Shaniah Hall

English 1010
Mrs. Paystrup
09-02-15

My Rainforest Adventure
For the first time I was sitting there in the oversized, navy blue, airport chairs, all
by myself. Everyone around me knew where they were going and what they had to do.
They werent worrying about being hungry or not hearing their zone being called. I just
kept running through my head what I was told to do: get through security, find my gate,
and eat some breakfast. Eating the less than satisfying McDonalds breakfast sandwich I
sat there, impatiently waiting to go on my adventure.
Five hours later, and I was doing the same thing all over again. Only this time I
was in the Dallas airport and I had to find the girls I would be spending the next ten days
with. I finally saw the group of girls and decided I should go join them on the slick tile
floor. All the girls looked pretty average except one. She had brightly colored hair and
seemed more inviting so I decided to sit next to her in the circle. They were playing the
dreaded name game. Yes, this was effective but boring after the eighth time of
participating. After the last girl arrived, we went to our final gate and all traveled together
to Costa Rica. With the yellow glowing reading lights of our fellow passengers, we slept
restlessly waiting to arrive.
As soon as we hit the ground our adventure had begun. We were rushed to the
base camp, tucked quite strategically down a deep gorge, full of bulky trees and dense
bushes, hidden until we were standing right in front of it. Since it was one in the morning,
we headed straight to our bunks. We turned in our electronics so they wouldnt get lost,
and so we could focus on our surroundings. From that moment on all we had to tell time
was the sun.

The next day we were rudely awakened by the alarm. Emma and Amelia, our
leaders, came into our room to make sure we werent falling back to sleep. They took us
to the huge storage room to pack our backpacks. The walls were coated with the supplies
we needed and the hanging packs we would dread putting on every morning. Even
though the sun was still stretching, we hauled our stuffed backpacks into the backs of two
extremely small and rickety trucks. These rusted trucks were the last part of civilization
we witnessed during our time here.
We drove along the hills that were enveloped with exotic trees, farmers working
their fields, and the crisp blue skies. After being squished in the trucks for an hour or two
we were relieved to know we were almost to our destination. A dried up riverbed that was
once a fierce river was the beginning of our hike. Hike seems like a mild term, but thats
what it was. I had been on hikes before, but never this hard, and definitely not with forty
pounds on my back, continuously dragging me backward the way we came. But we
strapped our backpacks on anyway and started our hike up the steep dirt road.
An hour later I was already done with the obnoxious dirt road and wouldve been
completely fine ditching my backpack. But there was no going back. To make it less
painful, we all talked and furthered the process of getting to know one another. I was one
of the slowest, but one of our leaders, Amelia, stayed back and talked with me. She told
me about herself and explained why she took girls on this monstrous trek. She loved
meeting all the different girls from around the world and she loved exploring Costa
Ricas rainforest. Several hours later we reached our camp for the first night.
We arrived just as dusk was setting in. Im not sure exactly what I was expecting,
but this was not it. There werent tents or cabins or anything except a thinly covered grass
area, where we slept, as well as, a small stream. Near the stream, rocks covered a patch of
mud where we cooked our food. At the camp we used a small stream to clean ourselves
and drink from. We wouldve been able to sleep under the stars, but it was Costa Rica. It
was always raining. Even if the sun was out, somehow it would rain. We picked up our
burritos and then the rain came. Pouring, we ran for cover under the trees, which wasnt
must help. I had never seen the rain come so quickly and without warning. We tangled
rope around two trees standing on either side of the green patch and flung our plastic blue

