Max Winshall Writing Project #3 There I was, up high over the beautiful waterfall and trees below. One could say that I was flying, but really, I was just attached to a harness connected to a zip line 500 feet above the ground. My mind was clear, all I could think about was the warm air vigorously rushing past me and the amazing tropical birds perched high in the canopy. At that moment in time, I didn’t have a care in the world and I just let my senses take over. The smell of the jungle, the feeling of the movement of the air, and most of all, the blur of colors as I flew by trees and birds and the most magnificent waterfall I have ever seen. I was in the mountains of Costa Rica, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The short time I spent flying through the treetop canopy over the waterfall had been well worth the 9 hours of flight and the 3 hours of bus ride. It was only 4 mere hours after we landed that my entire extended family was practically being thrown onto a zip line and pushed off a cliff. We had taken a late night flight so we could land at sunrise in Costa Rica. Unlike everyone else in my family, I had barely slept at all on the plane and only got a few minutes of shut-eye on the bus. I was gloriously exhausted. The zip line, as it would make sense, was at the top of a small mountain in the mountain district of the country. There was no elevator, so we were forced by non-Englishspeaking Costa Ricans to get on horses we did not know how to ride and somehow manage to get ourselves to the top of the mountain. I, for one, had never ridden a horse before and was simply terrified of them. They were just so big, so powerful, they seemed quite unstoppable. I was very reluctant to mount the horse that was given to me, but my dad finally pushed me to “man up and get on”. He told me that “Riding this horse is necessary to entering manhood” Entering manhood was extremely important to me at the time and the persuasion from my father really pushed me over the edge. So I carefully got on and tugged a little on the reins and the horse gently trotted forward. At that point I knew, that I had finally overcome my fear of horses and that maybe they weren’t so bad after all. After a somewhat shaky ride up the mountain for all of us, we zip lined down to the bottom of the mountain and everyone loved doing that. Even my 80 year old grandparents thought that it was a blast. Now it was time for the bus ride back to finally unpack at the giant house we would be staying at. Finally, during the 2 hour ride to our destination, I got some good, genuine sleep. When we finally got to the house, my dad woke me up. I opened my eyes and all I could say was “wow.” This wasn’t a house at all; it was a mansion. I ran into it with my entire luggage and took a speedy tour of the house. Two floors, 10 bedrooms, a pool table, a giant living room, 4 giant TV’s, and a humungous infinity pool. The house was at the top of a Cliff that overlooked the Ocean and it could not have been more perfect. And did I mention the fact that we also had five “workers”? There was a chef, a house keeper, a bus driver, and two household assistants who went everywhere with us.
Unlike my immediate family, my grandparents are very wealthy and are determined to spend all of their money before they die, this trip was just another one of their big expenses in their retirement years. But I put these thoughts aside as I settled into bed that night in my own room overlooking the sea. I had a big week of vacation ahead of me and I was defiantly not going to let a lack of sleep get in the way of any fun I was going to have. Over the next couple days I went parasailing, beach hopping, fishing, and much more. I especially liked going into the crowded town streets and shopping for things like sunglasses and souvenirs to bring back for my friends. Looking back, I would say that these days were some of the best days I have ever had. These were days of pure fun and excitement that were just bursting with things to do. Not to mention hanging out with my cousins. We would chill in the house, play video games, swim in the pool, and walk 20 minutes down to the ocean where we would play volleyball, buy drinks, and just have a great time. Although, the best part of the trip cam eon the last day. After all the fun stuff we had done all week, my cousins and I thought that going to a poor school, teaching the children English, and giving them lunch would be the most boring thing in the world. But boy were we wrong. An hours bus ride left us in the middle of nowhere with a one room schoolhouse practically bursting with children. There were Costa Rican kids of all ages cramming into this small room to learn what they can before they have to work to support their families. Looking at this scene made me really think about how lucky and grateful I am to have the life I am living right now. After we taught the kids how to sing “head, shoulders, knees and toes”, our cook J.D. took out the food and we ate lunch with the children in their classroom. We had hot dogs, baked beans, rice and Capri son Juice boxes for our meal. I was very surprised to learn that many of these children could not eat lunch most days because there family couldn’t afford it and the schoolteacher thanked us in Spanish for the kind food we had brought. After lunch we played a quick game of soccer with them before we had to go. These children were so nice to us and I was sad that we were leaving and that we couldn’t stay longer. We, as Americans, are so lucky to have the lives we have. Seeing these poor children cramped in a small classroom really opened my eyes to the world. This experience made the whole vacation bittersweet because I had never thought about how hard the lives of these children must be. Someday, if I ever go back to Costa Rica, I will try to help some of these children so that they can have a better education and lead better lives.