THURSDAY
This whole trip has been "thanksgiving" for me!!! I've had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for such a beautiful world Heavenly Father created for us and for the oportunity I have to be here and do this right now!!!! It's pretty awesome and I really think about that constantly the whole time I've been here.
Today started with my jeep/boat/jeep transfer to Arenal. One of the drivers gave me a heads up that they would not be jeeps!!! I guess when they started it, it was but with 3 passengers at a time, and the invention of the mini-bus 9 seat van, my "jeep" was a beat up mini-bus!!! The road was a cocktail shaker but with beautiful scenery. You know the dairy commercials that say that happy cows some from California? Well, Costa Rican cows have them beat!!! Cows on the beach, cows in the cloud forest, cows grazing on vegetation-on-steroids on a hill by the lake!!!! Funny thing I saw: cows grazing in a graveyard!!! That seemed really wrong somehow!! :)
We arrived at the lake and jumped on a boat. It's supposed to be gorgeous with the volcano blowing smoke on the side of the lake but unfortunately it was a completely overcast and rainy day so we saw ... Clouds and no volcano.
Then we jumped on "jeep #2" = a mini-bus with AC and paved roads, it felt like ultra luxurious!! The guy who started the company was on that bus with us and we chatted. He said 10 years ago this place was nothing & has just boomed since 30 tourists became 100 the next year and 700 the next!!! Monteverde was just developed 6 years ago. And this kid was the one who had the idea of providing transportation between arenales & monteverde (or so he claims, right!?).
Another cool thing is that the two main Hot Springs places here are Tabacones and Baldi. And I have Baldi on for tomorrow night. But these people in Monteverde were saying that Tabacones was the best cause most of their pools were natural. So I asked this kid which one was better - and if Baldi had any natural pools and he said Baldi was all natural pools and that Tabacones was super dangerous cause the way the volcano is acting for the last 5 years, when it blows next it's headed STRAIGHT for the Tabacones hot springs. They would have 5 min to evacuate before the lava hits but the gasses would burn your lungs in like 3!!!! Scary, huh?!? Who knows if it's all true but I was very thankful that I was gonna be at Baldi!!!!
I got to my hotel at Arenal and I'm so excited cause it is RIGHT downtown. Across from the main plaza and surrounded by shops and restaurants, and it is all safe to walk around at night cause I'm never far from the hotel and it's all lit up and full of other people! And I get wifi in my room! (everywhere else, I had to go to the lobby for my Internet fixx!)
I had lunch at my first SODA. They are like restaurants but more informal and cheaper. And had another casado, but de pollo this time (with some yummy salsa on it, of course!!)
My fun today was fun in the rain!! It was mostly sprinkling or pouring & sometimes it would stop for a few but the sky stayed cloudy and I am yet to see the volcano!!! Homer and I went up to the La Fortuna Waterfall. Homer was my black stallion (heheheeh) - it was a fun ride through a private farm with three streams, cows & horses and then a road. At La Fortuna you need to go down like 400-ish steps to the base of the waterfall and there are two waterfalls. You can swim by the smaller one but not the main one cause it sucks you under & kills you!!! The water was pretty brown cause of the rain so the swimming was a bust. I swam in the rain instead!!!! But you can get right in front of it and it's quite an amazing feeling to look up at this powerful fall. Homer only gave me an hour to see the waterfall and I stayed like 10 minutes taking each one in while I sat at a nearby rock ... So once again I was "running" up the 400ish steps, and they were slick & steep!!! And got there like 5 min late ;) I was completely soaked too but it wasn't cold & I love rain, so it was all good!!
The horseback ride was just as nice as the ride there!! Homer was a good horse!! I was with these Puertorrican group & one of the girls was so freaked by horseback riding that she took a taxi back!! It was hilarious hearing her freak out and tell her horse to go slow!!!! Hahaha!!!
I got back tired (am I starting to feel my 40 years?!?) and hit town. I found a massage place .... HEAVEN!!!! There's nothing better than celebrating Thanksgiving with a one hour massage & facial after a 2 hr horse back ride & running up those steps!!! It was SOOOOOO nice!!!
Then I walked by the Lava Rock Cafe (cheesy, huh?) and went to a more crowded Lava Lounge Restaurant. World music, great vibe & a menu where EVERYTHING sounded yuuuummm!!! I had a grilled chicken salad & chips w/ guac.
I'm relaxed, happy, thankful & super excited for rapelling tomorrow!!!
Pura Vida!!!!!!!!!!
Ultra relaxed & happy Jeannie
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FRIDAY
It's Saturday & my last day to enjoy Costa Rica ... I'm on a minibus on my way to the river for rafting.
Yesterday was the first day where things weren't PERFECT, it's crazy to think that it all has been pretty near perfect though this whole trip!!! And you'll laugh when you read how minor my imperfectnesses were!!!
I started the day with the rapelling. They were an hour late to pick me up & I didn't really care except that I missed out on breakfast, and just sat there waiting for a long time - I was worried they had forgotten me cause this was one of the activities I was most looking forward to. But when they came, they made up for it in awesomeness!! The guides on this one were super fun. So were the other people (Chicago, Jersey, Colorado & Germany)!!
