Feliz Cumpleanos!

It's my Birthday! We started our day off with a bitter sweet goodbye to our host families, and departed LEBLA and began on a new adventure to our hostel and a day full of unknown surprises. We were told to wear close-toed shoes and long pants and headed into the jungle. We swiftly began our ziplining training a little wide-eyed and then headed out on a bit of a hike up to some of the longest, highest, and fastest ziplines in the world and completed one of the eleven. The fastest zipline was 40kph, the longest 980 meters long, and the highest was a little more than 400 meters high. The views were some of the most amazing I've ever seen, including seeing a waterfall from above and barely sliding through spaces in between the trees to get to the other side.  Although some of the group was afraid at the beginning, the fears quickly faded after the first line and we quickly began to go down the lines with guides following swiftly behind, encouraging us to go upside down, spin, and backwards. By the time we had all reached the final line we all felt fulfilled but wished that there were a series of at least eleven more.  We unhooked our gear and headed towards what looked kind of like a straw hut. Inside were lots of wooden masks and multiple people dressed in indigenous clothing, or lack thereof, saying "Kapi Kapi" to us as we entered. One of the women spoke to us in her native tongue about their culture and their belief that there is an animal spirit within us all. We spent some time with these people and then continued our journey on horseback. The change of scenery was nice and the ride was relatively peaceful despite the bumps and the horse occasionally having a mind of its own.  We viewed some pictures and then headed back to our 5-star hostel to spend the rest of the day relaxing in the pool while it gently rained and enjoyed some good oldfashioned american pizza. A birthday well spent. - Ben Nord