Punta Mona: An Unexpected Journey
Day Three of Punta Mona. I want a shower, I want clean clothes, and I'm ready to go back to Mama Tica's house. As of Saturday night, the plan is for us to pack up our things and put them in garbage bags again so we can head back on the boat. I woke up at 5am to pouring rain like I had never seen before, and I think to myself, "This is probably going to make us late for getting home." I was right, but for reasons I wouldn't have ever thought of before.
We had everything packed and in bags when Janiva tells us that the storm this morning was so bad that it would be a really bad idea to try and go back to Manzanillo by boat. She tells us that we're going to have to hike through the jungle to get to the bus that is waiting for us. The only exception was if anyone had knee injuries severe enough that they wouldn't be able to climb the muddy hills.
At this point, I'm taking time to hydrate and brace myself for poison dart frogs and spiders bigger than the ones I had already seen over the past two days. We are given bananas for a snack to eat on the "trail," and take a picture before we head out. My poor banana got squished right away because I maybe accidentally clenched my fist really hard. I threw it into the trees, hoping that a howler monkey would find it as a treat later.
We get to the "halfway point," at the top of the hill, and one of the SOLmates goes, "Oh look, a spider!" I shouldn't have looked. But I did. The spider was probably as big as my palm, and for some reason that I have no inkling of, I could not hold myself together anymore. I started crying. I was doing okay! I could handle the mud that soaked my tennis shoes and the humidity that was making my clothes stick to my whole body, but I couldn't handle a spider. Embarassed, I tell Janiva that I just want to keep going to keep my mind off of what's happening.
We switch up the walking order, and put the slower people in front so that we have more of a whole group instead of two little ones. After two hours total, we finally made it to Manzanillo and washed off the mud in the choppy waves of the Caribbean Sea.
Six hours later, we made it back to Heredia, and took a taxi back to Mama Tica's. Finishing homework around 1:30am, my bed had never been so welcoming.
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