Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Final Sagas in Central America


I've already written a couple entries about our final week in Costa Rica with Heather (or rather, I wrote one and Heather wrote one) and so this will mostly be a picture highlight of some of our final times before we returned to the U.S. Throughout our trip, we spent a lot of time in the jungle, city, desert, mountains, and lakes but not much time on the beach. So we were more than delighted to sprawl out on the sands of Montezuma for a couple days with Heather...

Nearby the beach, there was reportedly a waterfall, and so we hiked through the forest a bit to reach it. It turned out to be quite an exciting experience as it was possible to climb up behind the waterfall and dive through it!




After a long day of travel, we arrived in Monteverde where Joo repeatedly urged Heather and I to "do a zipline." We eventually agreed and signed up for some Extreme Tour. When we arrived, Joo was shocked by the fact that we had signed up not for a single zipline, but for 14 ziplines, free fall rappelling, and a Tarzan Swing. Nevertheless, a fun time was had by all (including our new friend Ray) as we zoomed across vast ravines filled with lush vegetation...



Not to say that they weren't some scary moments...

And so, we packed up our bags, killed our parasites, and said goodbye to the continent of many colors...

Overall, our five months of frolicking around South and Central America were a wonderful experience for Joo and me (or "educational" as she says). We learned a lot about various lifestyles, cultures, and of course each other. It was also a treat to start the trip with some friends and her relatives and finish it with Heather... in this way we could both sense the feeling that we are fortunate to be part of the other's family.
We also compiled a top ten list of things we were looking forward to back in America...
10. Eating salads and raw vegetables (without fear of parasites)
9. Cooking with an oven
8. Washing our clothes in a machine (as opposed to by hand)
7. Not worrying about our backpacks being safe or belongings stolen
6. Having ways to DRY our clothes (which became quite a smelly problem as we entered the rainy season towards the end of the trip and there were no drying machines)
5. Having our personal laptop to work on translation assignments instead of depending solely on the unpredictable hours and electricity (and even existence) of internet cafes
4. No IBBs (Imaginary Bed Bugs)
3. Driving in our own car (mostly because WE controlled our own safety instead of any random macho driver out to prove that he was the fastest bus driver in the land)
2. FREE WATER! (We calculated that we spent more money on buying water than we did on our plane tickets home)
1. Relationships (After countless hellos and goodbyes, it's always nice to come home to a place where you can see the same people every day)
Those said, we did have a beautiful time in South America, as is evidenced by our top 100 list of favorite memories from the trip. Alas, my fingers and eyes are too tired to type all of them out, so you'll have to ask about those in person when you next see us... until then... CIAO CIAO!
P.S. By the way, just because we're back in the U.S. doesn't mean our yearlong honeymoon is over; we still have 3 months left!!! :)

4 comments:

  1. It sounds like you had a wonderful time. We have had to find alternative means to dry our clothes now that the rainy days far outnumber the sunny ones, and the clothes lines don't work so well. We bought a drying rack and set it up in front of our heater.

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  2. At slight risk of fire, we eventually got impatient and simply draped all of clothes on the heater with small holes for hot air to escape. It was worth it to avoid wearing moldy clothing!!!

    Daniel

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  3. GLAD YOU ARE HOME!! Hey is that a IBB crawling down your leg? -Dad

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  4. Thanks for sharing your travel experiences with us. It's been a memorable journey! So glad you made it back to the States with no further difficulties. It was great to see you at church this morning and look forward to future sagas! Mary :)

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