tarp over it. Luckily we had one other tarp we were able to position under our sleeping
bags. It was cozy and quite cramped.
Through out the course of the night, only small amounts of water had snuck its
way in, leaving the corners of our sleeping bags damp. After we had wrapped the tarps
around themselves and stuffed them back into our backpacks, we were headed off to our
next stop. We were all ecstatic to learn that our next camp would be at a locals house,
and not in the unpredictable rain.
The familiar dirt road we had come to know had disappeared. We were left with
only paths that limited us to single file lines. The rain had joined us once more but
stopped almost immediately. The rain was the one thing we could count on. Our leaders
refused to inform us of the time and ignored our pleads of How much longer? and
When can we stop again? They would tell us that if we really wanted to know the time
we should learn to do it by looking at the sun. The only time we would stop was when it
was lunchtime or we simply needed a break before we could continue to climb the steep
mountains. Emma would always tell us just to look around and eventually we would get
there.
To help pass the time they would tell us interesting facts about the rainforest and
the energetic flowers, and fruits. We were looking at a beautiful red flower shaped like a
star, when we heard swishing behind us. We turned around to see two curious monkeys
that were balanced on the vines, climbing above us. They just paused watching us,
waiting. Above the monkeys, we could see the grey skies, and no sun that could be used
to tell the time. The contrast among the many shades of green, the dismal sky, and the
energetic flowers made everything come to life. Id never seen anything like it. The
monkeys became bored and moved on to find other interesting things to see, while
everything was new and exciting to us. We continued to follow the path as it went up then
down and then repeated the whole cycle over and over again. Even though our leaders
had, they still seemed amazed and were always pointing out new things. We eventually
lost the grey skies due to the monstrous trees blocking them out.

It began to rain once again, and the rain fell so heavily that it had knocked a tree
onto our path and made everything around it muddy and slippery. We couldnt go over it,
so the only solution was to army crawl under. We tried going on our hands and knees but
our backpacks got in the way once again. So we just went for it. My pants were
completely covered in the gritty, muddy slop. But I had no idea how much till we arrived
at the house. Once we got there we werent allowed inside till we showered and cleaned
ourselves up. We then ate what was supposed to be Mac and Cheese and collapsed onto
the mats set out for us.
Instead of being awaked by an alarm, we woke up to the lovely sounds of roosters
we hadnt seen the night before. We were staying at a large section of land with a huge
farm. Chickens were running everywhere, and the dog that protected the farm sat on the
porch watching. We later found out the lady who owned this land was Emmas mother.
After breakfast we went down a steep path to their banana farm. We searched for bananas
that were ready to be hacked down with Emmas machete. We all took a turn swinging at
the thick banana branches. Emma obviously had done this a few times. She didnt
hesitate once. She aimed and hit in just the right spot no more than three times and the
branches came tumbling down. She usually could pull them free with two or three
swings. We were still laughable after the sixth or so attempt. Proud of our finding we
hauled them back to the house. We dropped off the slightly green bananas, and Emmas
mom beckoned us outside.
Waiting for us in the middle of the yard was a florescent orange bucket; what it
was for, we didnt have the slightest idea. Inside the bucket was a machete. Not the
banana machete, a much darker one. We were instructed to make a circle around the
bucket as Emma selected a black chicken and brought it over. Emma then told us that we
would be killing a chicken. I had been to farms before, but never had I seen an animal
being killed. As a part of Costa Rican tradition they never killed an animal without first
saying what they were thankful for and why they were thankful to the chicken. It came
around to me and I couldnt say anything. I turned to Amelia and she saw the look on my
face. She decided to take me and go pick fruit while they were doing it. We were under

one of their fruit trees picking a bright magenta fruit called Rambutan when we heard the
blade smack down on the stump. My heart dropped.
I knew where my food came from, but to have it done in front of you is a whole
other experience. It was extremely startling for me because I had seen the energetic
chicken running around minutes before, and now it was motionless. It was depressing to
see the chicken. I hate seeing animals hurt, but even though I was so torn about killing
the chicken, and knowing exactly what goes into preparing the food made it more special.
We got to see how respectful they were, and that itself was amazing. They didnt just
slaughter the chickens because they wanted to make more money; they only used what
they had to. It was sad to have seen the living animal and then to know what had become
of it.
Between the chicken and the mind set of living as you went was something that I
would always remember. As we were on our hike we werent worrying about school,
friends, or any of our problems really, we were enjoying the beautiful nature around us.
We hiked for six more days traveling and seeing how little people had and how normal it
was for them. They didnt need anything more. When they needed something they had to
make our long hike for it and carry it back to their homes on the backs. No car would
ever live through that trip. I learned so much about the beauty of nature and the power of
simply living I will remember my rainforest adventure forever.