Dapples of sunlight dance along the ground, a reflection on connection to the forest
Dapples of sunlight dance along the ground, extending their grace from where you can only see glimpses of baby blue and white tufts. Layers upon layers of trees separate and surround you in every direction, until the distance is sloping forest and tangled branches.
Everywhere, bustles of emerald leaves shudder and sway with the wind's rhythm like rushing water. A thin cocoon of sound that encompasses all its residents beneath the canopy, and refreshes its visitors. So endless is the rocking drone of crickets that it nearly escapes ones' notice, when enraptured by the high squeaks and melodic repetitions of bird calls.
The soil, littered with fallen leaves of faded mud and pale suns feels welcoming and unknown, as your soles sink into muted plums. All along the path are thick splintered logs speckled with thin mushroom caps, crawling with patches of nearly neon algae, that turns blue in the shade.
Has the world always been this rich, escaping your notice?
With every step your breath steadies and your eyes wander, to the vegetation that was once nameless, now particular in its shape and potential, and to the deep groves engraved in the bark and what that might mean, if anything at all. Here, everything has a purpose not a designation. Whether it lives for a day or for years, removing any piece could rock the foundations. Everything is precious.
You wish you had all the time in the world, to remind yourself that this lasts only for an instant, as if you could swallow it all with one breath and carry it in your lungs until the day you die, and return to it all. Yet just like the setting sun you let go to go on living, exhaling as is your natural design.
Now a mother weaves glistening strands to ensnare the unsuspecting, a beak gapes while its throat thrums and vibrates with instinct and evolution, a line of dark ants marches across the thickly woven roots as a midnight speckled bird observes, its pitch black eyes reflecting the midday sun.
This is only what you know, what you have been taught or will learn, what you can quickly guess, and hopefully savor. The beauty is that this never ends as long as there are good people in this world and there will always be.
— Zuleima Noriega
Me llamo Zuleima Noriega y estoy estudiando Relacciones Internationales y Estudios Hispanicos. Estoy estudiando eso para trabajar en diplomacia.
Escribir siempre ha sido una gran parte de mi vida y una buena manera de conectarme con el mundo. Cuando no es fácil vivir el momento y ver todos los ricos detalles, escribir me ayudó a apreciar lo hermoso que es Monteverde y la experiencia única de estar en un entorno tan rico.