Arenal/Monteverde

This is another long one people, and for that I apologize. But I figure, if you're interested you'll keep reading, if you're not, you can stop. It's that easy :)

Sarah and I took off for Arenal at about 5:00 in the morning a few Fridays ago. We arrived at the bus station on time despite being driven by our taxi driver around San Jose in circles trying to find the correct one. The bus ride took almost 4 hours (it may be a small country, but it takes a long time to get anywhere!). When we got there, we grabbed a map and set out to hunt down our hostel. After many times up and down the road we thought it was on, we finally asked someone where it was. (Costa Rica does not have addresses...finding places and trying to tell a taxi where to go can sometimes become an interesting ordeal). The woman at a run down looking place told us that her hostel was, in fact, the place we were looking for even though it had an entirely different name and looked nothing like the pictures from online. It was weird, and after she showed us to a room (which was dark, hot, and dirty), we decided to go on a search for a different place to stay.

Long story short, we ended up finding a great hostel for the day/night with a guy named Carlos at the front desk that set us up with a  fantastic package deal that included lunch, entrance to the Baldi hot springs resort, a tour/hike of the volcano and surrounding areas, and dinner for $50! The hot springs were pretty, but had been turned into a resort with swim up bars, a hotel, and a restaurant. When I think of natural hot springs, I think of family trips when I was little pulling off on the side of the road in the mountains and jumping in the pools surrounded by wildlife and nature. I am not saying one is better than the other, just that is was very different from what I expected when I heard "natural hot springs". There were cocktails available at these ones however, which is always a plus! We started our day at Baldi and had a three course lunch that included a smoothy. The smoothies here are amazing, with all the different types of fresh fruit you could ask for.



This plant is everywhere here! Love this color.

Refrescos con leche...que rico!

One of the springs at Baldi--the hottest one was 152 degrees F. We just put our toes in that one!

After wandering the springs for a bit after lunch, we met up with our group for our hike and tour. Arenal is one of the top 10 most active volcanoes in the world, but unfortunately, we didn't see any eruptions. Apparently only the week before, it had been erupting every 25 minutes or so. Our hike was amazing, and our guide was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna in the area. Many of the plants in the area are known to have various medicinal uses, although I can't for the life of me think of a specific example right now. We saw some howler monkeys jumping around in the trees on our way up the volcano. Man the noise they make is eerie. You should you tube it if you have never heard it. Imagine waking up to dozens of them doing that at the same time at 5:30 in the morning-yikes!

Brief history lesson: Arenal erupted unexpectedly in 1968 when it was though to be extinct. It hadn't erupted in more than 400 years. The "small" boulders that landed were the size of my living room at home. A lot of our hike was on the hardened lava and through the giant boulders from that eruption that killed 87 people and buried 3 villages. Check out this website if you want to know more about Arenal and see past and current pictures of eruptions: http://www.arenal.net/arenal-volcano-1968-eruption.htm

Arenal volcano

Pretty

Goin' up! It was quite the workout

At the top!

It started raining...big shocker.

After our hike, we headed back to Baldi to enjoy soaking in the hot springs. We met some other fun travelers at one of the swim up bars and had a few Mai Tai's :)

Sarah and I relaxing at the bar

We were picked up at our hostel at 7:00 the next morning, taking a minibus ride through the forest to Lake Arenal. There, we jumped in a little dingy of a boat ("quit playing with your dingy!") and took a 10 minute ride across the beautiful lake to where our guide was waiting with our horses and his adorable little dog named Muneca, which means "doll" in Spanish. My horses name was Cacique, a type of rum made here in Costa Rica, and Sarah's was Rocky Balboa. We saddled up and set off on a 3 hour trip along the lake and into the mountains to meet the taxi that would bring us to Monteverde, where we were meeting up with Kelly, Meghan, and Brianna.

The scenery of the ride was breathtaking. It was just Sarah, me, our guide, and Muneca, so we were able to do a lot of trotting and running with our horses, splashing through crystal clear streams and rivers and meandering through the mountains and valleys. A rather large snake greeted us on the trail, which gave me a bit of a start, but according to our guide, it was a good snake because it wasn't dangerous to us, but it eats the poisonous snakes that are dangerous. Regardless, he was big, and scary, and certainly wasn't afraid of the horses. I'm just glad I was 5 feet of the ground when we encountered him! Anyways, I was in heaven for 3 hours, and could have ridden horses all day, but it came to an end and we jumped in a taxi that took us on windy, uphill, bumpy roads the rest of the way to Monteverde.



Me and Cacique...lookin' good in the helmet, I know!

