THE JUNGLE!!!!!!

WOW ......
We survived the jungle! : )

I just came back from such an amazing experience! It was an absolutely awesome adventure!

So I spent the "fall break" visiting my cousin, Lyn, at the beach. The beach...well at least that is what I thought it was going to be. Yet little did I know I was going to the rain forest/jungle to live out in the wilderness, in a tent, for 3 nights, without electricity, in a pueblo with less than 100 people and nothing around but nature!

First, I took an hour long flight in a little 8 passenger plane to the Osa Peninsula. This was such a blessing in the first place because thanks to family and friends, I didn't have to pay for the flight and I didn't have to take an 8 hour bus ride there and back! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! What a blessing it is to have such supportive and loving family!

The Peninsula is known for being one of the most bio diverse places in the world and after being there I can definitely see why. I saw so many animals. Lyn helped and encouraged me to start a list, which was such a great idea, by the end my list was so long!

Some of the animals I saw...

TORTUGA'S (turtles) : )
Spider MONKEYS
Holler Monkeys
Macaw birds
Red and Black Headed Vultures
Lizards
Humming Birds
Pelicans
a Coral Snake
Morphia Butterflies
a false teial pella snake
fire flies
leaf cutter ants

The monkeys, macaw birds and turtles were my favorite and the snakes and HUGE spider were my least favorite. I was so paranoid after I saw a spider as bigger than my fist in the bathroom. Also, every time I took a step, I would have to check and make sure there weren't any snakes, it took a lot of concentration, especially at night in the dark, crossing the stream to get back to our tent because I was warned many times that they place we stayed had many snakes. Every time I made it back to my tent I was relived. In addition, my flashlight broke and when I asked the "caretaker" of the where we were staying if they had any extras he just laughed in my face. It was a challenge getting around at night.

*Rain boots and a flash light would have been ideal for this adventure. Instead I was praying that I didn't step on any snakes or walk into anything at night and wore wet sneakers all day till my feet were just a wrinkled mess*

The beach we stayed on was just across the road from our tent and it was absolute PARADISE!
It was seriously all I could ever imagine of beauty and more!

There were barely any other people on the beach, I only saw one person laying out all weekend taking up the sun. I never went in the ocean. It was too dangerous. Sharks come really close to shore, the waves were huge and the current is way to strong. So instead of going in the ocean we went in a river/lagoon nearby that ran into the ocean. The water was crystal clear and so beautiful.

Sunday was the big adventure day. After a week of rain and thinking I was gonna be stuck there for longer than planned because of the rain (we couldn't cross the rivers to get back to catch my flight) it was great to see the sun on Sunday. Thankfully God blessed me with a sunny day and a clear night that day! So Sunday was a full day of adventure. We walked a ton on the beach to a different campsite which was really remote, private, meaning no one else was there and were right at the entrance to the National State Park. This campsite according to Lyn is her favorite place in the world! I would have to agree, it is amazingly beautiful. Here we drank coconuts water, cafe, went swimming, hung out in the hammocks, made lunch and went into the jungle.

I loved walking in the jungle! It was so cool to think, "wow I'm in the jungle right now, where the jaguars, pumas, crocodiles and alligators live!" We were not even barely in the jungle for 15 minutes, when we spotted our first huge family of monkeys! : ) They are so fun to watch swinging from tree to tree. I saw one monkey that was carrying her little baby, it was so cute. We also saw another monkey that was pregnant. The spider monkeys can really swing from tree to tree. Yet the holler monkey woke me up at 5 am in the morning making so much noise.

I also had the great experience of patrolling the beach at night to help with the turtle conservation project for two nights. The first night I had no idea what to expect. Yet one thing I have been learning, is how it is best not to have expectations before anything because most of the time your expectations aren't met and you become discouraged and disappointed. But for this project, a group of 5 volunteers walked up and down the beach patrolling the area and looking for turtles that came up from the ocean to lay their eggs. I saw a turtle my first night! And the turtle I saw was huge!!!! And it was so great to see Ballardo, my cousins boyfriend, so passionate about his work, he took his work so serious and cared so much for the animals which was fascinating to me. It was great to see how he was doing something in life that he really loved and brought him joy. At first I didn't understand why people would want to work to help turtles, but after meeting Ballardo and seeing his fiery passion for nature, animals, plants and especially turtles, it quickly meant something totally different to me and helped me appreciate the project in a different way.

Get this, so the turtle is born, then spends 25 years at sea, swims all around the world to china then comes back to the very same beach they were born to lay their eggs! How smart are they to be able to navigate all around the world like that!? It's sad because many people come onto the beach to steal they eggs, to drink them in bars and prove their manliness. Along with humans coming to the beach at night to steal the eggs, other animals come by and eat them, so that is why were were on patrol at night, trying to relocate the eggs to safety. We also helped a little baby turtle back to sea, during the day, which was so neat to see the little guy try to swim out to sea.

The first night on patrol I also saw little bacteria and algae in the sand and waves that would light up! The first place I saw this was on the turtle when Ballardo touched it and at first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But then they would light up in the sand when we walked on it and the waves were glowing with a hint of green. It was extra bright because it was such a dark overcast night. Later a rain storm caught us at the beach in a torrential downpour, giving us no other option than to just get soaked and walk back to our tent drenched!

I had a great mini vacation! It was so great to see Lyn! She is such an inspiration for me with her open heart, spirit and attitude! I loved talking to her about my experience thus far in Costa Rica
and about things that I have been learning. Coming from traveling Europe and Asia for 18 months she has such great insight, advice and encouragement.

The whole vacation was such a blessing! Safe flights, good weather, health, safety, good food and lots of fun! I thank God for giving me an opportunity to go to Osa Peninsula to hang out with Lyn and see such a beautiful place.