Day 8 - Saturday, May 19th, 2012

Coffee, Rapids, More Coffee, and Costa Rican Mexican Food

We started off our day with singing in the rapids and watching Hope drink coffee (with extra sugar) by the gallon. After our run through of rafting, our group consumed 3 pineapples and continued on our trip down the river.

From Christian (with heavy editing by Sra. Monterroso):  The first night I actually remember to write/post/blog something and (of course) I can’t think of anything to write. (Not including the epic that follows.) Today: We went rafting and were told, by a guide, when to paddle and not to paddle.  Then we finally got out of the joy-forsaken raft tour group, we had to wait until 2:00 to eat lunch, then get on a two point five hour bus ride. After arriving at our bed and breakfast we went to a Mexican restaurant, at which I consumed a burger, a BLT, and many French fries.  

(Other posts deleted)

From Sara Monterroso:  Unfortunately, I had to delete two thirds of the blogging that was written tonight because it was becoming a personal debate over contrasting opinions/interpretations of the day held by the various bloggers, rather than an account of the day’s activities!  Oh well.  I'm sure they will share their editorial comments and controversy when they get home, which is the right place for it.  So, here's a more detailed account of the day...

Many of us were woken up this morning by the impressive calls of howler monkeys in the jungles surrounding the eco retreat.  At some point the students managed to rouse themselves from bed, have a delicious breakfast at Chilamate, and head over to the departure point for the raft trip.  The raft trip was “joy-forsaken” for Christian, for reasons that I’m sure he will happily share with anyone who asks, but most found it to be one of the highlights of the week.  The rapids were fairly gentle, for those of familiar with Colorado’s white water, but enough to keep all of us laughing and working together.  We were often able to get out to enjoy a swim/float and even some pineapple.  Back at Chilamate, we quickly packed, had some lunch, and loaded up into the van for the ride home.  Today was the Costa Rica soccer finals and they were being played near Chilamate, so all along the ride home saw the team colors and flags decorating cars on the highway, our driver honked and greeted each one that passed, so it was a pretty noisy ride.  Had to laugh about the dinner at the Costa Rican Mexican restaurant, complete with US license plates among the decorations – even one from Colorado!

Well, heading in for 5 hours of sleep before we wake up to load our bags onto a van to the airport and back home to your smiling faces!  We’ll see you right around 11:30, you should all have the flight information.