Adventures await in Costa Rica

EDITOR'S NOTE: Throughout the summer, ASU students studying abroad will be writing back to the states about their overseas adventures. Fostering international student experiences is just one part of ASU's commitment to making a global impact.

Kinzi's blog:
Last week, we got on the public bus and headed to Monteverde to zipline through the rainforest. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. We were so high in altitude that we couldn't see where we were going because of the fog. On the last zipline (we did 12), we traveled from the farthest point back to the beginning in Superman position! I wish I had taken a video with my camera but I was too afraid I would drop it. It felt like I was half a mile above the tree tops, looking down at a mass of green and cows precariously placed on the hillsides.

After ziplining in Monteverde, we headed to Arenal, which is one of the active volcanoes in Costa Rica. At night, if you're lucky, you get to see the burning hot rocks erupt and roll down the sides. We got lucky. The locals told us that they had only seen the type of eruption we witnessed three times in their lives! A few days later, we went white-water rafting in Turrialba. Costa Rica's rivers are known for their great rapids and apparently, the water-rafting championship will be hosted in Costa Rica this year. We told our guide Luis that we wanted to fall in so he made the trip really fun for us. At one point he had the five of us stand on the edges of our raft and try to hold each other up while we went through a rapid and, of course, I fell out. The forest on both sides of the river was so beautiful. Luis knew the river so well he could point out every waterfall before we got to them. He was also very knowledgeable about the indigenous peoples who live in the forest along the river.

Kinzi Hotchkiss, a global health major, will be a sophomore this fall. She is studying abroad in Costa Rica this summer.