Arenal

Yesterday one of the guys that works at our hostel...gaudybackpackerscr.com...took us to Arenal. First, we hiked down to some waterfalls *cataratas* and splashed in the water pools at the base. It was beautiful but completely paled in comparison to the grandness of Snoqualmie Falls. The hike was shorter too, thought the way back up consisted of stomping up 400 stairs, so I was thankful that I had training by using the stairs up six flights at work. After we ate at a soda, a typical Costa Rican cafe. That was the best food I have eaten. Black beans, white rice, a cooked banana, yummy beef, and some sorta coleslaw with fresh veggies. Muy delicioso! We viewed this fantastic volcano. At one point it rumbled so loudly that Manfred, our little tour guide, said he had never heard it make such strong noise and he has been there many many times. Huge rocks tumbled down the mountain and we watched from afar with binoculars. We spent several hours just hanging out on the side of the road by Lake Arenal and watching people ride jetskis.

Our final destination was to the hotsprings. Tourists go to Tabacon Hotsprings which are about 40 bucks a person, but we went to the local one, literally across the street, and merely walked down a hill to our destination. The hotsprings were a cascading brook of hot water and a tiny trickle of cold water. We simply sat in the middle of the river as if we were in a hot tub and chatted for about an hour and a half. Steam lifted the entire time off of the water and we reveled in the warm temperatures. Then it was back to the car for the 2 plus hour ride to our hostel through the windiest dang roads you ever did drive on. I get car sick, but not necessarily because of crazy driving, because of the roads being so freakin' twisty. The countryside is so beautiful though and the land wonderfully lush and green.

We had a muy tranquila day...very calm...and are now going to shower up and figure out what time we will leave today for Bocas del Torro on Panama. I look forward to the surfing and beaches, but mostly to the sun as it hasnt been sunny much here. However, I am extremely reluctant to leave Gaudy's as we have made some great friends and begun to truly develop some deep relationships in just a few short days. These people are fantastic. We walked in last night after being gone all day and felt as if we were returning home to our family. So comfortable here. I am definitely dragging my feet and resisting leaving this place, but if we dont leave today, I will want to always stay! My strongest hope is that we get to return after our visit to Panama in a few days and then I can steal Alvaro, one of the other guys who works here, and actually finally go salsa dancing. He gave me a brief lesson the other night and so now I am itching to dance it up, salsa style! Hurray for dancing! I have to say that my many nights at McCabe's paid off when he was teaching me the basics of salsa because I was able to follow him pretty well, I felt, and no one else could get it. I was proud, but more work will need to take place to get better at it. Off to prepare for Panama now!