The Last Adventure

Sunset in Monteverde
see more photos »

So this was it: the last little side-trip.  With four days to go, I've started thinking about the "last" everything... the last Monday, the last bus rides, the last time I'll wear certain things (it's been a year of the same eight t-shirts, and as nice as they are, they're going in the garbage... incidentally, if anyone wants my jeans which are now about 82% hole and 18% fabric, better get here quick).

We (Ashley, her friends Brianna and Colleen, and I) caught the 2:30 bus to Monteverde from San Jose by the skin of our teeth, and about five hours later, we were climbing off the bus and stretching our legs in the cloud forest.  It never really rains in Monteverde, but at the same time, it's seldom clear.  Most of the time, there's a mist like the ones they spray in Disney World to cool people off, which is about as refreshing as my jeans are intact.  Brianna and Colleen went over to stay with a friend of Colleen's, and Ashley and I checked into the Fonda Vela, a great little hotel on acres and acres of walking trails, well-maintained lawns, and tall and majestic trees.

The "Extreme" waterfall and a huge tree
see more photos »

We spent Friday hanging around, ended up walking into town (about 40 minutes) and eating at a bagel shop on the way.  On a lark, we asked the woman if she knew where we might find Shabbat (the chamsa on the wall and the extensive bagel menu were pretty solid giveaways), and while she was in fact Jewish, she said there wasn't much of anything along those lines in Monteverde.  She was kind enough to put a call through to some Israeli friends she had, but we never heard back from them.

Ashley's host family
see more photos »

At any rate, we spent the rest of the day strolling around town and the hotel's grounds, then made Shabbat and saw what must have been one of the most incredible sunsets of the past year (which would put it pretty high up there among best all-time.  I never really paid attention to sunsets before coming away... I mean, c'mon: it gets chilly, the thing goes down, and it does it all again in reverse the next morning).  The sky was a sort of mango-orange, and with rolling green hills, tall silhoetted trees, and a stereotypical brown-and-white farmhand dog in the foreground, it was postcard-worthy.  After that, we went back into town to have dinner with the family Ashley stayed with during her orientation in Monteverde, then called it a night.

Saturday we got up early and hit the trails.  There's a path marked only by a sign that says "Extreme" on it on the road to Santa Elena from Fonda Vela, and walking down that trail leads to a rugged, hilly--dare I say extreme--path that eventually ends up winding its way down a gorge and to a pristine and wholly unexpected waterfall.  The trail felt like it hadn't been used in months, and as we climbed up, over, and around downed trees and rockslides, it felt like a truly unique and adventurous experience.

Dinner was at a Middle Eastern place in town called Moon Shiva, and to our surprise, we found a bottle of Manischewitz lined up on the wall of the bar just as you'd find Tanqueray or Smirnoff.  The Israeli behind the counter, who surprisingly had no idea what the kosher wine was for (which inspired a discussion over who exactly is Jewish), poured us a glass and we had an impromtu Havdalah over hummus and babaghanouj.  Something different, that's for sure.  Not often that I get cloud forests and havdalah.  It's usually a one-or-the-other type of thing.

Came back yesterday afternoon fully exhausted from a long day on the bus, and promtly crashed here in San Jose.  Three hundred and sixty-one days ago, on the other side of the world, my eyes burned exactly the same way as I trudged a tent, a sleeping bag, three extra pairs of shoes, and clothing for a year down side streets in the dead of the Papeete night, searching frantically for a hotel room and feeling very much like the loneliest person on the planet.  It's hard to believe, but I've come a long way since then.  Monteverde was a great place to finish my adventuring, and now all that remains is four days of contemplation and a flight to La Guardia.  I can say it a hundred times, but the truth remains: it's hard to believe it's almost over.