Days 14 & 15: Final days in Costa Rica

Our last morning in Sámara we went dolphin watching. We trolled around in large swells for about 45 minutes before we found them. There were mom's and babies, big ones jumping all the way up in the air, and they even swam alongside the boat and jumped as we moved with them. They were so beautiful! The morning weather was perfect too - it was just after 7am and the sun was just coming up and the mist was burning off, so pretty looking back at the bay.

After the dolphins, we trolled around a bit with the fishing poles out, and low and behold we hooked something! I got to do the honors of reeling it in. They set the pole on my lap and I had to reel it in by hand as they gassed the boat to make sure to keep enough tension. It felt like forever, but I'm sure it was less than 5 minutes before I reeled it all the way in (arms straining and panting a bit) and up came a yellow fin tuna! Of course, the boat owner got to keep it, but it was pretty cool to reel in my first ocean fish!

After a long and bumpy 4 hour ride back to Sámara, we arrived at the most american hotel of our entire trip. Big and roomy with bright lights and modern facilities, a restaurant with such american dishes (mom ordered a bbq hamburger with onion ring, I went for my last bit of fresh Costa Rican fruit with a fruit plate and stole a few bites of mom's burger). I went and got my first ever pedicure done. I asked for just a pedicure, but surprise, all the fancy things they were doing was actually the spa treatment so they charged me 3x as much ($40 instead of $16)! I did enjoy the lotions, massage chair, foot spa, being waited on with food and drink, etc though.... not gonna complain about being pampered :)

The next morning I woke up to a great breakfast of pancakes where bananas had been in the mix (amazing), my final plate of rice and beans for breakfast, and some eggs. mmmm I'm still thinking of those pancakes! Then got on my 12 hour flight back to Washington DC.

Now I'm in DC, all settled at Dima's tango house hanging out with Jamaal. Got to go dancing for the first time in nearly 6 weeks (yay! I didn't forget how to dance!) and volunteer with a teenager's summer camp where they are teaching tango to some rebellious kids, but I actually had a great time. Hung out with some high school friends I hadn't seen in 6 years today and checked out the monuments (tourist day: check). Next, either Sunday or Monday I head back to NY for 6 weeks of dancing and hanging at Robin's before moving on to Argentina.

Check back in in a few weeks!

Day 11 & 12: Horseback riding, surfing, and finally found Horchata!

Yesterday was spent relaxing at the beach, and searching for a hotel to switch to. Luckily, our hotel situation worked out once I explained our issues in Spanish to the owner of the place (my mom had previously tried having another girl translate her issues... apparently somethings got lost in translation). The owner straightened the staff out a bit and suddenly they were so much more helpful! Surprise! lol

Otherwise, we enjoyed fruit smoothies and relaxing times by the beach... to the point I was going stir crazy! I've definitely realized that I am more of an active person... one day relaxing at the beach and I'm starting to get cranky from lack of activity.

Today, we definitely changed that. We began our morning with a 3 hour horseback ride, where we galloped on the beach and rode back trails up to beautiful vistas. We rode Criollo horses and had a blast!

Our guide really let us loose, and the horses were well behaved enough that we could really gallop around the sand and water. We appreciated that the horses were in good condition... here there are a lot of problems with owners not taking care of their horses, but these guys were in great shape. They were very cute little ponies... smaller than we are used to, but very hardy guys! My horse was a bit feisty and threatened to buck a bit in the beginning, but luckily stopped that pretty quick. She was always ready to run though! My mom's was very lazy, but as long as I was in the lead she was more than happy to pick up the pace as well. The guide was riding a young horse, and I think he really had a good time getting to actually gallop a bit, which I'm sure is a change from his normal tourist rides. I raced him on the beach at one point, and our horses were going all out across the sand, so much fun!

After the horseback ride, we finally found a place that would make my new favorite drink: the Horchata. Apparently, the place we found it in La Fortuna was the only place in Costa Rica that sells it (or so it seems). I guess it USED to be the really typical drink, but due to its difficulty to make it most restaurants don't have it anymore. However, today we lucked out with a very small little local's spot. They told us they needed 2 to 3 hours to make it for us (really? is it that difficult?), and to come back at 4:30.

