Sunday, January 23, 2011

They Say to Go Out of Your Comfort Zone

So, yesterday was the first of three USAC organized field trips. Now, in the brochure for USAC it said that this field trip would be going to Café Britt and to the Volcán Poás, which I was really looking forward to. But at orientation last weekend, we were told it was changed to zip-lining and a crocodile tour.

Let me explain something:
I am terribly afraid of heights,
like I get nervous going up elevators, like I need therapy for this fear.
I had the opportunity to go zip-lining for free over Christmas on Maui, and I declined because of my fear for heights. Now I had been dreading this trip for the whole week, I really didn’t want to do this. But at the same time I did, because it sounds like so much fun. Seriously, being afraid of heights is the stupidest thing ever.

Anyway, I decided I was going to make myself go, and if I even if I was crying at the platform getting ready to go, I was going to do it. We arrived in Jaco after a two hour bus ride, and went straight to the zip-lining place to get all harnessed in. I was in the truck with the first group. We drove up the mountain side and were dropped off at the platform. Our guide told us the instructions and off we went. My every instinct said, “Wait till most of the people have gone, wait to see how they do.” But I ignored that and was one of the first to go (okay so I was like 6th). I was so nervous, like I had to pee nervous. On this first platform, you had to stand on another box to reach the line, this is what I had trouble with. Luckily it wasn’t that bad. Everyone was giving me encouragement and off I went.

Since I was so nervous, I didn’t really look around at what was around me. I felt like I was going so fast and kept my eyes on the next platform. In all reality, I was scared most of the time, but I am so glad that I did it, and I would definitely do it again if I had the opportunity.

After lunch, we drove another 30 minutes to the Crocodile Jungle Tour. We all got into a boat and took a two-hour tour. We saw birds and, of course, plenty of crocodiles. Our guide told us that in that river, there were about 2,000 crocodiles living there, and that they would usually swim out to the Pacific Ocean during the day. We went down one part of the river, and there we met “Fidel Castro” one of the biggest crocodiles in the river. The driver of our boat got out and started to feed the thing! It was enormous and swan right next to the boat, and in all honesty, probably could have jumped up into the boat if it wanted to. It was so awesome to see it so close up.

Yesterday was an awesome day, and I was so exhausted that I had trouble staying awake while watching a movie with my “hermanita.” I literally think I fell asleep in 30 seconds. Now just because I went zip-lining doesn’t mean I am over my fear of heights, (although I wish it did)but now I know that I can do something like that.  I felt like an uber tourist yesterday, and that was okay with me (even though I know how much I loathe tourists that act like tourists in Hawai’i). I had so much fun!

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