Monday, September 6, 2010

A List of Firsts



Fun fact about Costa Rica. The Jurassic Park movies were filmed here- on some islands.
This past weekend, as I ventured to Corcovado, I really did expect a T-Rex or a Raptor of some kind to come barreling out of the trees. It was beautiful. This past weekend, I saw whales, poisonous snakes, other snakes, frogs, lizards, sea turtles, dolphins, blow fish, monkeys, toucans, macaws and I’m sure something else I am forgetting. LIterally, my senses were in overdrive just trying to keep up.
We started this little adventure at the very early morning and all before lunch I had seen: gators (or maybe crocodiles, but I don't know the difference), the sunrise (yes it was that early), the beach, surfers, mangroves, been on a boat out of a river and into the ocean, mountains and I am not sure what else. All of it was just way amazing. All before lunch time. After lunch, a monkey had broken into our bungalow and stolen snacks and ransacked our place and we went on a hike through the rainforest, which was conveniently located right near the beach, and saw baby sea turtles awaiting their release.
The next day I embarked on many firsts for myself. I went further out into the ocean than I had ever been before to an island where we hiked to Costa Rican ruins. Before we arrived at the island though, our boat chased whales that were indescribable. We saw several snakes which can kill a human in less than 2 minutes with their bite. They were swimming all over the water. Ok, not all over, but we did see like 8 of them in the water that was the same water we would later be snorkeling in (also a first for me). Also, just to add to the element of danger of those snakes, the place we were staying was a 40 minute boat ride to the nearest town, which did not even include a clinic. There would be no hope for you. All of everything was just incredible.
It seems even to me now that when I type this out, the full effect is not given to the places I saw. Not to mention, the people who were our guides (boat & island) were possibly two of the nicest people ever. I feel like I have two great friends now in them. The whole trip was beyond belief. I was swarmed by monkeys, macaws threw fruits at me, bats flew at my face, I saw whales, and all this just breaches the surface. Those are the things that concrete words can be put to. The other things, like the mountains, the island, the rainforest and the ocean all in one place- those can't really be given justice only with words. Even the pictures I have do nothing for the place I have seen. I really wish I could've captured it better, but I am not sure anything short of seeing all the amazing beauty God created could do it.

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