Day 4 – Extreme Hiking

Our day started out early with breakfast at 6:45.  We left around 7:15 for our excursion to the cave.  Our base house is close to Uvita and the cave location, Diamante Verde, was about an hour bus ride away.  We loaded everyone into two vans like a clown car- we all had to fold in with all of our bags as well.  We wound around on a main highway, then went on a dirt road past several cattle farms.

We started at the base of a very large hillside.  The trek up was daunting because of the sunlight, humidity, and all of the steep sections.  There was a lot of mud and slippery leaves, so a fair share of us slipped and fell J  We had frequent water stops along the way so we could enjoy the beautiful views on the hillside.

When we all felt like we were going to die an hour and 45 minutes later, we reached an opening in the canopy that had a garden.  We took a rest and ate mangos and sugarcane.  Our leader, Jesse, gave us a tour of the location.  Jesse was born in Arkansas, raised in California, and now has been running this hike and operating the rappelling and cave with his family for 10 years.  Anyhow, we got to try a wide variety of fruits and vegetables right off of the plant.  Ali collected a list of items, including peppermint, cranberry hibiscus leaves (a crowd favorite), mustard, wasabi leaves, cacao seeds, peppers, hibiscus flowers, vanilla, passion fruit, sweet lemon, guava, and ylang ylang (smells like Chanel No. 5).  There was also this plant that looked like yellow pinecone that collected water.  You were supposed to put your head under it and squeeze the water out.  It smelled amazing and made your hair really soft.  We loved it after a long, sweaty hike!  Another highlight was the noni plant, used for a variety of medicinal treatments.  It smelled like rotting cheese and we were dared to try it.  Cam took a big bite out of it, and shortly after, spit it out and started rubbing his tongue on his shirt.  It “tasted like cheese becoming cheese in my mouth!”

After our little walk around the garden, we continued for another 45 minutes to the cave.  It was well worth it!  It was located under a large waterfall.  We climbed up and under the waterfall and made our way to the ledges that had our tables, cots, kitchen, and bathrooms.  It was a lot more open than we thought.  It was kind of more of an overhang and it was definitely all about the view.  Sam compared it to a lookout point.  We were greeted by Jesse’s sisters who prepared tea and pineapple for our arrival.  A little later, we had a typical Costa Rica lunch of tortillas, chicken with artichoke hearts, refried beans, fresh guacamole (my personal fave), pico de gallo, and chips.

Now it was time for rappelling!  The clouds were rolling in as we got a safety lesson from Jesse.  There wasn’t enough equipment, so we split into two groups.  Group one got on their harnesses, safety line, and helmets.  They climbed back up the steep path we came down and went off to the side over the waterfall.  There is SO much water rolling over the cliff, but when you got up top, you realized it was just a little stream.  Peering out over the edge you could see that it was about 30 feet of the side of the rock and a 60 foot freefall.  The first group went just as it started raining.  The guides came back and as they prepped the second group, it started pouring.  They said it was no big deal- just rainy season in Costa Rica!  Toward the end, it started to thunder and by the time the last 3 went (myself included- no students), lightning lit up the sky all around us.  It was exhilarating.  I was soaked and cold, but so proud that ALL of the students did it.  The best part, however, was how Mrs. Wooden went first and left Cam in her dust J  Several students said “it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done!”

<-- Mrs. Wooden!!!

Now it was really starting to get cold in the cave because half of us were soaked.  We put on dry clothes and had some tea and cookies.  The tea was made with the mint, lemongrass, and basil from the garden.  Between the sun setting early here and the storm, it got very dark around 5:30.  There were candles lit all around the ledges and we definitely needed our flashlights on.  There were games of Uno, Crazy 8s, Spoons, Rummy, ERS, and others.  We ate a late pasta dinner, and then sat around as Sam played the guitar and everyone sang along.  Our sense of time was so thrown off because of the dark, so many of us turned in around 7:30 J  It was a very fun, relaxing night and extremely rewarding after a tough hike and a 90 foot rappelling adventure in the rain.