I saw lava...
Wow... this weekend was absolutely amazing. I had so much fun - although I did forget to write my spanish diarias and had to write them today on the bus to Cartago. But I got them done so it all works out.
Friday afternoon after biology classes a bunch of us when into downtown San Jose in order to do some shopping at the tourist market. I needed to get some field pants too because I feel that I am lacking those. So.... at the tourist market they have all sorts of cool stuff that I wanted to buy - but I controlled myself. I got a nice pair of black field pants there (only $14), a had made t-shirt that has a turtle and says "costa rica es pura vida," and this really pretty sarong that is brown and black and has lizards on it. I like it a lot. Then Cora and I went to the department store because she is looking for a bikini, but she had no luck (we are about to go looking at some more stores in about 15 minutes). I got another really great pair of field pants (this time only $12) which Cora and I are going to hem on the bus ride to Las Cruces. Then I went home and had a really fun evening playing dominoes with my host family. I went to bed super early (9pm) because I had to leave the house by 5:15am the next morning.
So, Saturday I got up early and caught at 5:25am bus to school where a bunch of us got picked up for the "4 in 1" tour. With our program we get to choose 3 one-day trips to different places in the country for free. Which is awesome. This tour took us to Poas which is an active volcano but we couldn't see anything because it in a cloud. We were at the edge of the crater but couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of us. Then we went to this really nice place called La Paz which had a butterfly garden, hummingbird garden, serpentarium (I saw a bushmaster - which is the biggest poisonous snake in Costa Rica) and really pretty waterfalls. I took a lot of pictures but I forgot my camera at home so I'll have to upload them tomorrow. Then we went on a boat on the Saripiqui river and saw a sloth, a cayman (like a small crocodile), howler monkeys, and a basalisk (a really cool type of lizard). It was awesome. Driving back we went through the mountains and it was really cloudy which made the drive pretty scary... but we made it...
Sunday I got to sleep in a little more because I didn't have to leave my house until 8am. hehe. We then got on a bus and headed out for Arenal Volcano which is the second most active volcano in the world. We stopped on the way in this really touristy town called Sarchi where I got some really good Macadamia nuts. Despite me and Cora feeling super ill on the bus ride to Arenal we made it and there was 100% visibility, which is super rare at Arenal because it is so tall and usually surrounded in clouds. We could see the perfect conical shape and the broken off top. It was amazing. We had this super lunch and then headed to Tabacon which are these really fancy, resort-style, hot springs. It's hot rivers flowing through sculpted pools and is sooo pretty. We chilled in the pools and relaxed (oh it was soo relaxing) for about 2.5 hours. Making sure not to miss getting drinks and the swim-up bar... Then we got back on the bus and headed to a look-out at Lake Arenal (created by the hydroelectric plant but pretty none-the-less, and another look out at Arenal. As the sun was setting we actually saw red lava flows coming down the mountain. It was sooooo amazing. I couldn't believe that I was actually seeing liquid rock that was coming out of the middle of earth... pretty sweet huh. Then we had a super dinner (all free) and then rode back to San Pedro.
I would say this weekend was amazingly amazing. Oh, I also watched a movie on TV on saturday (about my first tv of this whole trip). It was so cool and so relaxing.
I'll put pictures up tomorrow (though we didn't get any of the lava).
Friday afternoon after biology classes a bunch of us when into downtown San Jose in order to do some shopping at the tourist market. I needed to get some field pants too because I feel that I am lacking those. So.... at the tourist market they have all sorts of cool stuff that I wanted to buy - but I controlled myself. I got a nice pair of black field pants there (only $14), a had made t-shirt that has a turtle and says "costa rica es pura vida," and this really pretty sarong that is brown and black and has lizards on it. I like it a lot. Then Cora and I went to the department store because she is looking for a bikini, but she had no luck (we are about to go looking at some more stores in about 15 minutes). I got another really great pair of field pants (this time only $12) which Cora and I are going to hem on the bus ride to Las Cruces. Then I went home and had a really fun evening playing dominoes with my host family. I went to bed super early (9pm) because I had to leave the house by 5:15am the next morning.
So, Saturday I got up early and caught at 5:25am bus to school where a bunch of us got picked up for the "4 in 1" tour. With our program we get to choose 3 one-day trips to different places in the country for free. Which is awesome. This tour took us to Poas which is an active volcano but we couldn't see anything because it in a cloud. We were at the edge of the crater but couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of us. Then we went to this really nice place called La Paz which had a butterfly garden, hummingbird garden, serpentarium (I saw a bushmaster - which is the biggest poisonous snake in Costa Rica) and really pretty waterfalls. I took a lot of pictures but I forgot my camera at home so I'll have to upload them tomorrow. Then we went on a boat on the Saripiqui river and saw a sloth, a cayman (like a small crocodile), howler monkeys, and a basalisk (a really cool type of lizard). It was awesome. Driving back we went through the mountains and it was really cloudy which made the drive pretty scary... but we made it...
Sunday I got to sleep in a little more because I didn't have to leave my house until 8am. hehe. We then got on a bus and headed out for Arenal Volcano which is the second most active volcano in the world. We stopped on the way in this really touristy town called Sarchi where I got some really good Macadamia nuts. Despite me and Cora feeling super ill on the bus ride to Arenal we made it and there was 100% visibility, which is super rare at Arenal because it is so tall and usually surrounded in clouds. We could see the perfect conical shape and the broken off top. It was amazing. We had this super lunch and then headed to Tabacon which are these really fancy, resort-style, hot springs. It's hot rivers flowing through sculpted pools and is sooo pretty. We chilled in the pools and relaxed (oh it was soo relaxing) for about 2.5 hours. Making sure not to miss getting drinks and the swim-up bar... Then we got back on the bus and headed to a look-out at Lake Arenal (created by the hydroelectric plant but pretty none-the-less, and another look out at Arenal. As the sun was setting we actually saw red lava flows coming down the mountain. It was sooooo amazing. I couldn't believe that I was actually seeing liquid rock that was coming out of the middle of earth... pretty sweet huh. Then we had a super dinner (all free) and then rode back to San Pedro.
I would say this weekend was amazingly amazing. Oh, I also watched a movie on TV on saturday (about my first tv of this whole trip). It was so cool and so relaxing.
I'll put pictures up tomorrow (though we didn't get any of the lava).