Volcan Arenal

Volcan Arenal was SOOO amazing! Its one of the active volcanoes here, but unfortunately it was too cloudy the night we were there to see the lava and the dragon spitting fire! I'm just kidding bout the dragon. The first day we were there, we went up into the mountain to a resort called Baldi Springs. It was huge and luxurious...quite different from what I have been used to here. It had 25 pools, hot springs, and swim up bars! Plus three AMAZING water slides. When i first saw the slides, I thought no big deal. They arent anything special. We have way bigger and scarier ones in the states. Oh, was i wrong. I chose the middle one first which turned out to be the craziest one! You literally flip around inside the slide. It's pitch black, you have no idea where you're going, you are thrown around like a rag doll, and then at the end there is a huge drop! Its so steep that you hardly touch the slide as you fall. lol. I actually head the back of my head really hard on the slide right when I came out. I had a slight headache and a little knot ALL day. Then I went down like 7 more times. Lol. It was great. So after this bodily abuse, I lived it up in the hot waters (for as long as I could stand, which wasnt really that long. Yall know how i am with hot tubs) and then cooled off in the cooler water. And now for the best part...I got a hour long massage and facial in the cutest little spa right there on the side of the volcano...for fifty bucks. Oh yes. And it was great. Needless to say, after some hot spring action and a lil rub down, my body didnt remember how harshly i had treated it earlier that day. Lol.

The next day we headed to the base of the volcano once again, but this time to the most amazing waterfall I have seen since I have been here. I can hardly explain it. It's like the waterfalls you see in the movies. The really tall, powerful, loud ones. And we swam in it. I was one of the first ones in. I couldnt wait. I kid you not, It was a full cardio workout swimmin in that pool. The waterfall was so powerful that you were constantly being pushed around, hit in the face with waves, slammed into rocks. It was amazing. We swam around behind the waterfall and climbed around on some rocks. One of the boys with us had a waterproof camera so he got some pretty amazing pictures I have on facebook. All in all, it was an amazing weekend once again. Then I returned home to the drudgery of San Jose: class, gym, eat, hw, sleep, class, gym, hw....well you get the idea.

Well until next time! Mucho amor a todos!

-M

Oh and I forgot to tell you! On the way to arenal we stopped in the cutest little town with amazing landscaping in the central plaza and the cutest church. And that's what the pics are of!

SORRY!

ok guys. I don't know whats wrong with me, but I just don't feel like posting anything lately! I'm so tired all the time from class and working out and going places on weekends! lol. I promise I will try to tell you more soon. I love you all!

Puerto Viejo

Que pasa? Last weekend we went to Puerto Viejo which meant we finally made it to the caribbean side of the country! Puerto Viejo is a beach in the province Limon, which is mostly a province of people of Jamaican heritage. They speak a weird mix of languages that I couldn't understand, but it sounded sweet! It was extremely hot and I was basically sweating the entire time, but our room did have air conditioning. That's right, AC. Amazing. First time I have seen AC (except for the ATM in Manuel Antonio) since I have been here!

Friday night we went to a really good Italian resturant and then some of the girls went out afterwards. I just walked along the beach and then hit my bed. We had to get up early saturday morning for...SNORKELING!!!! I think thats how u spell it anyway. We took another hike through the rainforest to a boat that took us out to sea! It was SOOOO cool. The water was much more clear in Puerto Viejo than the other beaches I had been to so it was great for snorkeling. I saw the coral reef, lots of ameobas, and LOTS of fish. My favorite kind of fish was this bright blue one that then had even BRIGHTER phosporescent blue spots! It pretty much just glowed in the dark! How do all of them not get eaten?? lol

After that we chilled for the rest of the day, shopping at jewelry stands on the street, and laying on the beach. Sunday morning I went for a run with Dani and then got on the bus to go home. All in all, Puerto Viejo was pretty sweet. Another very hippie beach town.

I still have yet to take surfing lessons! I better get on that! Though I think we are going to Jaco for halloween weekend and that is suppose to be a great place to surf. So maybe then! Love you all

Montezuma Beach

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay. This is actually going to be about last weekend´s trip to Montezuma, a little hippie beach town on the pacific coast. However, before I start describing what is sure to be a long and involved story, I want to say I miss you all and I will be super happy to see you all in a few months. I have realized how much I rely on my family and friends to get through life! But in general, I will also be happy to be back in the US. Funny, I have grown to appreciate my own country more while exploring another. I suppose that´s common. I can´t wait for hot showers again (my showers here consist of literally 2 minutes of warm water. I have become a MUCH quicker showerer!). And while the extra protein IS appreciated, I will be happy to come home and eat food SANS insects. As well as sleep in a bed that is SPIDER free. Oh ya. Spiders. And yall know how I love spiders. I have bites EVERYWHERE. Its a constant part of my life now. However, I am no longer deathly afraid of them for the simply fact that I cant possibly be constantly jumping on top on couches, screaming, or refusing to hike through the jungles. Lol.