We went up to a canyon in the rain forest and followed a river bed to 4 waterfalls & a wall. The first one was the tallest & scariest cause you're not too sue - you have the waterfall right next to you as you rappel down ;) it was easy & sooooo fun!!!!
The next one had a freefall part where you just have to drop and then you get to the waterfall part and you're getting sprayed each time you get close to the wall by the waterfall falling on you!! So it's super exciting!!!
The next one was a wall with no water, and the last two had waterfalls and were just really fun. The best was the first - I so wished I could've gone back to do that again after I was more comfortable with the longer jumps. Then we trekked out of the rainforest on a little trail, so it was gorgeous too - saw a snake & lots of monster spiders with big webs.
The whole time we were repelling the guides were yelling & hollering & cheering everyone on - that made it super fun too. Then back at the base they fed us a yum costa rican arroz con pollo.
I had the afternoon free and I walked around town, the clouds moved over just a little bit - and I saw about 2/3 of the volcano - yay!!!!! It would be really gorgeous on a clear day.
Then at 5 they picked me up to go to see the volcano up close and then the hot springs. It was POURING like Florida-style hard rain. I was all, yeah- let's go see the volcano!! When we got there the rain slowed up and when we walked up to the lookout, the clouds kinda moved over to the sides of the volcano so you could actually see all but the very top. I was soooo excited!!! It lasted 3 minutes and the clouds and rain moved back in. I'd like to think it was just for me ;)
Then Baldi Hot Springs ... Mmmmm, my tour guide lady told me DO NOT pay for a locker cause it's included in your price. So I told the guy that took us and he was all - no, you have to pay for a locker. So he made me wait while he called to check on it - oh and there was a German couple that rode up with me and they told us we had to eat dinner together (it was a buffet included with admission) so the couple went in and I stayed back while the guy checked on the stupid locker. Just to tell me that I had to pay for a locker, so stupid. So I figure this is a locker where you get a robe or a towel - it's this little locker & you have to leave a $10 deposit for the towel and then you could only trade in a wet towel for a dry one once. So dumb!!!!! Then, there's like 25 pools, all different temperatures and sizes - but there's no map, and when I tried asking someone, they were all - just walk around. So it's raining, I don't have a towel cause I have to keep it for when I have dinner - I'm walking around and it's all dark and I'm by myself, I didn't want to just chill in a pool when I knew there were 24 other pools that might be cooler, so I keep walking up this hill seeing what there is, and by the time I get to the last one, it's time for the stupid buffet. So I have to walk all far back to the lockers to get my stupid towel, and half way back up to the restaurant where we had to go. I'd been there 80 minutes and all I'd done was walked and stressed out about it - not very relaxing!!!! I'm feeling super uncomfortable cause I just have this crappy white towel around me and everyone at the restaurant is dressed. I guess I thought it would be all informal buffet by the pool instead of getting dressed just to put the wet bathing suit back on 45 min later .... So I walk into the restaurant, the Germans aren't there, the guy is wanting to seat me an I just broke down and start crying!!! I think I was exhausted and frustrated and feeling so uncomfortable in a towel, it just all rolled into a blubber & when I get like that, it's hard to turn it off unless I cry it out. And I'm thinking this is a pretty, romantic place and these Germans probably don't wanna get stuck eating with me and having to speak English.
Well, the guy seats me and I'm just sniffling and trying to get my food. The fruit has all kinds of fruit flies on it - gross, the pieces of bread had a big spider crawling over it. I'm trying not to cry - it just sucked. The meat was cold. And gross. Then the Germans show up and they sat with me & I guess they weren't a couple at all, they had met a week earlier, went to separate places and hooked back up the day before to hike and stay in Arenal together. They thought it was stupid that there was no map either but they had just stayed in the main pool.
I also thought the main pool looked like a pool - I thought these were natural hot springs and they would smell differently and have different sizes and temperatures because of how they were located ... but it is a source of water that comes up super hot so they run it through something that cools it down and at the very top there's a mayan pyramid where the water flows from and then it trickles down from pool to pool and each one is a little cooler. So the top ones are the best cause they're warmer. But I only figured this out by walking around in the dark uphill in the rain!!! (the rain was super cool except for wanting a dry towel!!!) and when the server at the restaurant was trying to see why I was crying and he explained the hot to cooler water thing to me.
So after a disgusting dinner I excused myself early from dinner with the Germans and walked up to what was my favorite pool and sat and relaxed for 20 minutes. The place was actually gorgeous. I just had a crappy first impression. It was so nice to sit in a really hot pool and have rain falling on me. I can only imagine how much cooler if you could see the volcano with the lava on top.
So deep breath, everything was pura vida again. :) I really think I was overtired and maybe a little lonely walking around Baldi that made it so much drama for me!!!! I got home and went straight to bed choosing to pack at 4:30 am instead of at night!!
I am super excited for river rafting. It looks like it might be raining all day today too. It's not clouds, it's the full white sky!! Hoping for a little sun or break from rain!!! The river we're rafting on is in the middle of nowhere with only aborigenous tribes so I guess it's super natural and gorgeous, hope I can see some of it!!! My legs are kinda sore, I'm gonna come home super sore and tired - I love it. Kinda like giving it all I've got to enjoy the most of this awesome place!!! I will sleep GOOD on that flight!!!
Pura vida!!
Jeannie the waterfall rapeller