I went surfing next. The waves were very strong and very big... I got out right before it got good for the pros... not so good for me. I felt like I was surfing white water on the beach because the tide was high. I fought against the very strong and large white water waves for an hour, never successfully getting out far enough to catch it in the good spot (although my surfing was actually quite good! I was feeling really confident and was even getting in some turns on the white water. I was just getting very tired fighting against the big waves coming in, and couldn't ever seem to get past the the white water. If I could have, I'm pretty sure I would have caught the semi-bigger waves pretty easily!). I had a blast though, even though I was exhausted after only an hour from fighting the water. I couldn't seem to dive under or jump over the white water without it pushing me so strongly back... I just couldn't make up ground. Afterwards, I went back and hung out with mom and some new friends we made, Garret and Robin, also recent college graduates, and watched the pros. Apparently, they wouldn't allow Garret (who arrived about 20 minutes after I started) to rent a board because of how strong the waves were, they said it was too dangerous for a beginner-intermediate surfer. That makes me feel better about the difficulties I had been having!

After surfing, we went back to the little Soda and got my Horchata drink. Apparently, they had to cook the rice and mix all of the ingredients very specifically, and it is very difficult. It was absolutely delicious, and totally worth the 2.5 hour wait to get it! I still can't believe they made it for us.... And then only charged us $4 for three large servings of it! Gotta love Costa Rica! Later, we went out for a very long walk circling around the back of town and then walking along the beach front back to town, ending at our favorite restaurant, Lagarto's, where we split a stuffed cheese and mushroom chicken dish with some amazing grilled baked potatoes and cocktails.

Tomorrow is our final morning in Samara; we end with a boat ride out to see dolphins, fishing, and possibly snorkeling if the water is clear. Afterward, we head back to San Jose to fly out on Wednesday morning.

Day 9 & 10: Samara beach, corn row microbraids, surfing, and reggae!

So today we arrived in Sámara, Costa Rica, a very cute little beach town on the Pacific coast. We checked into our hotel and went to the beach almost immediately to try surfing! Per suggestion of our driver, E, we went with Choco's surf company and had a blast. My mom got up on her first try! However, her dismounts weren't nearly so graceful.... Our surf instructor was named Cristhian, a rasta style guy with long dreads and dark complexion, and was good friends with E. After the lesson I continued surfing a bit. The waves were getting huge! They were probably 8-10 feet with tubes; way beyond my level! I was catching the white water afterwards, which was still 4-5 feet above my head. After awhile I was having  a hard time getting out against the force of the waves, and was having to duck under the waves because they were too large to go over. I decided that my surfing ability had been reached and decided to turn in. Christhian is a Reggae DJ and was deejaying that evening at a local club called Tabanucos, and him and E invited me to go.

E is one of the most interesting people I have met - he is young, has dreads, and has the most interesting life story. During some of his upbringing, he had to catch his food for the day. If he couldn't catch a fish to eat, then he might go without eating for the day, because they didn't have enough money to buy it. I think it really made him appreciate the little things in life. He only wants to improve himself as a person and help other people, and possibly has one of the biggest, purest hearts of anyone I have ever met. We got on the subject of dreads and how there is a lot of discrimination in Costa Rica against people with dreads. Many of the locals in Samara are of Jamaican descent, or come from the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, and especially the surfers all have dreads. However, outside of the beach towns, it is very difficult to get a job in Costa Rica and people look upon you as drug dealers or dangerous if you have dreads. Most of the tourist companies make their employees shave them off prior to employing them. I would never have imagined that! Especially after meeting this group of guys here in Samara, they are all some of the most real, down to earth people. It is hard to imagine someone feeling threatened by them.

E came over around 4pm to microbraid my hair. It took 4 hours, yes FOUR HOURS to microbraid my hair. He didn't take any shortcuts! We started out on the beach watching the sun go down (okay, so the light go down, as the sun was behind us) while he worked on my hair for an hour, then moved over the Cristhian's place for the next 3 hours. Cristhian was  listening to his music and getting ready to deejay for the night. It was a nice vibe, and very relaxing to get to hang out with them. However, I'm having the worst time with Spanish here. You know how Jamaican's speak English with a heavy accent, right? Well, apply that to Spanish and you will understand my difficulties. After my microbraids and some cornrow design was done, we made plans to meet at the bar later (I needed to go back to the hotel and get ready, they had to get there to start deejaying).

