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Published: October 14th 2008
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This weekend we basically did as much as was humanly possible in 36 hours, and it was FABULOUS.
After turning my alarm off in my sleep at 5:00, and waking up in a panic at 5:33, my roommate and I still managed to walk out of the house at quarter to 6, and get to the ISA office in plenty of time. Eventually, everyone made it and we set off for a 4 hour bus ride/nap, which was interrupted only by a brief stop at a garden and breakfast, which I was more than happy to eat. The hot chocolate at the restaurant where we stopped is second only to a coffee shop in Atlanta, GA, near the Fox Theatre. I think I described it once as drinking melted Godiva chocolates. OH! and that place where Molly and I escaped from the cold and drank free samples last year during spring break. OK, third best cocoa is still pretty damn good.
We went straight to La Fortuna waterfall, where I risked my life (I only fell once) on a series of very steep steps in order to hike down to the base of it in a gorge. It poured
on the way down, but hey, WE WERE IN THE RAIN FOREST, WHO CARES? We were already wearing bathing suits and just jumped (well, crawled carefully) into the water when we finally got down there. My waterproof camera paid for itself in the pictures I got to take, swimming and climbing back behind the waterfall and not needing to worry about it getting wet in the rain.
Afterwards, we hiked back out and went to lunch at a small local "soda" (a basic restaurant) where Kate, Britney and I split a massive pizza, Chris and Tim discovered they were not fond of heart of palm, Kate spilled red wine on herself and I dropped a plate. We were a hot mess but we had a good time after lunch wandering around a little park/square in the middle of town. We could see Volcan Arenal from here and it was basically clear all the way to the top!
We loaded back onto the bus for the FIFTH time that day to head to our hotel, which was plush and luxurious and altogether a surprise. The view was fantastic, you could see forever in one direction out of one side
of our room and were looking straight up the volcano on the other side. This place was called Los Lagos and I would recommend it to anyone. After settling in for an hour, we... guess what.. got back on the bus went to Baldi Hot Springs, just down the road. There was one main source spring, and the water cooled as it flowed from pool to pool. There were water slides, 2 swim up bars, and a buffet for dinner, so we were all happy, relaxed campers at the end of this trip. For the last time, we climbed back onto the bus to go back to the hotel, where few of us went down to the pool to play on a few more waterslides. I'm so glad I did, because for 20 minutes or so, the clouds on the top of the volcano cleared up and even though we couldn't see actual lava, we could see a faint orange glow coming out of the crater on the top of the volcano. Also in the sky was a full moon with a huge ring around it (I can't remember what that phenomenon is called) but it was beautiful.
I
finally fell asleep around 11, listening to some happy Jack Johnson on my iPod to combat the fact that 2 of my roommates were watching "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." My alarm went off at six, and after getting dressed and eating breakfast, a small group of the ISA kids went WATERFALL RAPPELLING.
so. much. fun.
We did 5 rappels, 1 dry to start off and 4 wet. The tallest one was ~165 feet, and all of us just walked around with big, stupid grins on our faces the whole time. We were wandering around the rain forest, occasionally bouncing down waterfalls. I'm fairly certain some of this would have have been certifiable/legal in the US. This was another instance where my camera paid for itself in the pictures I took. I couldn't move my legs the next day (thank you, adrenaline, for blocking pain receptors), but it was so worth. Possibly the best money I've ever spent on something entirely recreational. The company was called Pure Trek, and is owned by a woman from Santa Monica, CA, who "followed her heart" to Costa Rica after a vacation here 12 years ago. The guides were great (and exceptionally
attractive), and we shared our excursion with a very nice couple on their honeymoon. On the bus ride back, we started talking politics (everyone here seems to love Obama) and why Sarah Palin got put on McCain's ticket. I said "She's a young, sexy woman," and the guide responded with the title. This same guide is from Panama, if I remember correctly, and his favorite things about Costa Rica are it's beer and women. Imperial is good, but it's not THAT good.
And after coming off of that high, we came back, showered, and got on a bus and went home. 😞 The only redeeming quality of these bus rides is that we usually watch decent movies.
Also, Pinto and I heard the most obnoxious bug ever that we are going to capture and patent for an alarm clock noise and make our millions. Then I can goof of in Costa Rica whenever I want.
So, yeah, that was my weekend. I'm headed to Manuel Antonio this weekend for "relaxing" beach weekend. I think.
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Jamie
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Holy shit, i am green with envy! Like my skin is seriously looking a little emerald. ;p I want to rapel downa waterfall! THat's friggen awesome!