I went ziplining yesterday for the Fourth of July! It was a lot of fun, but super exhausting. I think I used just about every muscle in my body, because today I'm pretty sore. Upon arriving at Fossil Land, we were greeted by two Costa Ricans and a guy dressed up in a giant chicken suit. Our guide's name was Otto, but he introduced himself to us as Captain Tula. and the only way I know how to describe him is: completely loopy. Very nice. But loopy. He had us yell "Du du matanga!" which became our chant for the rest of the trip. I think it just means, "We can do it!" We were required to repeat this multiple times at the top of our lungs at various points during the day before we could move on to the next challenge on the agenda. We had to rub mud on our faces, walk through a creek, jump over things, race up steep terrain, and do lots of other challenges to finally get to the ziplining area. The ziplines were awesome! There were 5 cables, and one of them was freestyle, so I went upside down! After ziplining, we all went to a restaurant called Fresas (Strawberries) and had some delicious food. The juice was freshly squeezed and SO good! I got guanabana, my new favorite. And Jeremiah is crazy and doesn't like fruit juice, so he very kindly ordered guanabana juice so that I could have two :) Also, I hung out with Victor (the bus driver) the whole day, so I got to practice my Spanish a LOT. I learned so many new words, and it's becoming more and more easy to hold conversations in Spanish. Today, I spent the whole morning making beds with Andrea, so I got even more Spanish practice, which was great! Also, she made me some mate. It was delicious! It's a tea that's typical to Argentina and Paraguay. In Paraguay, they drink it with cold water, and Anna (one of the maids here) drinks it with lemonade. So that's how I tried it, and it was so good!
Now, I have time to relax and it feels wonderful. A group left this morning and the next 3 groups come on Friday. There will be two groups staying here at the Villa (45 people in all), and one group staying at Coronado. Also, I think they're all leaving next Friday, which is the day I leave. So my last week here will be crazy! I'll need a vacation by the time I leave for the states next week!
