Moments of true happiness

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!