Well, the mangoes never ripened. They got close, and we ate
lots of green mangoes with salt, but I never got the perfectly Costa Rican ripened
mango that I had been dreaming of for months. That just means that I will have
to return.
But hey! We made it to the top of Cerro Chirripó! This second time
we bought tickets in advanced, I took my ecology final a day early, and bused
to the trailhead to check in at the ranger station in San Gerardo. We didn’t
want to pay to stay in a hostel and we had to get back home to study for
finales, so we left San Ramón Friday morning at 6:30 am, got our tickets,
rested for a few hours in a restaurant, and started hiking that night at 8:30
pm.
Hiking through the night made things go by quickly, but we
also had a really hard time trying keep our eyes open. It was pretty cold, and we
not bring enough clothes for how cold it was. By the time we finished the first
12 miles, and made it to the top at 5:15 am for the sunrise, we were wearing trash
bags to try and keep our selves just a bit warmer.
The best part was that my good friend and hiking partner Sam
turned 20 on our way up to the top of Chirripó. I brought a slice of cake to
the top, and some other hikers sang “feliz cumpleaños” when they found out it was
her birthday. Because we had a bus to catch, we headed back down the mountain
as fast as our knees would let us, and at one point Sam resorted to walking
backwards down the hill to give them a break. We made it just in time, took the
three different buses necessary to get back home, and ate dinner with our
families.
Next couple of days: finales
We all said goodbye, got on our respective planes, and I
headed to San Francisco.
I kept forgetting and speaking Spanish to all the officials
in the airport, and was asked if I lost a bet because of my short hair. Other
than that having a hard time letting go Spanish, I have not experienced the
culture shock that I was warned about, and have been doing pretty well. I spent
a week in Cali with my family hiking, beach walking, and celebrating my parents’
25th anniversary.
I then got onto a greyhound, and I am back in Idaho for my
summer job and school in the fall.
It was a fantastic 9 months.
Ciao, Costa
Rica
Nos Vemos
