If you are unaware, Costa Rica takes their holidays seriously. This means that the entire campus is closed as well as many stores and restaurants. Since we have been given the day off, a local employee of the seismic lab Juan Luis offered to take us on a hike. The reason that this was an exciting experience is that we needed to use Costa Rican Public Transportation for the first time! We woke up at 6:00am and we on the road by 6:50am. Using the uber app, we arrived at the bus location downtown. Luckily, we had Joyce with us and she was able to ask around and figure out where we needed to go and which bus to make it onto. Jumping from bus stop to bus stop, we finally found our bus and started heading to the opposite side of san jose. Juan Luis and his friend Krista got on the same bus on the way and we were finally on our way to the hiking destination.
Hiking in Costa Rica is different. Not only are you hiking in a dense rainforest, but there hiking trail shares a space with lots of cows and cattle. You would think that if we headed west away from the mountains that it would not be a enduring hike, but you are wrong. I guess there are mountains everywhere... After hiking up little streams and through harsh vegetation, we arrived at a small waterfall that we could stand under. The water was really cold but oddly refreshing after a long hike. The experience of being deep in the Costa Rican jungle was amazing and definitely a good workout. We really appreciated the time that Juan Luis and Krista took out of their holiday to show us the country. Shortly after the hike, we walked to a nearby restaurant, at which point it was 3:00pm and we were ready to call it a day. We ate, went home, and don't plan on using our feet for the rest of our first Costa Rican holiday.