Lake Arenal and the volcano in the background

The "good guy" snake

Monteverde is know for the "Cloud Forest" because it is elevated so high into the mountains. It was the first time since I have been here that I had to layer up to stay warm! We met up the other girls at our hostel, and went to have dinner. Afterwards, we went to the store, picked up a couple of bottles of wine, chocolate, and a few candles, and the five of us had a romantic little night chatting away by candle light at the hostel :)

The following morning, Brianna, Sarah, and I decided to brave the weather (it rarely stops raining in Monteverde) and go zip lining. We were so glad that we did, because it was absolutely amazing. There were 11 lines and one Tarzan swing. Although I have been sky diving a few times, I was super nervous! These platforms were hundreds of feet in the air, and we are swinging through the trees from one to the other! It was incredibly exhilarating and we had a blast. I was the first in the group to go on the Tarzan swing, which Sarah got a video of as they were getting me ready to go. Although I was freaking out, I didn't cry, which is generally my response when I am scared of something! The guides had been messing with us all morning, and they told me to go at the count of three....they pushed me off the platform at one. I screamed a little bit.

The last zip line was the fastest, highest, and longest, and we had the opportunity to do it in "superman". There is a picture below, but it is hard to see clearly. Pretty much instead of sitting in the harness, they switched it so you were hooked up by your back and your legs. I couldn't see far because of the clouds and rain, but was able to see the ground hundreds of feet down below and a bit of the valley I was going over. Words can't even describe how beautiful and tranquil that last zip line was.

Estamos listas!

Covered in mud from the lines

Superman line

Brianna, Sarah, and me with our guides...man did they enjoy messing with us. They were constantly jumping out from behind trees and pushing us off platforms. We all know how easily I am startled!

We made is safely back to the hostel, cold, wet, and filthy :)

Meghan, Brianna, Kelly, and I decided to go on one more adventure after zip lining on Sunday before we had to catch the bus home. We went to the butterfly garden and had an awesome tour. Like I wasn't in heaven surrounded by mariposas! There was also a lot to be learned about the native insects and bugs here in Costa Rica. They are some wicked looking creatures! Check out the Hercules beetle below. He can carry up to 850 times his own weight! There were beetles of all sorts, one of which the guide dared us to eat....so I did. It was called an asthma beetle, but it was just a little guy! He tasted like pepper and I got a free postcard out of the deal. You can buy these asthma beetles at the market. You put one in a glass of milk the first day, two on the second, three on the third, and so on for 70 days. Yes, the last day you have 70 live, little black beetles floating around in your drink, but apparently your asthma will be cured. There were three different butterfly rooms, each with butterflies from various elevations throughout Costa Rica. They were flying all over! Some of their flight patterns were a little erratic because they had been drinking fermented fruit all day, gettin' drunk :)



Hercules beetle...he was the size of my hand

Pre beetle eating...doesn´t look too bad, right?

Post beetle eating...

Me and Maria the Praying Mantis--she's hard to see, but

she's on my pointer finger, halfway down

The bottom of the wings of an Owl butterfly...they flash them like this to scare away predators

Another way the Owl can put it's wings to try to scare away predators--a snake head.

A bird isn´t going to try to eat a snake!

My favorite Costa Rica mariposa!!

(Yes, I am aware that I have put up pictures of this guy before)

The weekend was wonderful, exciting, and brief. We get to travel all over, but it's hard because we can only stay in the places for a few days at a time...we have to get back to Tres Rios to teach! Needless to say, there are a lot of activities, drinks, (and beach time depending on where we are) to get in in a short amount of time on these trips!

Take care everyone! Miss you all....I will be home in 4 weeks!

A weekend at home and horseback riding in Grecia

A few weeks ago, we stayed here in Tres Rios. Although our weekend excursions are amazing, it was really nice to not have to get ready to go somewhere for a weekend, and be able to come home after school and relax. Friday night was low key, I hung out on and did stuff on my computer and watched "Friends" with the girls. I think the last post I wrote on here was written that night--I have been slacking.

Saturday, Kelly came over and we all cuddled on the couch in our little living room to watch a movie. Or at least I started to, but when I went into the house to get some water, one of my host sisters was watching Twilight (yes, the first and most crappy of them all). But, I sat down and ended up watching the entire thing with her even though I´ve seen it about 4 times by now. I know, I`m sad.

Hanging out in our little living room!

After our relaxing afternoon, we got ready to head out for dinner and a show in San Jose with our host family and some of their friends. The entertainment was an Argentina inspired singing and tango show. It was really beautiful and the dinner was fabulous. We drank awesome Chilean wine and ate amazing Italian food. 

My host mom Emilia, Kelly, and Sarah

Meghan, Brianna, and Linsey

 

The whole crew at Notte di Luna

 

Argentina Tango dancers

 

Cheers!