I was ridiculously nervous going out to Reggae dance! It is just way out of my comfort zone... but I ended up having a great time! I just hung out with E most of the night - we made a nice connection - sipped on a Smirnoff, and eventually I worked up the courage to try dancing a bit. I think I got it a little bit, but only when I could dance with E as a partner. I can't solo dance! Let me follow and I'm much happier. E was a big confidence booster though, and I really had a great time. I kind of want to try it again now! It was pretty entertaining to watch the local guys making the circuit with the foreign girls, who were all getting progressively more wasted. People watching is quite fun, lol, especially when large amounts of alcohol is involved.

Before and After

The next day, Saturday, we went kayaking in the morning. This was NOT the same quality of tour as we had previously experienced. We miss Desafio! We were expecting a relaxing float down a gentle river getting to spot wildlife. What it turned into was a white water kayak trip without helmets (the one time we felt we really needed them!). One girl fell out and smacked her head right in the beginning. It was a pretty interesting experience... although we did get to pull over and see some monkeys just sleeping in the tree right next to the river!

The afternoon we went shopping a bit and relaxed for the most part. We took a nap, then enjoyed the most amazing dinner at a place right on the beach. My mom and I enjoyed our first ever legal mom-daughter cocktails together! On the way back to the hotel, we got to see some horses, some mares and their foals, just standing around around near the main street in town.

Day 8: Monkeys and Quetzals and Army Ants!

Okay, so our hotel is all forgiven for its bugs, for this morning we got to see monkeys! Right here at our hotel, they came right up wanting fed! They were so cute. There was even a mother and a tiny baby clutching her back. They were White Faced Capuchin monkeys

Today we went to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and took a hike through the rain forest with an excellent guide. We got to see Costa Rica’s very rare bird, the Quetzal! (click here to see Google search images, this photo above was taken from my camera and is not very good.) Apparently, this bird is so rare that many bird watchers travel to Costa Rica with the only intention being to get a glimpse of the Quetzal. It has brilliant plumage, and is very endangered, with only about 50 couples on 10,000 acres of protected forest, It was the bird of the ancient Mayan empire, and many know it better as the Phoenix. We saw the female today, which is slightly less glorious than the male (missing the 2 foot long emerald green tail feathers), but was still an amazing site. She not only sat quietly while we were able to get photos and look at her in the tree with our binoculars, but then took flight in all of her glory to put on a show for us.

We also were lucky enough to see a yellow striped viper up in a tree (very rare to be able to spot due to its nocturnal nature as well as its blending capability), and happened across a slowly widening path of army ants. Apparently, army ants travel in groups of 10s of thousands, and really do eat anything in their path. If we had waited another hour or so, their 4 inch wide path across our trail might have been 5 or 6 feet wide. If you kill one of them, it secretes a chemical alerting the rest of the tribe, which WILL attack you. They can devour entire animals in a matter of hours. Apparently, if they enter a person’s home, you must leave the home (you cannot kill them, chemicals or otherwise, because they willl secrete their chemical and only draw 10s of thousands more to the rescue, invading your home for days rather than just hours). After about 4 hours, they will have cleaned out every food in your home, as well as any termites or rodent infestations you might have had. After they leave, you can return to your home. Apparently, the army ants' jaws are so powerful that Indians once used them to suture wounds: the tenacious insect was held over a wound and its body squeezed so that its jaws instinctively shut, clamping the flesh together. The body was then pinched off.

Me in the roots of a giant fig tree

Today for lunch I ordered a banana, strawberry, blackberry, mango smoothie with yogurt. It was so sweet and delicious that I just knew they had to add sugar to the mix, but I asked the waiter and he said no – just fresh fruit and its natural sugars. Wow!

Photo looking over Monteverde very near our hotel

Tonight I was planning on going out Salsa dancing again, alone this time. However, after looking around at the locals and not having the most welcoming experience in Monteverde, I don't want to push my luck.  Maybe I'll try my luck in a beach town with surfer-style salsa dancing Ticos.... 


Tomorrow, off to Samara and the beach to finish out our trip til the 30th!

Day 7: Bugs, Canopies, Snakes, Fruit, oh my!

