Having felt that our group has explored quite a bit of San Jose, we decided to venture out once again to explore the outskirts of Costa Rica. Waking up bright and early, we headed to Santa Elena and hiked through what seemed to be an enchanted forest. Despite traveling early, the forest was very foggy and it was difficult to see anything past the nearby trees. It was still very enjoyable to explore the forest together, and after completing tracks far quicker than we expected, we explored more tracks before eventually returning to our hostel. There, we met two pets — a cat and a hedgehog. The cat’s name was Valentino was incredibly adorable. Here are a couple shots of him. Then, we explored some of the souvenir shops in the area and bought a couple of things for friends and family. We finally went out to eat at Treehouse Restaurant which was fancier than the other places we’ve been to and featured a singer (his first time!) who sang very good throwbacks. After returning to the hostel again, the five of us ate ice cream together and rested for the next big day.
Pizza at Treehouse Cafe
First fear conquered: Heights! We decided to attend Monteverde Extremo Park to zipline. I have never ziplined before and I have an insane fear of heights, but I decided to use the excitement of the other girls to motivate me to try something new. There were 9 cables in total, one of which involved a partner and two which involved laying on your stomach in a Superman position. The first couple of zip lines were super fun although it was a bit of an awkward position to place your hand behind your head throughout the entire zipline. I really enjoyed the one with a partner though because that meant I didn’t have to brake on my own :). Despite having gone on a couple of ziplines, I was very terrified to do the Superman ziplines. I let three people go in front of me and had to control my breathing before getting on. After doing it the first time, it was incredibly fun even if I somehow lost one of my contacts. Seeing the trees and grass and cows made me feel even more appreciative of the beautiful world we live in. The second Superman zip line involved having your arms outstretched and flying through a tunnel which was a bit scary. My overactive imagination kept thinking an alligator would come out, so I was very excited for that ride to end. We ended with the Tarzan swing where I was dropped 50 meters from the air and swung on a rope. Although this was my favorite experience, the drop quite literally felt like I was going to die. The girls were so confused why I was soquiet, but I was just praying I wouldn’t die at that moment. After the freefall, I was able to appreciate the swing and did kick a tree by mistake oops. Leaving the park, we ate some lunch, explored the souvenir shops by the bus station, and headed back for another week of grinding.
The girl right before a very terrifying Tarzan swing!
The next fear conquered: coding! For this week, we made a lot of progress with the electronic and coding side of our project because the supplies we had expected did not arrive. I have never particularly enjoyed coding, but I mostly joined this project to get out of my comfort zone and familiarize myself with the computer science and electronics of bioengineering. I spent the majority of my time working on developing code to control the functions of our TENS device including modifying frequency and voltage, controllingthe time the TENS treatment is delivered and the delay after, and the Bluetooth connection. James spent a lot of time working on the circuit components which eventually worked but are no longer working. I was very sick this week, so I spent many afternoons resting.
On Friday, we went to the Butterfly Sanctuary to observe and I did not realize it was also a very mild hiking trail. Despite the slipping, it was a very beautiful area. We had the chance to see the river, butterflies, and beautiful flowers. After, we went with some ULACIT students for dinner. I headed back early to rest and study for the MCAT.
The view walking back from the Butterfly Sanctuary
Reaching the end of three weeks in Costa Rica has been such a bittersweet experience. With each week, there have been new challenges but I’m so incredibly blessed to genuinely feel changed by the people around me and the experience itself.