The stage--we were sitting down to the left

 

Getting serenaded :)

After dinner, Sarah, Meghan, and I ventured to a bar called Màs T'kila. It was at first incredibly uncomfortable how many stares we were getting...you would think these people had never seen blonds or a girl taller than 5`5" before. Sheesh! We felt a little unwelcomed, but we stuck it out and just kept drinking. That`s what you do when you´re not comfortable in a situation, right? 

We sat down at a table next to the dance floor and ended up meeting a group of lovely gay men that were out celebrating their friend's birthday. Meghan was the first to talk to them when she attempted to ask Mario who's birthday it was--in Spanish. He looked at her and said "Your Spanish is terrible....Baby Jesus is crying right now." It was absolutely hilarious. Sergio, the birthday boy, overheard the encounter and came over and said "Talk to me, sweetheart, I'm way nicer than he is."

Poor Meghan....she tries so hard. I am not one to talk either. My Spanish is nowhere near where I was hoping it would be by now, but I have too many English outlets. It has improved, but the plan is to take more classes when I get back to the states!

Anyways, Mario, Sergio, and Eric, invited us to go to a gay club with them in San Jose, where we met another friend named Allen. We had a blast and danced the night away until 4:00 in the morning, when we finally decided we should probably go home. It was one of the few places we have been here that the entire room wasn't starting at us...it was really nice!

So, now that I am old, my Sunday consisted of sleeping, eating, and recovering from the antics of the previous night. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to see our friends again since we have been out of town a lot, but hopefully we will be able to see them again! They are hilarious and certainly know how to have a good time!

Mario and I on the way to the next bar!

Our new friends!

Kelly and I also had the chance to go to Grecia one weekend, which is a city a few hours trip from Tres Rios, where we had the chance to ride some beautiful horses. Thank you Char!! It was so nice to ride a horse that actually had spirit and a mind of it's own instead of a trail horse that doesn't really do a whole lot but plod along and follow the guide horse. Some of the pictures are below. 

That's all I have for now! I have a lot more to write and catch you up on, but for now, I need to go to bed! I hope all is well with everyone out there :)

Kelly showing her stuff on Lucky...he was a little feisty!

She was in heaven!

Up...

Getting ready...

And I'm off!

Such a gorgeous horse!

Happiness

Puerto Viejo...

So this might be a pretty long blog, so get ready! Many of you on Facebook have already seen most of the pictures on here, but there are a few new ones! We went to Puerto Viejo this last weekend for 3 days. It is a town on the south west side of Costa Rica, just north of Panama on the Caribbean. The group included me, Linsey, Sarah, Meghan, Kelly, Kelly´s host mom Flor (who is one of the most fun-loving people I have ever met), Flor´s niece Cati, Kati`s friend Marci, and Flor´s son, Gustavo, who was also our driver in a little minibus that seats nine people. Fun crowd and it was great to be able to hang out with some native Costa Rican`s!

We left super early on Saturday morning, and it was an incredibly scenic drive through the mountains and a bumpy one along the coast before arriving at our first night's accommodations. Rancho Tranquilo was a beautiful little resort with a nice pool, a jacuzzi, and a kitchen where we were able to cook a fantastic dinner and breakfast. After we arrived at Racho, we dropped off our stuff, changed, and headed to the beach!  It was quite literally an entire day of relaxation. We ate lunch on the beach and hung out until  the sun started going down. It was wonderful to be able to just read my book, sit in the sun, and listen to the waves. Sarah, Meghan, and I also wandered down the main street to do some shopping and came across a man selling snow cones. He shaved the ice for it right there off an ice block, and added not only the flavoring, but caramel and some sort of condensed vanilla flavored milk. I don´t even really know exactly what all when into it, but it was by far the best snow cone I have ever had. When it started getting dark, we left to go back to the resort for dinner and get ready for the night!

Dinner consisted of an of grilled corn on the cob, chicken, steak, vegetables, and tortillas prepared by Gustavo. It was all so good! We hung out for awhile and had some drinks after dinner before heading into town. Puerto Viejo is what you would call a hippy, Bob Marley type town. Every which way you look, there are dreads, reggae music, and just an overall laid back and chill atmosphere. We went out on Saturday night and started at a bar with a live reggae band. A lot of fun listening to music, dancing, and people watching. After leaving there, we wandered down to a place with more of a "dance club" atmosphere. The dance floor/bar was open to the beach, and there were tables with candles and a bonfire on the sand for people to take a break from dancing and hang out. It was a really fun night, but wasn´t a super late one since we had all been up since 4:00 that morning.

Casa Cati at Rancho Tranquilo

Breakfast at Rancho

The girls at Puerto Viejo beach

Chillin'

Snow cone cart

Reading

More reading (so nice to be able to read non-school books for once!)

