Viva la Vida

After our new experiences with the children's museum, we finally went to our first traditional museum – El Museo Nacional. The museum began with a walk through a butterfly room. Though it wasn't as impressive as the one in the InBioParque, it was still beautiful. In the InBioParque, there were a lot of butterflies in a very small amount of space. Here, there was a large amount of space which was tastefully covered with vegetation and a relatively small amount of butterflies, which made encountering one that much more special.

As we moved through the museum, there were various artifacts from Costa Rican history and their descriptions, classic museum design. Apparently, throughout Costa Rica, round balls of cement like material have been found in all different sizes, ranging from being the size of me to being small enough for me to pick up without exerting too much effort. They have yet to definitively figure out the purpose of these balls. There are many theories that fly around. One suggests that they were just for decoration. Other theories suggest that they were used as a method of keeping track of time and date, which was important for growing crops and keeping track of the rainy seasons and such. Often they were found arranged in lines to make angles or other formations.

Once we got to the basement of the museum, the style changed. In the basement was various rooms that the army of Costa Rica used (back when they still had an army). Though I don't remember for sure, apparently the building used to be some sort of headquarters for the leader of Costa Rica, and the army stayed in the basement. There was a hallway with small rooms stemming off. There wasn't a door covering them and the graffiti on the walls was the original graffiti from the soldiers who stayed there. These rooms were used for people they held hostage or for soldiers that needed to be punished. They would only have a wooden box for a bed and few other luxuries. Another room contained the bathrooms of the army men, which at some point were built over to display more artifacts in a museum that owned the building before El Museo Nacional. Another room involved the cafeteria and another the showers. Just a walk back through the butterfly room and a step over a couple of the famous balls and we were off to school for the day.

Another life goal has been accomplished. I finally got to be inside a bubble. This morning we visited El Museo de los Ninos, or The Children's Museum. This museum is inside a building that was once a prison that fell into disuse after a war. There was talk about knocking the whole building down until the idea came along of turning it into something society needed – a children's museum. The museum presents information about almost everything. You can find information that ranges from how a body works ranging to how light works. Of course, there are also exhibits that are more purely just for enjoyment.

One exhibit that caught my eye was the bubble exhibit, of course. This is where I finally received my experience of being inside a bubble. There was a circle in which you stood and pulled up a metal circle around you that had been dipped in bubble fluid. There was also large bubble wands that allowed us to create the biggest and longest bubbles I've ever seen, which is something else I've always wanted to do – make huge bubbles.

In another room, there was a wall onto which you'd lean and turn on the light. The wall was glow in the dark and after a minute or so, you would turn off the light and your shadow would be semi-permanently stuck on the wall, until the next light application. We called these magic shadows. Another exhibit featured a house that was on an angle with the ground. It produced odd, dizzy feelings in everyone since our brains told us we were supposed to be standing up straight, but we had to stand on an angle to actually keep our balance. It was very cool.

All the Costa Rican woman here wear these original hair clips that sort of work like a ponytail holder and sort of work like one of those large hair clips. I finally found one for 50 cents at The Children's Museum, so I got it. But I think its smaller and more fragile than normal, so I'm still on the lookout, but I definitely like how it looks. Whatever it takes to make me feel more Tica!

The ziplines provided endless fun for us. As we moved on, the ziplines kept getting longer and longer, and more and more people needed guides to help them get across. Some simply refused to or weren't able to stop without having the assistance of the tree trunk in front of them. Others got in trouble for releasing the grip of either of their hands to take pictures or videos as they flew across the sky. I was all set as I strapped my GoPro to my head and zoomed on.

The last couple ziplines were the most spectacular, as they were the highest, giving us an amazing view of the mountains below us. These ziplines were long enough that they gave you time to relax and stop thinking about braking in time. You could stop and smell... the greenery. In all honesty though, the air there was something different. In Monteverde, the air felt extremely fresh and just smelled amazing. There were moments where we all just stopped to breathe, and just breathe.

As a grand finale to our zipline experience, we got a chance to go on the Tarzan swing – a mix between a bungee jump of 120 feet and a swing, similar to the Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Great America. You had to walk out on a long bridge which at some point just stopped, and you were attached to a couple ropes and would jump from there. The wait was filled with anticipation, since as you watched the people in front of you, you would see the person on the bridge, on the bridge, on the bridge, and then gone. Suddenly, without warning, they would disappear, and we were all waiting for our own turn to do just the same.

