Bungee Jumping!!!

This is the BEST day we've had here so far (I seriously still can't believe that everything I just wrote about only happened in three days...time is such a weird concept sometimes). Today was BUNGEE JUMPING DAY! We've all been super excited about it since we signed up earlier in the week, and when I woke up this morning I couldn't believe I was actually going to do it. But no nervousness really set in until we got to the bridge, because it's hard to actually fathom you are going to jump off of something so high.

The bungee jumping place is in a town named Naranjo, about 45 minutes outside of San Jose. We took a small van/bus thing to get there. It was super nice to get out of the main part of the city, and out into...well...I wouldn't call it the countryside, but out into an area that definitely has more green than downtown San Jose. We eventually exited the highway and pulled up to this really nondescript looking peach building that would look like any other if it were not for the giant sign that said TROPICAL BUNGEE right by the front door. So we all piled out of the bus and crammed into this tiny little office, where the guy in charge had us sign liability forms (gulp), and then got back on the bus to head down to the bridge (el puente). The road to the bridge was this incredibly bumpy dirt road, and halfway down the driver stopped to show us a view of the bridge (which was our cue to start freaking out). When we got to the bridge, all there was was a truck, a bright yellow platform hanging over the edge with an awning over it, and a few guys in yellow t-shirts organizing a bunch of harnesses and ropes. We stood around for a bit while they set everything up, taking pictures of ourselves looking scared, and then they gave us a little orientation and got us all set up in harnesses.

Something really nice was that before any of us jumped, the "Jumpmaster" (el Maestro de Saltos) gave us a demonstration of how to stand up on the platform and then jump off. Watching him do it and not fall to his death made me feel a little bit more at ease. Then we decided that Wendy (one of the girls in my group) was going to go first, and after watching her do it, I felt even better. A few more girls went, and then it was my turn.

Oh. My. Goodness. Please let me describe to you the experience that is bungee jumping: You sit on the rail of the bridge near the platform while the Maestro de Saltos checks/tightens your harness and straps and has you show him that you know how to clip yourself onto the rope that will pull you back up. After that, he has you get up onto the railing and walk out onto the platform and drop the bungee rope in front of you. Then, you have to inch forward until all of your toes are over the edge of the platform, 265 feet up in the air. At this point, if you are me, your feet are going numb because you are so incredibly terrified of heights (even just writing about this is making my toes go numb, no joke). Then the Maestro gets down to business. No nonsense from this point on. He tells you to let go of the pole you are desperately clinging to because you are afraid you might slip and die, and then suddenly everyone is counting down, "5...4...3...2...1!" and you have absolutely no choice but to fling yourself off of the platform into nothing but open space. Suddenly you are soaring through the air with the wind rushing in your ears, and even though all of the breath has just been sucked out of your body, you are oddly at peace with the whole situation; it seems almost...serene. It's just you, the air, and the river and trees below that are rushing at lightspeed towards your face. And, though you are at peace, you may or may not let a couple of swear words slip out of your mouth because you realize just how fast you are heading towards earth. And then the bungee rope catches your feet, and BOING, you are jerked upwards and backwards, swinging in a wide arc underneath the bridge to the other side, until BOING, you are jerked the other direction, a little more gently this time, and then boing, boing, boing, until you've stopped bouncing and are simply swaying back and forth. All of the blood in your entire body is now in your face, and you realize that you are completely at the mercy of the people on the bridge, who are in charge of making sure you get pulled back up. All you can see are trees and rushing water beneath you, and you feel at one with nature, suspended in the middle of it. You take a moment to thank God you are alive, and then to say to yourself (astonishingly in Spanish - 5 days in Costa Rica must really have an influence on your brain - "Estoy bien, estoy bien". You also yell "WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!" a couple of times at the top of your lungs (causing your eyes to bulge out of your face because your head is so full of blood), because you are so freakin' elated about what an amazing experience you just had. You take a couple more moments as you hang there, by yourself, to contemplate the meaning of life and sympathize with what a bat must feel like for most of the day, and then, from above, you see a thin black rope with a carabiner on the end being lowered down towards you. You reach out and try to grab it but completely miss, because you are swaying one direction and it is swaying another; it is also especially hard because you are completely disoriented and have no idea which direction is what. It comes back your way again; you swing out with your hand and completely miss it once again. Then, third time's a charm, you are able to snag it and clumsily clip it onto the loop in your harness, tightening it like you were shown. Then you throw your arms out to the side to signal you are ready to be pulled up, and you feel the tug as the people on the bridge turn on the generator and begins cranking you upwards. At first it feels like nothing is happening, and then slowly but surely you feel it pull your body into a more horizontal pose, until finally you are in a sitting position and holding onto the rope, turning around in gentle circles as you move slowly upwards. You can see how gorgeous the trees are around you, and you look up and see the cheering faces of all of your jumping companions peering over the edge of the bridge above. Then, you are back at the platform, being instructed to grab onto the yellow bars and pull yourself back onto the platform. You sit down on the railing as the Maestro helps remove all of your equipment. You have made it! You are incredibly shaky, but lightheaded with excitement and adrenaline, and most importantly, ALIVE!

