Today after receiving a delicious breakfast from our family, we joined the other people from our group and were given bikes to go biking in the hills surrounding Coope San Juan. However the bikes they gave us were so bad, that mine barely had any brakes so i had to be carefull on any downhills. After we departed from the centre we first biked through some local fields of baby pineapple before going into the lush rainforest where we had to go up and down splashing mud as we biked. after 30-40 mins of biking we reached a farm, where we rode right next to cows relaxing on the ground in order to reach the river.
At the river I decided to go swimming, and was able to go swimming up to a branch that was hanging from a tree but touching the edge of the water. I climbed it and jumped a few times from one of the higher branches.
after the refreshing swim, we took the same road back to go back to the village centre. there we were welcomed by one of the mothers who taught us how to make a local empenada made of yuca and filled with meat and cheese, before being fried.
After lunch we went on a hike to explore the forest and learn more about how to survive in the forest if we were abandoned there. We learnt how to get water and what to eat (yummy termites) and saw some bullet ants, which our guide tormented whilst telling us how painfull it was for him when he got stung.
when we got back from our hike, it was time to play football against the locals, where they kept telling us that no team of foreigners had won against the local team yet. Our team captain decided to put me in defence at the back. unfortunately the only shoes i had were my shit shoes, so everytime i tried to kick the ball away from someone i would slip and fall to the ground, but at least they werent able to score. in the first 5 minutes of the game our team score our first goal, which surprised the local team, who decided to fight harder against us and ended up scoring one more goal than us by half time. after a well needed break we got back and managed to keep the ball most of the game, and ended up tying with the local team 5-5. This meant that to decided who would win we went to penalties, and thankfully we managed to win!
After celebrating our win, we were served dinner in the local community centre, where each family had cooked and bought one dish for us to try. we got to try lots of local dishes such as papaya pico or chicken rice. After dinner we sat by a bonfire with marshmallows whilst they told us about the history of this place.