I finally got out to the platform. I was one of the first of my friends to attempt the jump and any of my friends who already did it were way ahead of me in line. And there I was, on the edge. “Las dos manos aqui.” …This is all I can hold onto? “Bend your knees.” “What?” “Bend. Your knees. Bend.” ...Umm, Okay. And then without further warning I was essentially shoved off the edge. I managed to scream for the first half second of the drop and then my stomach fell behind my body, leaving me breathless. Finally the rope caught, and I swung above the tree tops to catch one last glance at the green mountains that I got to marvel at on the ziplines.

On Saturday, we all stumbled out of our beds at 5:30 in the morning, falling into the bus one after another to drive down to Monteverde, a town in the mountains of Costa Rica. This town was originally founded by Quakers from the United States who were seeking a safe place to build their community. This city now produces amazing dairy products and boasts lush rainforests through which you can find many a canopy tour (ziplining). Some years ago, National Geographic covered this city and discovered that it was a great city for Quetzal bird sightings, so many tourists and photographers started to visit the city. The roads leading into this city were not paved back then, and because the residents of Monteverde wanted to keep the town the same, a sort of private, secluded city, they petitioned to not have the roads paved, even though this was the plan. The same unpaved roads that wound up the sides of the mountains were the ones on which we entered.

The first thing that struck us was the endless rolling mountains of green that stretched out before us as we drove. The expanse seemed endless, and pictures didn't do it justice. We were scheduled to stay at a 4 star hotel for that night, and as we drove up to the resort worthy hotel, we couldn't believe that this didn't have all five.

The rooms were absolutely gorgeous and pristine. The pillows and blankets were super fluffy, there were carpeted floors, and the bathroom sported both an oversize bathtub and a spiffy shower. This shower filled the bottom with water, so your feet were standing in water while you took your normal shower. The room also had rocking chairs to pull out on your balcony/patio, depending on what level your room was on. We got the ground floor, which was preferable as people would congregate outside and it was easy to just go out and meet up with them.

What was particularly amazing was the view. A look out your window brought you face to face with the same rolling, gorgeous, green mountains we saw as we were driving. The view was breathtaking, and I spent all my free time sitting outside, either on the rock outside our room or on a rocking chair, as did other members of our group. No matter how many photos we took, it wasn't the representation we wanted of the spectacular view.

We woke up at the crack of dawn today to drive down to the Pacuare River to brave the rapids that made it into the top five rivers for white water rafting in National Geographic. At six o'clock in the morning, our bus departed from the university, and we all settled into our seats for the two hour drive to the lodge where we would have breakfast before our departure.

After changing, we loaded the buses again to drive to our final destination at the beginning of the river. We donned our life jacket and helmet, and I donned my video camera, attaching it to my head. We were given the basics of the controls of the raft, and even practiced rescuing people if they fell out of the raft (practice accomplished by pushing members out of the raft and then rescuing them).

Quite soon, we made our way out onto the rapids, warming up with Class I and II rapids and then later advancing to Class III and Class IV rapids. Somewhere in the middle of the run, we stopped by a clearing of rocks for lunch. At this clearing there was a cliff which everyone took the time to dive off and into the water. The fishes in the water weren't too shy to nip at us either. Greg was holding his hand above the water and a large fish with teeth jumped up and bit his finger.

Afterwards, as we were finishing the run, we went through a place called “The Two Mountains.” This was a particularly beautiful part of the rafting trip, as we floated between two mountains. However, a large electric company is looking to build a dam here. To do this, they need to turn the river into a lake in this area. This work will be done in about six years, which is a real shame, since the beauty that was there was incomparable to any other.

Throughout the whole trip, vegetation surrounded us. There were also calm parts of the rafting when we had the opportunity to jump off the raft and swim around as we floated down stream. The three hour rafting trip was nothing short of a roller coaster of a ride. As we paddled, we observed the Indian Reservation to our right, and even saw some Indians. There were also lodging stations for multi-day trips from which came camera flashes from visitors taking pictures. Maybe one day I'll be taking the picture as I wait for my own rafting trip to continue for the second or third day.

After every rapid, we celebrated our survival and success with a “high five,” which included raising our oars into the air together and yelling “Pura Vida!” So, here's an oar to you - “Pura Vida!”