Changes

Sarah: Well, for our last full day with our friends, we planned a trip to head to one of the highest peaks in Costa Rica, Cerro de la Muerte (Death Hill), and hike from that point all the way down to QERC. We spent the night before discussing possible animals we might see and were getting really excited for the hike. We got a ride up early morning to the top of the hill, but unfortunately, it was all cloudy up top. From that high point, we can possibly see both coasts on a clear day, but no such luck for us on Monday. Still, we began the trek down and it was fun to go through the different ecosystems. At the top is paramo, which was very tundra-like. Then we reached the elfin forest, which is a stunted forest with dwarfed trees. Finally, we reached the primary growth forest that had huge oak trees. By this point we arrived to the point where the trail connected up to a trail on our property. It was a beautiful hike; however, less than halfway through it started raining and never let up. So, we didn’t see any of the animals we were excited to see, and we ended up hiking the trail a lot faster than anticipated because of the pouring rain. As a result, we were all tired and sore the next day!

On Tuesday we got up early and packed up, and headed back toward the city. We made a short trip out of the way in hopes of seeing Irazu Volcano, but again it was very cloudy and once we got there we decided to turn around. At that point it was a sad time, as we had to take Stacie to the airport and say our goodbyes to her. It was really great for me to have a good friend here, and super fun to explore and travel with her—Stacie gets excited over EVERYTHING. :) After dropping her off, we had to say our goodbyes to Micah and Kevin and Paul. They are now off on their own traveling around the country in their own rented car. We also had a great time with them, and really it was just great for David and me to have familiar friends around to hang out with.

Tuesday afternoon we ran some errands around the city, and then our adventures continued because we went back to the airport to pick up David’s parents and younger sister Jenna. It was really great to see them and spend the evening together. Today we got up and walked around the city for a while, and eventually hit up the grocery store and made it back to QERC. It was a pretty low-key day, which was great for us all since we are all tired from traveling. It’s been a lot of fun to show family a bit of our life here and around our home in Costa Rica!