And that, my dear friends and family, is what it is like to go bungee jumping. We also got a sweet certificate, t-shirt, and DVD of our individual jump out of the deal. Not too shabby. SUCH a rush, SO amazing, I would recommend the experience to anyone who has ever wanted to do it. DO IT. You will not regret it.

So anyway, the rest of my day doesn't matter, because I friggin' went bungee jumping! Now I'm exhausted, and am going to sleep ASAP. Tomorrow it's off to Tamarindo to spend a weekend at the beach, so I probably won't be posting for a few days!

Love and miss you all! Paz.
Raquelita

Photos!:

A view of the bridge we were about to jump off of from a distance.

The platforms and awning of the company we jumped with.

A look at just how high up we were...

I realize I look more excited than scared in this photo...strangely, that's how I felt.

More of my scared face

Getting hooked up to the foot harnesses

Gah!

Getting my equipment checked for the last time before jumping.

Sitting on the railing, getting ready.

Walking out onto the platform...

And...jump!

Flying!

Hanging out, just swinging around, you know, the usual...

So that's it! My bungee jumping experience in photos. Hope you enjoyed =]

Los Primeros Días

Hello all!

Man, I have so much I want to write, and yet don't want to write a novel. I'll try to do it all in a nutshell.

I feel like I have been here for a month already. When I stop and look back and realize that it has only been five days, not even, my mind is blown. I feel like I have adjusted rather well, but then again according to the so-called "laws of culture shock", I am still smack in the middle of the honeymoon period. Hopefully I can prolong it as long as possible =]

I'll try to go by day to explain bit by bit what I've been up to:

Monday: a very loooong day, including two 3-hour orientations, first at Universidad Veritas, and then at ISA. That was pretty much what the day consisted of, since we hadn't started class yet and I didn't have any homework. It was a good day to adjust and unpack a little bit more, and I got to go to bed early so that I could have a fresh start on Tuesday.

Tuesday: Woke up at 7, showered, and after an incredibly delicious breakfast made by my Tica mamá, Beatriz, Mikaela and I headed of to our first day of the intensive month. What happens during this month is that we go to class every day from 8-12, and then have the rest of the day free. Because we are in the Advanced class, we have more homework than the other classes, but really, compared to a normal semester, it's not that much. This first day of class felt extremely long (I mean, it is 4 hours...), but then it was over and we were able to head home and relax a bit. Then at 8:00 a bunch of us headed to the free Tropical Dance class at Veritas, where we learned the basics of merengue, salsa, y cumbia. We're all hoping we'll be able to use our newfound dance skills this weekend when we head to the beach =]

