Enjoy today’s updates from Trek Costa Rica 2 participants…

Day 3 – Monkeying Around
Today we woke up pretty early and we had delicious fruit at a really cute Jewish hostel!! When we got on the bus, Raphael taught us a “boker tov” song, and it really woke us all up! We then headed down to the beach and walked down a road with little shops and went to the beach. We spent the day at a beautiful beach that had bright blue water. Everyone went into the water and we all played games and it was so fun!! We all walked on the beach and talked and it was such a great experience.

This beach is  known for all of the monkeys that hang around there!  We saw sooo many of the monkeys – they were really cool!  We learned that the monkeys are black and white Capuchin monkeys. At one point one monkey stole one of our sandwiches and it was really funny. There was a momma monkey with a baby monkey on her back. Of course, we all took tons of pictures.

Then we went to a different beach and ate the lunches we made the night before with everything we bought at the super market. On the ride back to the hotel we listened to music and laughed a lot. We returned to the hotel and walked around the streets of Jacó and went shopping, which was really cool because we got to see where the local Costa Rican’s buy things. We went back to the hotel for dinner. We are feeling all of the group love and bonding and are excited for zip lining tomorrow!!
– Corinne and Nina

Day 4 – Zipping Through the Jungle
We took the bus to a ten part zipline course not knowing what to expect. First we put on our equipment which was quite uncomfortable and weighed us down. Then we all gathered for a group picture where we clumped together except for me (Billy) who climbed a tree! We separated into two groups and boarded tractors which took us up a steep incline over the mountains and gave us a great view of Costa Rican terrain. Once we reached the top we were given a description on how all the equipment worked and how to operate it. Then one by one we got clipped onto a cable and started zip lining down. Some of us could not wait to go down, while others were dreading it… !

We went down the ten checkpoints with extreme joy and adrenaline coursing through us. The few who were initially scared, fought off the fear and had an amazing time!! Then at the end we all had juicy watermelon. After we all removed our gear, we climbed back into the bus.  I ate three bags of chips and queso!

Then we arrived at a senior citizen center. This was also another very foreign experience because none of us had ever had a volunteer experience like this before. At first we didn’t know what to expect and were timid to talk. However, as the afternoon progressed, we decided to play dominoes with some of the seniors and really had a good time even though we did not speak the same language. After a typical fish, rice and beans lunch, the people we visited put on a dance performance for us.  We sang some karaoke with our friends, I (Billy) even won a game of bingo with the help of a resident, and finally joined (Jonah) for a few games of dominoes. The day was filled with new experiences and lots of fun!
– Billy and Jonah

Day 5- A Hopping Good Time
After all of our adventures, we were ready to welcome Shabbat, the day of rest. Some  chose to sleep in, while others got up earlier and enjoyed a delicious and nutritious breakfast.

Around 10:45am, we left for a long walk to the Rabbi’s house. I’m not sure why, but the town smelled like horses as we took our walk. One noticeable thing about the morning was that we were not allowed to bring our cellphones to the Rabbi’s house. This got all of us talking to each other rather than playing on Snapchat!!

We had a very good lunch and played very fun games. Then, we took another long walk back to the hotel. The hotel had many amenities, such as soccer, tennis, bowling, a gym, a pool, ping pong, etc. It felt nice to relax!! We ended Shabbat with a Havdallah service where we stood in a circle and said prayers.

We left the hotel around 5:45, and took the bus to Sky Zone. This was a huge warehouse type building with tons of trampolines all over. There were foam pits for us to do flips, a line of trampolines where we had to take one bounce in each one to get to the other side. And finally there was a huge trampoline with a ball above it and we all tried to bounce up and touch the ball. We played dodgeball, ate pizza, and socialized!

It was a very relaxing and fun Shabbat!
Simone and Mariel