Well, the bugs didn’t stop last night. Around 8pm when the internet decided not to work any longer (very sketchy in this hotel), I suddenly realized that there were bugs all over the floor. I grabbed my flip flop and managed to murder multiple ants, a inch or so long cockroach, along with some of those strange jumping flea like things our neighbors had warned us about. Ewww! I like visiting the rain forest and all of its creatures, but please don’t come visit me!

We went on the sky trek today, where we got to go on a tour through the rain forest crossing hanging bridges, followed by ziplining. The guides were downright terrible – it was the first tour we had that our company, Desafio (whom we have had all good experiences with), had to outsource for.  However, despite learning nothing about nature, we did have a good time on the zip lines. The longest zip line was 800 meters, or about 2500 feet long. It was very fun! Plus, the rain forest canopy was amazing – and there was just enough of this misty fog to make it seem so heavenly! Absolutely beautiful to see first thing in the morning.

Later in the day we went to a Serpentarium, and got a tour of a zoo like snake house. It was actually pretty interesting to get to see a lot of the local poisonous and non poisonous snakes and reptiles they have – many are donated by locals that find them in their homes or properties.  At very least, we learned what to watch out for during our hike for tomorrow!

While we were there, they decided to feed a live rat to a non-poisonous, but very aggressive snake. It was called a black tailed something (slipping my mind). It was non a constrictor, and so instead it was the type to chase down its pray fairly aggressively (rather than lie in wait) and then bite it with its very sharp teeth and try to pin it to the ground. It turned into a very bloody affair, with the snake slamming its head against the glass of its enclosure and wounding the rat with many missed bites that only managed to tear flesh. It was pretty awful to watch. I used to own a snake, a ball python, and we fed it a mouse every week. However, that was much less of an ordeal, no blood, just a clean grab, squeeze for a bit, then gently swallow whole. This was a very aggressive bloody ordeal that I think I’d rather not ever watch again… It totally would not have been allowed for customers to watch in the US. There was a kid there, maybe 8 years old that got to watch. I can only imagine that he will never ask his parents to get a snake as a pet…

Later we walked around the town (more like hiked up and down hills) and just checked the city out. At dinner, mom and I split a hamburger (tired of chicken, rice, and beans that are the staple dishes here) that was actually pretty darn good. Very home made tasting and big, with lots of peppers and onions in the meat mix! Plus, we got a fruit plate on the side with yogurt and granola, and got to eat some more amazing Costa Rican fruit. I don’t think I will ever be able to eat fruit elsewhere again, as the flavor is just so great here! The platter consisted of fresh guava, star fruit, banana, pineapple, and apples. Mmmmmm fruit!  

Day 6: Horseback riding and our not-so-nice welcome to Monteverde

Day 6 started out horseback riding! We took a boat ride across the lake to meet our horses under some trees at the trail head. They were definitely “rent a horse” type of horses… but we ended up having a great time. The guide figured out that we knew how to ride horses, and he let us move on ahead of the rest of the group, all of which had no experience. We trotted ahead on the trail riding through the rain forest, spotting lots of different birds (more Tucans) and tons of beautiful vegetation. We never got too far ahead, and the guide would gallop up to check on us, but the extra freedom really made the difference. It was about a 2.5 hour horseback ride, and was getting very hot by the end.

We switched to a van and received out complementary Costa Rican massage (seriously, how do the vehicles hold up on these roads?) and continued the last 2 hour drive to Monteverde, stopping for lunch along the way. 

Monteverde is a cute little town in the top of the rain forest, really up in the clouds, and everything is on a hill. Luckily, our hotel is very close to the center, and so it is only a few minute walk down and up another hill to get to all of the shops. Some of our travel companions were not so lucky, and were either going to have quite a hike or a taxi ride to get anywhere.

Our hotel is really interesting and cute. It is all separate little houses with beautiful wooden interiors. Bad thing is, there are adorable little paths to all of the homes that are dotting the mini hillside owned by the hotel, and all of the little paths are up STEEP hills, and they wind everywhere. I think we need a map to find our little house again.