This caterpillar was the size of my finger with an inch long spike thing on its back...I was designated to remove it from the premises

Such unique flowers

The next morning, I was up earlier than everyone else, so I went out to a hammock and dozed/read for an hour and a half. It was so quiet, I could hear coconuts dropping from the trees around the resort. Very peaceful. I have never spent as much time in hammocks as I did this weekend, and came to the conclusion that they are simply wonderful. After breakfast, we went to the pool, and later that afternoon, we headed to the place we were going to be staying that night. It was a cabin of rooms directly on Punta Uva beach. It was quite amazing to be able to walk two seconds out to a huge stretch of white sands and clear blue water. And, of course, there were hammocks :) We played in the ocean, went for walks, and took naps. When it got dark, we got ready and headed to the market to get food and drink for our beach bonfire.

I have only had a bonfire on the beach one other time in Tasmania. This one was just as fun and beautiful, but much warmer than it had been that night in Tazzie. I drank wine and ate snacks that included s´mores and hot dogs--very American style bonfire. The Costa Ricans with us had never had a s`more before, so they were pretty excited about them! It was Meghan`s idea to get the hot dogs, and she even made her own roasting stick (can´t remember the word for those right now) out of a palm tree leaf! However, of the eight hot dogs, only four of them survived to be eaten. The other half were lost to the fire or the sand. She felt defeated by those hot dogs, but the one´s that made it through were delicious!

I fell asleep listening to the waves in a hammock that night. It was fabulous. I was going to maybe just sleep out there, but decided that wouldn't be the safest thing in the world. We were up at 4:45 the next morning to catch the sunrise. It was cloudy though, so we didn't get to see the brilliant reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows. However, there was a blue light that seemed to be all around me us as we waited for a possible break in the clouds. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. There was a man fly fishing along the shore, and although I didn't get to see him actually catch anything, it was a very tranquil and calming thing to watch. After everyone else gave up and went inside to go back to bed, I stayed for a little while longer. I sat there and did a lot of thinking about a lot of things. Quite the powerful backdrop to think about life's mysteries and just be.  

Our cabin on the beach

Another super cool flower--this one was my favorite

Wandering on the shore...and apparently looking at something very intently

In Hawaii, single ladies put flowers in their hair...Meghan and I decided to bring that tradition to Costa Rica

Warming my feet by the fire

Amazingly blue sunrise and the fly fisherman

I thought I saw something cool out in the water...it was just waves :(

Sarah and I relaxing by the bonfire

I know, last flower picture, I promise! For this trip anyways.

I spent Monday morning on the beach after having a plate of native, fresh fruit for breakfast--so super yummy.  Then Linsey and I headed of to the Jaguar Rescue Center. It was a place I found on the internet that takes in and rehabilitates wildlife of all kinds. A few of the animals will live their lives at the center, but the goal is to release them back into the wild. They give tours and their sole source of financial income is from visitors and donations. There are many pictures below from our time there. I will just title them accordingly. The monkey pictures are in the sequence of my "attack". It was by no means vicious, but there were two baby Howler monkeys that were just absolutely loving my hair and the smell of my lotion. I couldn't get the one off until I literally pulled it by its tail off my shoulders. In all the mayhem, I managed to get peed on as well. Then there's a guy next to me that has a monkey just laying peacefully in his arms! I had the two crazy little monkeys after me, but I loved every minute of it and would do it again in a heartbeat, monkey pee and all.

The start of my time in the cage....peaceful and cute, right?

The other monkey climbs on my back

There goes my hair

I think around this time is when the pee occurred, but I can't be sure

I finally got the last one off! And right when she was starting to cuddle up in my arms and relax, one of the workers came to get all of them for "jungle time" to play out in the forests. My time in the monkey cage was amazingly fabulous, but brief and chaotic to say the least.

2 week old baby sloth

Oncilla--wild cat of Costa Rica. This guy was two years old and would be staying at the center indefinitely. They tried to release him 3 or 4 times and he kept on coming back...easier lifestyle I suppose!

Can't remember the name of this tree, but it was gigantic, and covered in these thorns

Spectacled Owls native to Costa Rica. They are very cute and comical looking..check out those eyes!

Me with India the sloth...she fell asleep in my arms

So there you go! The wildlife center was amazing, and a perfect end to the trip. As Brianna said, I was in "Rambo heaven" :) . After we got back to the cabin, I immediately got into my swimsuit and ran into the ocean to rinse off after the monkey incident. I then swam/walked a mile or so down the beach and back before packing up and jumping into the van to go home!

Props to those of you who made it through all of this. I apologize for the length, but there was just so much to show and tell with pictures!

XOXO