becoming like children

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 and then later in Matthew 19:14 he said  “Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to people like these.” This past weekend I was brought joy through so many children. When I arrived at the hostel in Monteverde, a little boy came up to me and handed me a piece of candy with the biggest smile on his face. Throughout the next few days we got to interact a little more with these children because their parents owned the hostel. Later in the weekend, I was relaxing in a hammock when suddenly something tapped me on the forehead. I looked up to find the cutest little girl looking at me while holding an orange. I asked her a few questions in Spanish to find out that her name was Ava and she was three years old but then she ran away and I was very confused. BUT don’t worry, every five minutes after that she repeatedly came up to me, tapped me with her orange and said “me llamo Ava” and ran away. The interactions I was able to have with children this weekend reminded me of Jesus’ preaching on how we need to have faith life children. I have realized that children hardly ever have Stress, Money or advanced technology to distract them from what God is calling them to do in life. This weekend was a wonderful reminder through children to LOVE GOD above all and not let life get in the way.

Other weekend happenings:

1. Went Zip-lining in Monteverde which included rappelling down some trees, the Tarzan Swing and the Superman Zip Line (The superman cable allows you to feel like a bird while you soar

   

   Repelling down the tree!

   over the mountains and pasture land. It is a 1 kilometer cable with a height of 180 meters.  
2. Hiked Cerro Amigos Trail: The trail was more or less a Jeep trail to the highest point where a cell station resided. The word Cerro means hill but this was no hill that I have ever hiked. It was straight up for over an hour and it was such a steep incline I had to take many breaks. The hike was beautiful though and I got to see blue morpho butterflies and see the gulf of Nicoya and all the way to Nicaragua (I think).  The next day and even today my legs are feeling the hike straight up the hill.
   
   

   

   Believe it or not but that is me way out in the trees

   
   
   
   

   

   Superman style!

   
   
   
   

   

   Hiking in Monteverde
3. Got to eat dinner in a Tree at the Tree House Café. The Tree House was a unique choice for dinner since it literally is a restaurant built around a tree. I enjoyed a great dish of shrimp, squid and roasted potatoes while dinning in a tree.
   
   
   

   

   Tree restaurant at night I just love trees that much I wanted to eat in one!

4. Meet many travelers during the weekend from places such as Australia, Germany, Norway, England, Sweden, Ontario, California, Belize and a few other places I don’t remember. It was super fun just to talk and meet unique people at our hostel from all over because everyone is so unique and has some crazy stories about what they are doing. One woman I met decided she was going to take two years off of teaching (she is 28) and travel the world. She has been gone for over a year now and all she knows is that she needs to be back in Australia in December.
5. Went hiking in the biological reserve of monteverde. Our goal for the hike was to finda  Quetzal bird but we were to cheap to pay for a tour guide which cost about $50. We set out on a three hour hike over hanging bridges, by waterfalls and trekking through mud yet we had not seen the Quetzal yet. Nearly fininshing our hike, I saw a small crowd pointing at the trees (that is when you know something is there, so I ran over and to my surprise I saw a beautiful QUEZAL. Let me tell you I have never been more excited to see a bird in my whole life.

   

   Yes mom, you told me before I left to find a Quetzal, just listening to you!

     
6. Climbed a Strangler Fig tree. The history of this tree is that the fig seed germinates on the host tree. As it grows, the young tree emits roots towards the ground following the trunk of the host tree. Year after year, the fig tree’s roots get bigger and bigger, more and more numerous and start to strangle the host tree. The tangled roots are like a natural ladder, making it very easy (and very fun) to climb! My friends Abbie and Paige climbed up to the top with me and the view of the town was spectacular. It reminded me of a movie scene and was one of my favorite things I have done here, plus it was free. 
   

This past week has been filled with adventure, adrenaline and amazement of God’s beauty. I am constantly reminded of the beauty of God and strive to experience it as a child would in constant amazement. Psalm 19:1 states “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” AMEN!!! Pura Vida 

Answering some question about life around here during the week of school
What are classes like? 
 - Classes are two hours long twice a week for all electives and four hours a day for Spanish classes. The Spanish classes are only for one month but  the elective courses are for three. I did my Spanish class during the first month so I only have my three elective classes right now. On Monday and Wednesday I have Environmental Sustainability and Food Systems from 6:00-8:00 pm. On Tuesday and Thursday I have Human Rights in Latin America from 3:00-5:00 and then Alternative Health Approaches from 5:00-7:00 pm. The classes use a ton of hands on learning or note taking. I have also noticed that I have had a lot of presentations in my environment class but I have been learning a ton. 

In class!!

Who is in your classes?
 - All of my classes are made up of Study abroad students which are mostly from the United States. The elective classes are all taught in English yet sometimes the teachers randomly start speaking Spanish or use the Spanish word if they don't know it in English.
Do you take any field trips? 
  - Yes for the elective classes they all have two field trips each. Depending on the class they can be weekend trips or day trips. For example, my environmentt class took a field trip to a wildlife refuge for the weekend and we have another one to an organic farm next week. For my Human Rights class we took a day field trip to the court and got to learn about the court system.  

Class field trip to Ostional!

What is your Favorite class and why?
My favorite class is Alternative Health Approaches because I get to learn about alternative medicine and techniques. Last week in class we learned about message and so we had to practice on other students with massage tables. The teacher for the class is the school doctor and he has such a heart for God it amazes me every class.

Spice girls at the University talent show. They said we needed to create a bio for a group so this was our story: we met at Juilliard our freshman year and started doing small acts around campus. Then we got signed for a European tour which we just finished. Now we are kicking off our Latin American tour at Veritas in Costa Rica!! Go spice go!!

#15 rocked (but seriously all the other acts were really cool too)

Vishnu vegetarian restaurant enjoying a healthy,exotic and local salad made with a lot of new vegetables which included chyote, pejibaye, squash, yuca, beets, carrots and red pepper. It also came with the juice of the day which was guanabana juice (say that 5 times fast).

New fruit of the week: mamon chino 

Best thing is that I get to see MARY in 5 DAYS after she does some of this on the plane!!!!