5:30am It was early. Very early. And we were getting up for a hike. I was tying to be pleasant with the limited amount of sleep I got. However, nothing could spoil how beautiful the Monteverde Cloud Forest was. Karla showed us around and gave us lots of notes. We visited the Continental Divide and it was amazing. I couldn't believe I was standing in a cloud. After the hike, there was a long busride to go because we were heading to Los Lagos. We made it better with some music, although I don't Chris appreciated it much. The soccer game between Costa Rica and Honduras started at 4, but the busride took a lot longer than expected, and we could only see the last 20 minutes. We listened to the beginning and middle of the game on the radio, although the Spanish was a bit difficult to understand (the sportscasters speak very quickly). When we got to the disco, it was packed. People were crowded everywhere. It was amazing to see how everyone was united. Plus, the score was tied 2-2 when we got there, so everyone was on edge. Then Costa Rica scored. We all went crazy. It was insane. And when Costa Rica won, the whole place just exploded with cheering, hugging, and singing. I thought it was great how much the game brought everyone together - even strangers. And while some people say that sports are useless, I really believe that their purpose is to unify, especially after what I saw. I think sometimes we miss that in the U.S. The Tico spirit is inspiring. After the soccer game, we came to the Los Lagos lodge, which is the most luxurious place we'll stay. At dinner, I sat across from Christian and he made fun of me. I tried to practice some Spanish with him, but I feel stupid when I do. That's okay, I'm getting over it. After dinner, we celebrated Aponi's 16th birthday with sparklers and a delicious cake. After dinner I realized that I hadn't read the frog article that we were supposed to get quizzed on the next day. Not good. Luckily, I was rooming with Nisha and she had it. I went down to Andrew and Marion's room with Amy to read it out loud so everyone could take notes. Marion wasn't there, but Chris, Erinn, and Jim were. I read the 11-page article while everyone took notes. It was really long, but it was funny because it was about frog sex. After we finished with the article, Erinn and Jim left, Nisha came in and then (here it gets good), Marion came in and goes into the bathroom, walks out, and promptly falls asleep on top of his bag about 3 feet away from his bed! So he's practically in a come on top on this bag, and he looks so peaceful that we just have to disturb him. Plus there we ants all over the floor, and we didn't want to get all covered with them. So we try to wake him up. Nisha's got the camera by now, and Marion's mumbling something about how caffeine does replace sleep. When he half-wakes up, he tries to get drugs out of his bag, and we stop him from taking a whole bottle of pills that he poured into his hand. Then he tries to go to sleep on a closet. We try to lure him into the bed, but he insists on going outside and immediately falls asleep on a table. Finally Andrew convinced big baby Marion to get into bed. It was sooo hilarious. Chris wrote a story about Big Baby Marion's sleepytime adventure. And we got the whole thing on tape. Even after Marion went to sleep, we stayed in the room talking. It was one of the most fun experiences of the trip, but fun in a different way. Less exhilarating, more interesting. We finally went to sleep at 2am.

Back to the rest of the Journal!