Last week was again spent at Jakera in Santa Teresa doing volunteering and Spanish. On Monday our volunteering was a beach clean up - it’s crazy how much plastic we still find despite picking it up at least once a week.
Monday was also my 19th birthday and some of my friends treated me to cocktails on the beach to watch the sunset. The sunsets here are always gorgeous and whenever we can we go to the beach to watch them. After cocktails we went back to Jakera where everyone else had decorated and threw me a surprise party with my favourite Mexican food and more cocktails! It was such a fun evening.
On Tuesday, for our volunteering, we put up the signs we’ve made in previous weeks around the town and on the beach. Later that evening we all returned to the beach to chill out and spend time with one another watching the sunset. The photo attached to this blog is from that evening.
As usual, on Wednesday we had no Spanish and we went on a hike to rock pools. There’s so many near us and they’re all different yet all beautiful. The hike to these rock pools was about a two hour long round trip in the blazing sun - in the evening everyone was absolutely exhausted. We spent a few hours at the rock pools which was so relaxing. Marco climbed a palm tree again to get us pipas so we could fill up our water bottles. Even though he scales 15 metre high palm trees pretty often, we’re always in awe/terrified for his life!
On Thursday and Friday the rain returned whilst we did a cleanup of the town and made more signs. Emma left to go back to Los Angeles on Friday which was upsetting as we became so close over the past six weeks. Not having her around still feels very strange! On Friday evening the majority of us went to our favourite restaurant, The Bakery, for supper as five Leapers were leaving the following morning. There were a fair share of tears the next morning when Caroline, Chloe, Eva and Felix left. Despite being spread across the world we’re all determined to visit one another and stay in contact.
The rest of Saturday the weather matched our mood - raining constantly which meant we spent a lot of time inside, watching movies and just hanging out with one another. On Sunday the weather thankfully cleared up a little and a few of us went horse riding with a local friend we’ve made. We went to a ranch basically in the middle of nowhere - up an almost impassable track from the main road. On the ranch there were piglets as well as chicks and foals - they were adorable! We went riding up to the top of this hill which had incredible views overlooking rainforest with the sea visible in the background. It was such a lovely way to spend our weekend!
This week we’ve got 3 new Leapers arriving and we’re also going to Monteverde for a few nights. We’re all excited as we’ll have the opportunity to go zip lining or bungee jumping and other crazy activities!