monteverde Santa Elena, Costa Rica. The hostel welcomes us with pink and purple colors, butterflies and clean beds. With our travels and a good nights sleep behind us, we were ready for our first full day in Costa Rica!!

We woke up between 8:00 and 9:00 and headed off to zipline! The guides reassured us quickly before our adventure and strapped us into safety equipment. Everyone zipped on 13 lines, all increasing in height, and with some partnering, the coordinators of the ziplines led us to a surprise. At the end of all of the ziplining, they brought us to a Tarzan swing where, once again, every participated! It was a day full of adrenaline rushes and screams, but it was worth the scare.

Today, we woke up at 7:00 after a night of singing songs and making lunches to head off for a hike at the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve! It was much easier than travelling and hiking in hot Nicaragua. The temperature was perfect for T-shirts and pants and the clouds covered us from direct sunlight. The group moves fluidly along the trail for about two hours and then moved on to a watch tower where we all squished together to eat our lunch and identify one another as Friend's characters!! Now, after returning home around 1:00, we are using the rest of our day to relax and to plan for the rest of our time here in Santa Elena. The teachers are surprising us with dinner tonight, so we have the rest of the day to relax and enjoy the cooler temperature. We will be at Hostel Sloth for two more nights and then onto our big trek!

Of course, we miss everyone at home but we are, without a doubt, enjoying ourselves in Central America! Thanks for reading this and for thinking of us while we are on our adventures! Much love to all:)

- Thalia