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Published: September 29th 2008
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Day 17 - Counting Cards, Waterfalls, Chess, Hot Springs, Longest Day Yet.
Make sure you have some time on your hands if you are going to read this entry. It’s a full one.
I woke up at 5:00 am to get to school by 5:30. On the way to Arenal we watched “21” on the bus. I enjoyed the film. Well done in my opinion. Worth renting for sure.
We stopped at a park in Zarcote where there was awesome hedged art everywhere: archways, animals (including dinosaurs, birds, and horses), funny faces, patterns and designs. Check out the pictures. I think this is what we need to do at SU though. Seriously. We should have a huge redhawk hedge somewhere central as well as a huge SU one (the athletics logo one), right outside the new Connolly Center. I work at grounds; either they are going to let me do this, or I’m going to do it myself. If it doesn’t work out, I’m going to start mowing funny faces into lawns, especially the fields.
After eating breakfast near the park, we wandered into a gift shop. There, I found a chess set and thought of Parry,
Brian, and Pasquier. However, this was no ordinary chess set. It was white conquistador-types against natives. Oh man, think of the implications. We decided you could modify the rules for this set with special moves, such as: white man brings diseases, take 4 Native pawns. Natives unleash puma, take both Conquistador bishops, etc. It’s a socio-politi-economic battle with huge implications. Who wants to play?
Next stop, La Fortuna waterfall. Now, this is what I was imagining and envisioning when I decided to study abroad in Costa Rica. We hiked down about a billion steps and then saw amazingness. We swam right at the base of this ridiculously majestic waterfall that leaves you in complete childlike giddiness with an adult awe of nature. There was nothing but jungle around this waterfall - no hotel, lodge, or restaurant to profit from it. We splashed around in the river and climbed over mossy rocks and jumped into pools in the crystal water in the center of paradise.
After lunch, my stomach started to battle again. I had gallo pinto, or Costa Rican rice and beans, for breakfast. I think beans and my system are like Stephon Marbury and anyone.
After
lunch and dropping stuff off at our hotel, we were taken to Baladi hot spring. Holy effing geeze it was cool. It’s basically a land of waterfalls and pools, and tropical plants everywhere. The water is extremely hot, fed from a hot spring from the base of the Arenal volcano. It’s hotter than your shower at the very top of the springs, which begins with an 8 story series of scalding hot waterfalls. There are also a couple waterslides. When I was at the top of one, it started to POUR rain. And I then thought to myself, I’m on top of a waterslide, at a hot spring which is at the base of an active, smoking volcano, standing in the downpour of a rainforest in Costa Rica. COOL. REALLY COOL. Thanks Michaela - I knew she was there.
When I was walking towards a certain pool, I stepped on a wasp. Lord it hurt. It was the 1st time I had been stung since I was a young kid. It continued to pour as I iced my foot and laughed at my “misfortune.” But really, I couldn’t complain. If you can’t understand why, please refer to the couple
last sentences of the previous paragraph. I hobbled down to dinner at the hot springs and met some cool new people from another ISA Costa Rica program (Heredia and Veritas).
We went back to the hotel and sat outside on the deck, watching the rain pour and the lightning flash. We started to have some drinks and let me tell you, nothing kills bee sting pain like Costa Rican rum on the rocks. We just sat and chatted about life while sipping on our beverages when our leader, JM, convinced everyone to go to the disco (club) in town. He said he’d pay for everything. After sharing in beverages, we danced a ton at the disco; I didn’t even feel like anything had happened to my foot anymore. I think there’s magic at the foot of the Arenal Volcano…
Speaking of the volcano, after dancing until 1:30 in the morning, we went back and watched the volcano light up with bright orange glowing magma. The sky was clear, but there was sweet lightning in the distance. The top of the volcano would brighten up and just be a brilliant orange. Our leader, JM woke up half
Chess
Natives vs Whites the kids that were sleeping (that didn’t go to the disco) so that they could see it. What a day.
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Patrick
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Glam Shot
Haha... I like the glam shot photo. It says at the bottom of the page that your photos are copyrighted but I might just have to steal it.