La Fortuna y Volcan Arenal

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I'm now in La Fortuna, a beautiful little town about 3.5 hours outside of San Jose. 3 nights ago I met two Americans, Jimmy and Brian, at the restaurant at our hostel in San Jose. We went out to a bar that had THREE bands playing simultaneously, and it was a little crazy. Later we met another guy from England who was a little different, followed us around for a bit, and tried to sell us cocaine...so we ended up leaving. If you get caught associating with someone who does drugs in Central America, even if you don't use or buy, you get a huge fine and are often sent to jail. The laws are pretty harsh, considering we're in the channel for drug running that connects Columbia and Venezuela to the U.S. and Canada.

Jimmy and Brian are here on a short vacation for 8 days...they just graduated from UCLA and are in the military, having a vacation before they start new jobs. They rented a car for the week, and offered to give me and two other Americans from Carolina, Jason and Arthur, a ride to La Fortuna 3 days ago. We have all stayed longer than planned and we love it. The hostel is beautiful, it has a pool with a bar and a great view of the volcano. Our first night here we met Ido, whose travelling here for 8 months and is from Israel.

Yesterday we took a tour guide up to the volcanoe, and hiked through the rainforest. When it got dark, the bus took us to the volcano look out where we saw lava spewing out of the top and tumbling down the hill. It was so amazing. I couldnt get any good pictures though.

After the volcano, we went to Baldi Hot Springs, a huge resort where the river from the volcanoe runs through. There is about 25 pools in the resort, and a water slide that we've concluded cant be legal. The pools were so hot and beautiful. Unfortunately, me and Ido ended up having dinner there, and it cost $56.00 US between the two of us, which is ridiculous when we've been eating for $4.00 US. My 600ml of Sprite was $5.00, and Im still mourning about it today.


Yesterday I went to the bank to get money, but they had run out. Last nigh the power in the hostel was out...all things that are quirky of Costa Rica!

We are here for one more night before we all go our seperate ways. Its going to be a little sad splitting up the group! Brian and Jimmy are going surfing in Tamarindo, Jason and Arthur, are going back to San Jose, and I'm travelling with Ido to Puerto Viejo, a little Afro Carribean Town for a few days until Jen gets here and then we will continue to Panama with Ido.

Ill write again when I can! The internet and phones are pretty unreliable.

Adios!

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