Hello everyone,
I've decided that Fridays will generally be my posting days because it is when I have the most free time. I"ll try to post something every Friday. I don't think it will be too difficult since we have so much going on here.
As I'm posting this, I'm staring out my bedroom window into the backyard. It's gorgeously sunny outside. If I could see my computer screen in the sunlight, I would bring my laptop outside to write but I can't so I'll just write this up and then enjoy the beauty.
I added a lot of pictures the other day from the various things that we have done in the last week.Last Friday we went dancing to say goodbye to the winter break students (except Mark, who leaves tomorrow). It was sad, but we had a lot of fun. But, Janiva was right about being safe and aware at night because we saw the end results of a bar fight when we got back to Heredia and were trying to catch a cab home. Our bus driver, Cristian, had to get us back on the bus to drop us off at a different spot for safety purposes. It's just a reminder that just because you are in a relatively safe place doesn't mean that you shouldn't be aware of what is going on around you that could put you in danger. And of course, in our case, Janiva is (almost) always right.
Then,on Saturday we left for La Fortuna Waterfall and Arenal Volcano. The weather up in the mountainous region was a little bit rainy, but it was still warm so the rain wasn't really all that bad. The hike down to La Fortuna wasn't that long, but it was all downhill and steep, so going back up was difficult. But, the waterfall. O jeez, the waterfall. It was..well, magical. In two different ways. One, because it is unbelievable and beautiful. Two, because they call it the magic waterfall because when you stare at it and then stare at the rocks next to it, the rocks look like they are moving. Which is awesome.
After the waterfall, we went to the hot springs at the foot of Volcan Arenal, which, according to Janiva, was called Mount Arenal until the 1960s. Nobody knew it was a volcano until it erupted then. Since that day, it has been constantly active and is one of the three most perfectly coned volcanoes in the world. The hot springs were amazing. Since it was drizzling outside, we could sit in 109 degree water and still be comfortable. It was quite possibly a perfect afternoon. The hot springs are geothermically heated pools of water which have been turned into a resort area. It's sad, but ok all at the same time because it'd be nice if they were left untouched, but if they were untouched, we probably wouldn't be allowed to sit in them. Of course, I can't talk about the hot springs without mentioning the buffet dinner at the end of the night. Can you say delicioso? Not to mention there was a chocolate fondue fountain and freshly squeezed fruit juices. Perfection.
On our way home, we went to Zarcero and stopped at the church there. It has these huge man-carved topiaries in front of it and it's really interesting to walk around there. When I was here in high school, it was white, but now the church is grey. Janiva said it has never been white, but I have photographic proof. I will show the photos to her one day. I will beat Janiva! It's unheard of!
My birthday was on Tuesday. I turned 21. My host family got me the most beautiful boquet of tropical flowers and the girls from my program, and Janiva, came over to my house for cake. It was wonderful that everyone acknowledged my birthday. It would have been sad if it had been ignored since I am so far away from home.
Then, on Wednesday we went to the Toucan Rescue Ranch in the mountains of Heredia. It was..amazing. I know that I use that word a lot, but it becomes difficult to find words to describe everything here. We got a tour of the facility and met all of the animals. They had a ton of parrots toucans, and owls, a monkey, three sloths, a porquepine, and a Kinkajou (which is a kind of adorable nocturnal tree-dwelling creature which big eyes and a tail that is used to grab things). I pretty much fell in love with the sloths. The ranch is a rescue facility that helps injured and abused animals found in the wild or confiscated for animal trafficking. If you would like to learn more about the ranch and its efforts or donate to help these amazing and beautiful animals, you can visit their site at http://www.toucanrescueranch.com. The people there are amazing and what they are doing for the endangered and threatened animals is incredible. They are currently trying to raise money to build an appropriately sized enclosure for their monkey, Izzy, who was rescued from and illegal, abusive owner. She is now doing wonderfully, but needs more space to play around in. You can choose to adopt an animal, or just make a donation.
Well, yesterday we went to San Jose to buy bus tickets because the girls and I are going back to Manuel Antonio this weekend. We wanted to go back because it was gorgeous and because we want to sit on the beach. We are renting a house for the night. It is about $100 for the night, but its split between 5 of us, so it is only $20 a person, which really isn't bad for a whole house. It should be a lot of fun.
After being in San Jose (and deciding we much prefer Heredia), we went to Mark's house for burritos and then out to celebrate his last night. I don't know if celebrate is the right word, because we are all really sad that he is leaving, but that is the only word I can think of at the moment for it.
Not really much going on today except officially saying goodbye to Mark. We leave at 9 a.m. Saturday morning for Manuel Antonio, so it would be pretty hard to do much tonight.
Pura Vida!
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