For three weeks this summer I decided to leave the hustle and bustle of London to experience a completely new adventure in Costa Rica. For the first two weeks I lived with a local family in the capital, San José, whilst volunteering as an English teacher for adults. I spent my last week on the Pacific coast in a town called Quepos, a short bus journey from the beach where I surfed every day.
Whilst I was in Costa Rica, I saw many beautiful places and did some amazing things. In one weekend I did a zip-lining tour through a jungle and visited a volcano and several stunning waterfalls. During my final week I visited Manuel Antonio National Park several times and saw sloths, iguanas and plenty of monkeys (who love to steal people’s belongings).
Even though I have countless memories from the trip, there are a few which I will never be able to forget. I like to call these memories moments of true happiness. I define these as moments when my mind completely lets go of all worries and problems and replaces them with a feeling of complete happiness.
The first time this happened in Costa Rica was when I went zip-lining. The final zip-wire was called the ‘superman wire’. On this wire, you wear a full-body harness and you travel horizontally, instead of in a sitting-up position. For a couple of minutes I felt like I was flying and I could see the beautiful jungle beneath me.
It happened again during one of my surf lessons. I had fallen off many times, but finally I managed to catch a wave with no help from the instructors. It felt incredible!
The final time it happened was at the end of an afternoon of hiking. It was a really hot day and I had been walking all the different hiking trails in the National Park. After a while I stopped at one of the beaches, buried my bag so the monkeys couldn’t steal it and ran into the water to cool off. It was the best feeling!
Have you had any moments of true happiness? Describe them!
