Exploring San Luis de Monteverde

San Luis de Monteverde is incredible! Today was the first day we really got to explore what it had to offer and I am beyond pleased with what I have seen. Our day started early at 6am with cow milking. This was an optional activity but I am so glad I tried. I was not very successful because I did not feel comfortable yanking the utter as hard as you needed to get the milk out. I ended up getting it all over my legs instead of in the bucket. As we were walking out of the cow milking area, one of the baby cows started head butting people in my group and we all died laughing. Here is my attempt at milking the cow...

We then had breakfast at around 7ish. It was very interesting because we had rice and beans served on the side for our breakfast meal. We also had fried bananas which were amazing. After breakfast we headed out to hike to the San Luis waterfall. It was about a 3 hour hike and was not the easiest thing I have ever done before. It was the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Everything here is so green that it almost looks like it is fake. I have taken so many pictures already because every direction I look I see something new and breathtaking that I want to capture. We climbed up the rocky path which was probably one of the best workouts I have gotten in a while. The path was pretty steep and the rocks were slippery. We walked across quite a few sketchy bridges where only one person could cross at time. (Mom you would have fainted trying to do it) haha It was scary the higher they got but hey this trip is all about the adventure. We arrived at the waterfall at the perfect time because we had become hot and sweaty enough to be able to get in the freezing cold swimming hole. Almost the whole group got in but it was the coldest water I have ever felt. My legs went numb as soon as I jumped in. We were able to jump off the side of the waterfall which was awesome. Sadly, this adventurous route led to my first battle wound of the trip. I was coming downhill from the waterfall and was trying to take pictures because it was so pretty and slipped and fell down the rocks on my leg. I cut up my leg pretty bad but luckily someone had a first aid kit and was able to lend my some things to clean it up and cover it.

While hiking our group was able to get to know each other even better. It is really great being able to become friends with new people that are different than my friends at school. It makes me feel like I shelter myself off at school and don’t allow myself to put my personality out there to meet new, different people. I get so set in my ways of being friends with my roommates and sorority sisters that I forget there are so many other cool people I could be getting to know as well. This trip is incredible already and I am excited for what tonight has in store for me! We are taking dance lessons from the local women.

Here is the huge and beautiful San Luis waterfall that we hiked to today! It is the highest waterfall in Costa Rica! This is only half of it because I could not fit the rest in the picture.