Backpacking Trip 2010

Today is the last day in June; it’s almost July! Wow!!!!!! I would like to say, “Where has the time gone?,” but I know all too well where the time went! I had been feeling homesick for a little while, wasn’t feeling like myself, and wanted to understand why so I could get back into the right frame of mind. Since we’ve been in Monteverde (“Green Mountain”), I have gotten back to myself again. I don’t know what it is about this place that gets to you…whether it’s the fact that the mist rolls in so thick and so quickly and there are all shades of grey, but in spite of all of that, green prevails. Always. Green Mountain, indeed. Maybe it’s the friendly small town atmosphere, maybe it’s because we’ve been in our first private room since we started our travels (don’t get me wrong, dorms are super fun, but it’s nice to have the comfort of your own personal space), maybe it’s me and Katie jiving well and all of our terrific laughing fits we’ve had lately, maybe it’s hot showers (prior to coming here, we hadn’t had a hot shower in ten days), maybe it’s the most amazing person I am so thankful and indebited to meet, Richard. Quizá es todo (maybe it is everything). Richard had been traveling with us since Puerto Viejo, June 18th and he left on Monday, June 28th. We had so much fun and many adventures together! I know Katie has enjoyed learning from him all of the many curse words and their variations! hahahaha! I truly can’t imagine this trip without him being a part of it. We’ll be seeing him later on in our travels, I know, and I am looking forward to it! I miss him already. However, today starts another adventure: we’re going superman ziplining!!! Oh, and we’ve had the worst luck with pictures and cameras! Sigh. I hope it gets better and we don’t loose anymore pictures. Oi. It’s been so frustrating. It’s been my cell phone, too, not just the camera issues! No point dwelling on it, I know. I would like the photos so I can upload them and give an accurate description of what we have been up to lately. For the most part, we’ve just been chillin; reading, writing, drawing, talking, exploring, venturing, tasting (all of the food we’ve eaten and drinks we’ve drunk have been wonderfully delicious), cooking, laughing, dancing. Richard and I took a hike to the cheese factory here (I KNOW – a CHEESE factory!!!) and on the way, had a lovely walk, a detour to visit the Catarata waterfall (the waterfall detour was magical in all ways possible), and ended up walking in the rain the rest of the way to the factory where we had the most heavenly ice cream I’ve ever tasted (it was so good, we had to get TWO flavors, coffee and banana and nut). The next day, Katie, Richard and I hiked from the hostel  (Pension Santa Elena) to the Santa Elena Reserve. The hike was INTENSE. The roads are VERY steep and we were gone for five hours, walked about 8 miles. It was, by far, the most extreme hike I’ve ever done in my life. Katie and I were going to hike yesterday but we were still so sore from Sundays hike that when we tried, our legs (shit, my entire body) protested! hahaha. Anyway, the scenery, the forests, the mountains, the sky, the view, the landscapes were breathtaking and unforgettable. Then we got to the Reserve only to find out they charge to walk the trails in the reserve. We had walked for hours to get to our destination to discover they charge to walk through nature?! Well, we kept walking along the road that took us to the reserve and we ended up finding a secluded trail that lead us into the reserve FOR FREE. It was gorgeous, that day. Everything about it was gorgeous. We had such a good time. Well, I’ll say Monteverde has been my favorite spot so far and I’ve had the absolute best time here. I still do think about home and the people back home, but I’m not sad anymore. I don’t know how I feel about home and everything yet, but I’m not sad anymore and that’s the most important thing. I’m finally writing again! I haven’t been able to write any poems since I first got to Costa Rica and I broke that block yesterday. Again, there is something about Monteverde that is inspiring. I have had many realizations about myself, about who I am, what I want, what has been holding me back, the fears I’d been holding onto, and have had massive understandings on situations in my life, what happened and why. Three things I’m working on daily: take things at face value, don’t take any thing personally, and don’t make something into what it is not. All of those are very similar but different at the same time. I am growing. I am growing up. I have learned. I am learning. I am in love. I am in love with life. I am in love with laughter. I am in love with the earth, my surroundings. I am in love with myself. I am in love with love. My heart has swelled…I have found my happiness again. I am signing off now to start the day! Til next time, with love in my heart, Angie

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 9:27 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.