So on to Montezuma. We arrived late Friday night after 6 hours on two buses and a ferry (from which we got to see the most amazing sunset), hoping that our keys were there waiting for us since the hotel office closes at 6 (by the by, Ticos dont like to work long hours, if any at all. It´s hell trying to make travel plans because no one ever answers the phone!). I had talked to someone earlier in the week and told them we would be coming friday night, but they said to call back thursday just to remind them (how proposterous! The GUEST calling to remind the HOTEL that they were coming! That´s how we do down here tho. lol). So I called thursday, and as i suspected, no one answered my ten calls. So I faxed them and prayed they would get it. Sure enough, the keys were there for us and all was well. We had some good food and went to bed.

Saturday for God knows what reason I woke up at 6! So I snuck out the the beach to go read on the rocks. I watched some men fish for awhile with just a reel of line in their hands, no pole, then went out to the rocks where I found a TON of little cute shells to make some cool jewelry (if i get around to it lol). Some of the rocks looked alive their were so many crabs crawling around on them! I tried to get close to take a cool pic, but those suckers are quick! They must feel vibrations or something cuz they knew i was creepin on them. lol. Once everyone else was up we got breakfast (french toast! I was so stoked. They get tourists there often, so they had US food). Then we set off to find....THE WATERFALLS! We probably hiked about 7 miles, asked 5 different ticos for directions, and STILL failed. Miserably. We did find some cool secluded jungle spots with vines that we promptly began to climb. There are some cool pics from those spots. We also found little waterfalls, but not the big ones we were searching for. So we called it a trip, hit the beach, showered, dinner and so forth. And all of a sudden its night and the street (one of two in the town) was FILLED with ppl! Some tourists, but mostly locals. Blaring music from cars, drinking, hittin on the girls, dancing, eating, smoking. Pretty lively bunch. So I only stayed for about twenty minutes. Lol. Not too much into being stared at 24-7. That´s something I still havent gotten used to. It still bugs me. And its not that I´m pretty, its just that I´m white. Thats seriously it. They stare at all of us ALL THE TIME. I think its like a sport or a game for them. I honestly think they might have invented a drinking game with it like everytime u spot a gringo (white person) u drink. lol. Wouldnt surprise me in the least.

Sunday I slept in a bit till 8 and then got breakfast. Then four of us headed out to try once again to find those elusive falls! We headed out down the path that we had tried taking the day before because everyone ASSURED us that was the way to go. But we KNEW from yesterday that it dead ended! Incorrect. The path does not dead end persay...it just sort of ceases to be a path. Therefore, we pressed on through the jungle. I´m talking like rambo stuff. I felt like such a BA (for the generation that might not know this acronym...ask a youngen). After 45 minutes, but what felt like a day, of climbing steep rocks, dodging trees, catching spiders in the face, dripping sweat nonstop (its too humid in the rainforest for ur sweat to evaporate off ur skin in the least, so it just condensates on u instantly), and getting undescribably filthy...the gushing sounds of running water reached our ears! We knew we were close! My feet were aching for the cool touch of the water, not to mention the chance to be rid of bearing all my weight for a little while! Mind u, I hiked the whole way there barefoot. Oh yes...barefoot. Why would someone do such a ridiculous thing, you might ask? Well lets say that someone had simply walked around in her special hiking shoes yesterday (bought in Costa Rica for 100 dollars because everyone told her they were worth it...liars) and procured a huge blister on her left pinky toe. So the girl obviously didnt want to wear her hiking shoes again and didnt bring any tennis shoes. Then lets say that someone told her she would have no problem hiking to the falls in her flip flops. Naturally, the girl would wear flips flops. This is all hypothetical of course. I would NEVER do something this insensible. Ya....right. Ok so there I am in flip flops which honestly was working out great until I got drenched in sweat and covered in nice slippery mud (curteousy of the storm the night before). Then my shoes didnt feel like staying on my feet. Ergo...barefoot it was. Thank God for south city alley feet, eh guys?