Wednesday: Another morning of class, only a little bit of homework due, and then we headed to the Cine at the nearest mall (Multiplaza del este) and saw The Proposal (or, as it's called in Spanish La Propuesta). It was in English with Spanish titles, which I feel is cheating a little bit on our part, but it was really nice to go see a movie and chill out in a dark theater for awhile. Also, every Wednesday is 2 for 1 Miercoles, so 2 tickets are the price of 1 ticket; in other words, mega cheap. Getting there was quite the adventure though, since we didn't know exactly where it was...first we were going to take the bus, but the bus stop we were supposed to go to was on the wrong side of the road, because the bus would have been heading in the opposite direction of the mall. So then we decided that maybe we'd be able to walk the whole way there (even though I doubted it, since our host parents took Mikaela and me there on our first night and I remembered it being at least a few miles away), and we quickly learned why many people decide not to walk places in San Jose: no sidewalks, traffic zooming by 6 inches away from you, and uncrossable intersections. So then we finally decided on a taxi, which was definitely the best option; we got there in about 5 minutes and only had to pay a few dollars. After the movie we headed home and started in on our homework, since there was quite a bit due for Thursday...after dinner, though, we got a little sidetracked because we were having a really good conversation with Beatriz about her family and her work as a waitress on cruise ships, and then she showed us a few photo albums of hers, which was really interesting; it was really nice to learn more about her past and get to know her a little better, and she had lots of fun stories to tell. She has been SO many places in the world, especially in Europe. Anyway, then I had to do my homework, and I got to bed after midnight...ah well, at least I finished it.

All right, I'm going to make Thursday a new entry, because it's the most exciting day by far.

Hello from Costa Rica!

I am writing to you from my Costa Rican bed in my Costa Rican bedroom in my Costa Rican house. I am currently eating Sun Chips (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, not very Costa Rican of me) and wearing my FLEECE. Go figure.

Today was one of the longer days of my life. Not in a bad way, or anything. It just lasted a very long time. Mikaela and I woke up at 3:45, and we left the house at around 4:45 to head to the airport. Our travels all went very smoothly as far as flights and layovers and all of that. The flights were pretty empty too, which was nice. I didn't really pay much attention to my surroundings until we started our descent into San Jose. I went to an empty aisle and sat in the window seat and was instantly wowed by what iI saw. Green. Green, green, and more green. Many different layers of clouds, which was really cool to fly through; you could see thunderheads spotting the landscape surrounded by patches of sunlight, and the coast shining a little bit in the distance. There were green mountains dotted with houses and green valleys, and I even saw a tiny waterfall pouring into a giant pool in the middle of the rainforest. I can already tell it's just as gorgeous as everyone has been telling me it is.

So we landed, went through all of the immigration and customs stuff, and went out and met up with a few other people who are here for the semester. We had to wait for about an hour for one last girl to find us, so we got the chance to get to know each other a little bit, and it seems like a really fun group. There will be more arriving all throughout the month of September, so I'm looking forward to meeting lots of new people.

Mikaela and I spent the rest of the day getting acquainted with our host family and our host house, and trying to adjust to speaking and hearing Spanish all of the time. Our family is absolutely amazing! There are four people in the family: Beatriz and her husband Romeo, and their two daughters, Tiare, who is 14, and Mariana, who is almost 3. They have been so welcoming and open and easygoing, and Beatriz made us an absolutely delicious dinner of arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), salad, and fried plantains. They've been great about answering all of our questions about Costa Rica and life in their house, and they've taken the time to drive us around their area a little bit to show us some of the fun places to go shopping and go see movies, etc.

I think this week will be pretty long, but after we get into a routine of class and then my internship starts, and after we get to know people and start knowing our way around and going on fun weekend trips, I will feel a lot more adjusted and time will start flying by. All right, I'm tired! And it's 8:40pm and they are serving dinner! Gotta go. Much love.

The time has come.

Well, folks, the time has come for me to say good-bye for now. After much packing and deliberating all week long (if you count downloading the first two seasons of Friends and hanging out with all of MY friends every night as "deliberating"), I'm off to Costa Rica for the next 4 months of my life. I'll be up in the air at around 6:50 tomorrow morning, and from there it's just a 3 hour flight to Houston and a 2.5 hour flight to San Jose, and then it's adios English, hola Spanish for a whole 16 weeks. I'm sure I'll be describing the brain aches to you in much detail. So many reasons to keep reading this blog. =]

Anyway, I know it's hard to remember to read these things (I've never been very good at it myself), but I just thought I'd write to keep my thoughts organized and have some memories from my trip, and at the same time update anyone who is interested in consistently reading it. Note: if I don't post for an extended period of time, don't call the authorities; I am probably just doing the usual and procrastinating. Hopefully there will be some fun pictures to see as well, although most of them will probably make their way onto Facebook too.

So that's about it for now! I love you all, I'll miss you mucho, and if anyone wants to take a sweet vacation and come visit me in November, talk to Elena. =]

Much love. Peace.