Heart of the Jungle: the Adventure of a Lifetime

Basically, the program was nothing like I imagined it would be. It was the most incredible experience of my life. You start off the program easy, doing really adventurous and fun activities like surfing and waterfall rappelling, and then kayak to an ecolodge that has the most amazing views you will ever see. After that, you spend a few days in a hotel, and this is when the hard community service comes in, where you meet people and get to give back to the world less fortunate than you. After that, you go to another ecolodge, which is exactly what I imagined paradise to be, and you get to see all sorts of animals all while cleaning the beach. The final stop is back in the base house, where you get to white water raft, and then go to San Jose to spend a few hours zip lining. What I just described was the most basic itinerary of the summer I spent with Rustic and there's so much more to it. There are memories that are etched into my mind until the day I die. Like when we swam in the ocean, and it started raining, leaving us all in awe of the most beautiful scene. Or in Saladero, when there was a thunderstorm, so we just made a bonfire using flashlights and cups. There's the rainbow we could see as we were rappelling down the waterfall. There's the nights where we'd be exhausted and we'd all sleep on each other while the counselors tried to ask us how much fun we were having. There's the laughs together, the tears, the stories. The list is endless. There's the singing Moana songs in the middle of a store, and stopping for milkshakes at any chance we got. We made a family. We laughed together, cried together, shared our stories. We all fell in love with each other, and created bonds that we cannot fathom anywhere else in the world. We were all disconnected from the world, with no wifi half the time, and we got to experience the purest version of each other and most importantly, ourselves. Costa Rica changed everything about me, and the trip helped me find who I am, who I want to be, away from the social media world our generation is being sucked into. The people who go to Heart of the Jungle are people who are ready to work and do actual community service - the people who have the biggest hearts on the planet. Rustic Pathways are doing a really great job of bringing the best people in the world together, and making sure they make a family. They make sure we all are tolerant and we love one another, and we find the best version of ourselves. I had the most incredible experience of my life, and it hurts so much to know that my family is spread across the globe. But I am so lucky to have shared the adventures with them, so lucky to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard (Winnie the Pooh).