Back to the story. We heard the water and two minutes later reached our first sign of civilization! A ziplining stand! We didnt care that no one was there, just that we were still close to human contact! lol. At this point, a snake decided to crawl across Dani´s foot. Luckily it was rather small and looked harmless and just wanted to get away from us. So we went on our way. Soon...EUREKA! Waterfalls! I immediately start stripping down, not at all deterred by the murky, muddy water I´m seeing in the swimming area. I tell the girls I´m going to jump and they all look at me like I´m crazy. Who knows if there are rocks down there! But I had heard ppl jump from the second waterfall ALL the time...I just wasnt quite sure we were at the second waterfall. So I go to the edge, look down, and....move down to a lower ledge. I look down again, and....move down to yet a lower ledge. By now I´m fairly confident that if i jump and hit a rock I prolly will just break something and hopefully not my back. So I jump! I´m all in one piece. No worries. Then the others follow. By the time they get down there I´ve found the rope swing! Very fun. But once it got caught up on the back of my arm and well....needless to say I have a nice bruise. Totally worth it. Then I see a blue rope leading straight UP the mountain. Well if there is a rope, it must be because ppl use it to climb right?! So off I go! Barefoot of course. I kid u not, I literally free climbed a mountain at a 80 degree angle barefoot. So great. It didnt really lead anywhere that we could find though I KNOW there was suppose to be a way to get down to the other big falls below the one we were swimming in...besides jumping from the top of our waterfall of course. Even I wasn´t up for that one. It was quite a long ways down. Anyway, we packed up, headed back, and make it in time to eat something before, get this....our horseback ride!

So I was really excited to go riding because I hadnt been in awhile and I do like horses. We were going to go across seven beaches and reach a more hidden, less visited waterfall. All I could think of was those commercials of ppl horseback riding on the beach having the time of their lives. Well, I should have known it wouldnt be that way! lol. Very naive of me. When I first saw the horses, my gut reaction was to not even go. Just to say sorry but no thank u. The horses were small, skinny, bug infested, scratch up, worn down, and very skiddish. I felt horrible for those poors animals. I´m used to riding big, muscular, healthy horses that are happy and like to run. These didnt even wanna walk, much less run. But we got on and went for about 15 min, the horses stumbling their way along the paths because they didnt seem to be able to see very well, until I couldnt take it anymore. I just felt so bad. The guide wouldnt even let them drink any water! It was so hot out there! So I told him I was going back and that I would return on foot if it was a problem. He told me to take my horse with and just tie it up when I got back to the starting point. So me and two others turned around and walked our horses back, letting them go at their own pace and drink from the fresh water streams. When we got back we tied them up in the shade and took off their saddles and blankets which we probably weren´t suppose to. Oh well. I´m glad it only cost me 35 dollars, but it was still a disappointment. Live and learn.

After sleeping a bit on the beach (and getting mauled yet AGAIN by mosquitoes...bug spray DOES NOT WORK!), we had dinner, half of which I ended up feeding to the cute, disgustingly skinny stray dog that had adopted me for the weekend. The animals in costa rica make me sad. So many strays and mistreated ones. Oh and speaking of animals, ticos have some sort of obsession with poodles. Ick. Get a real dog ppl.

During dinner the storm rolled in. I have never seen anything so spectacular in my life. We went to our deck to watch the lighting dance across the sky over the ocean. Sometimes a series of bolts would hit that looked like a lace pattern across the entire sky. It lit up the beach like day time, and the thunder shook our little beachfront hotel. For my storm lovers back home, you might have cried it was so beautiful.

Sorry for the abrupt stop before. A class came into the computer lab and I got kicked out. Where was I? Oh yes, the storms. After the storms we went to bed and awoke to a kick butt sunrise. I'm more one for the sunsets, but this was pretty sweet. We had to catch the bus by 6 to go home and as a few of us were waiting at the stop, Amy walked around the corner with disbelief all over her face. She held only a bra and a camera case in her hands. She said "ok so i'm just trying to roll with this right now, but I got robbed last night and this is all I have left". We couldn't believe it. It turns out that two girls staying in Amy's room had left late at night to walk around while Amy and Nicole were still in the room sleeping. They left the door unlocked and cracked open. Someone must have come in during the night and just grabbed whatever bags were closest to the door. Those bags turned out to be Amy's and Nicole's. They were already packed up with everything they had brought too since we were leaving so early. That's probably the 5th time since I have been here that one of our girls has gotten robbed. Once it was at gunpoint. I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it back without being robbed. At this rate, it doesn't look promising.

Well that was a long post. Hope I didn't bore anyone! Love you all!