Time flies...

My time here at the lodge is slowly coming to an end. To be precise, there are only three weeks left before I leave this place to travel a bit more. It's really incredible when I think about how quickly time has passed here. I will write a detailed reflection and further thoughts about this in my next blog post.

In the last few days, I took a final break and was finally able to finish my assignments for university, in addition to some rest. Now I just need to submit them and get them graded, then I can deregister and will be done by August 31 (just in time for the end of the academic year).

In the past few weeks, I have also been going for walks a lot and integrating a bit more cardio into my daily routine. There aren't many options here. Going for a run would be optimal, but unfortunately, that is not possible. The best thing I have found for myself is to walk quickly up and down the steep sections of the trails. That way, I can at least challenge my body a little bit. During this, I had a really nice encounter with a raccoon: It was not fully grown, relatively small, and was climbing just a meter away from me. It didn't seem disturbed at all by my presence. That's exactly what is fascinating about this place... The animals feel safe here.

Last week, I also cooked for the first time (!) since my arrival here. Previously, I simply never had the opportunity. On a free day without guests, I prepared something simple for Lana and myself in the restaurant kitchen. It felt so good to finally eat something home-cooked again.

Another nice change was a trip last weekend to Puerto Jiménez with Lana and three of her friends (one of whom I already knew). There was a small festival held on the big soccer field, where food and other items were sold, artists performed, and primarily a lot of music was played. In the morning, we could even get creative ourselves. We drummed together with about 40 other people, played various percussion instruments, and just started a cool jam session together :D I missed having my saxophone at home, which I'm looking forward to playing again. Oh, and it was really funny because I believe I didn't see any other foreigners that whole day. Thus, I felt even more immersed in Costa Rican culture. It was a great, little trip and definitely brought me a lot of variety from my usual routine. I’m looking forward to the last 3 weeks here at the lodge and will enjoy it to the fullest. :)