We kayaked around a little peninsula of dry mounds that Walter said would be bright green in the rainy season. (Costa Rica only has two seasons: dry and rainy, always hot.) After so much time in the jungle, it felt good to be on the open ocean. We didn’t paddle super far, but came around to a spot called Blanco beach, where the sand was white and soft. There, we stopped to swim and see some fish hidden among the rocks. I saw a few bright blue ones that reminded me of the blue morpho butterflies, a brilliant shade that seemed impossible.

The final waterfall fell from towering heights into a vast turquoise pool. I swam to the side and climbed into the edges of the waterfall, letting it pelt me with stinging droplets. It was a magnificent end to a magnificent adventure. The four of us gathered for a group photo, and then began our journey back down the mountain. On the way, Tucker chased poison dart frogs, and Naomi and I sat on a twisting vine commonly called “Monkey Stairs.” It was truly wild.

The horse in front of me, Paola, liked to stop stubbornly for herbal snacks along the way. We saw a weird, turkey-like bird in a tree with a red neck, and a toucan flew overhead so quickly that I would have missed it if the guide hadn’t pointed it out. Our final destination was Miro’s Mountain View to watch the sun sink lower in the sky, after which we returned the way we’d come.

Opening a wooden and wire gate, our tour guide announced, “Welcome to Jurassic Park!” The terrain was earthy—lots of dirt, some mud, bumps, and trudging through water. Up and down and around we went, sometimes fast, sometimes carefully down steep slopes. At one point, we came into a pasture of cows that ran out of our way as we passed, mooing adorably!

After a brief training, we began the journey up the mountain via a tractor up a steep, winding path. At times, it was hard to stay in my seat as gravity pulled me toward the back of the trailer! We got off and made our way into the dark jungle to the first platform. The trees loomed tall above us, teeming with the sounds of foreign chirps. Were they frogs? Birds? Crickets? I don’t know, but it was music to my ears.