So far I haven’t had the greatest welcome to Monteverde. We went out in search of some coffee and found a cute little Coffee bar. It was only 100 colones (.20 cents) more to have a flavored latte, so I decided to give their caramel flavor a try. Big mistake! The guy put like 2 inches of pure caramel in the bottom of a fairly small glass, foamed some milk (I’m not entirely sure if there was even any coffee in there…) and served it to me. When we first arrived, he asked if I wanted here or to go, motioning that here would be nice. I decided to sit and enjoy my coffee (of which was disgustingly sweet, almost unbearable, I’m kind of sick at the thought of how much caramel I probably consumed in that one cup of something). Next, I got the bill to find that it was considerably more expensive than I thought, realizing that he had charged me a service fee for sitting at the table rather than taking it to go! I made my surprise and disgust clear (I hate getting tricked into paying for something!), and a few minutes later he offered to give back the tip and service charge. I ended up leaving it for him, as it was the thought that counted more than anything for me, but next time I hope he will warn someone before charging them 30% the price of their coffee for wanting to sit and enjoy their cup of coffee for 5 minutes.

Then, to make matters worse, there were so many bugs! It was like a locus swarm of moths! We couldn’t walk without them trying to fly in our mouths or down our shirts. There were thousands of them swarming everywhere! Next, walking back to our hotel my mom stopped to take a picture of a flower, and me, unaware of the ants swarming the ground around my flipflops, got the unpleasant discovery that not only had they switched their path to be over my feet, but that they also BITE and it STINGS like a mo’fo! It felt like my toes got stung by bees…. Ouch! Now that I think about it, I hope those flying moths aren’t really flying ants…… ahhhhhhhhhh. Next, walking back to our hotel our neighbors warned us about the jumping flea like green bugs that bite, and that they will try to get under our room door. 

Bienvenidos a Monteverde! Ahhhhhh! 

Day 5: Salsa club!

Day 5 was much mellower in terms of tours, with just a morning hike in the rain forest to a viewpoint for the volcano, which was too covered in clouds to see anything anyway. We did get to spot some beautiful birds, and swing on vine Tarzan style, which was really fun!

In the afternoon we went shopping for gifts and Costa Rican memories. I was really excited to find some nice earrings made of some of the local woods, as well as some other hand blown ceramic earrings made by local artists. We picked up some aloevera to cover our sunburns (especially mom's).

The evening we went back to our favorite little Tico restaurant in La Fortuna, Tico Viquez. The owner of the place, who we met the first day in La Fortuna, walked up to us and greeted us by name! I decided to try a very typical Costa Rican drink, called the Horchata, which was made with rice, corn meal, milk, cinnamon, and "other things". It was AMAZING. Possibly the best, most refreshing, desert type drink I have ever had. I only hope that the next one I try will be anything similar.

Later that night, I went out with the Costa Rican guide, let's call him "Z" we had met the day before for our caves tour, and whom we had also had for our morning hike. He showed me some basic salsa, cumbia, and merengue dance moves, then we went out the Las Chelas bar for some dancing. Let's just say the Costa Rican boys have very direct intentions with the foreign girls, and I was being very openly stared at... I was pretty glad I had dressed conservatively. Z explained that something with my skin and eyes makes me stand out... I didn't think so, but the guys were pretty aggressive about trying to convince me otherwise. It was flattering and overwhelming at the same time, and I'm still not quite sure how to handle some of the attention.... let's just say that I was really glad that I went with Z because it kept some of the guys at bay, and Z was very respectful toward me.

While sitting and having a drink while they finished up singing Karaoke with all the tourists, I got to chat with Z and the DJ for the night, who was then behind the bar. He was very sweet and we got to chat a lot. Apparently when he was 15 years old he met a girl who was studying abroad there, and they fell in love. When she left at the end of the three months, they didn't have good enough technology at the time to be able to stay in touch. He has never seen her again, but he said that I reminded him of her from back when he was a teenager in love. Ahhhhhh

After about an hour the DJ got the salsa music started.  I have never felt like such the center of attention....  While I was dancing with Z, the DJ kept making comments directed at us! I didn't catch them all, but something about the dancing and how Z was going to have to follow this pretty girl to Argentina. I didn't quite know how to handle it, and it was making me very nervous because most of the locals knew who the DJ was talking about (me!!!!)! I had a blast though, and successfully danced salsa and merengue in Costa Rica! I'm just glad they didn't make me sing Karaoke...

Z brought me home around 1am and I crashed out.... having to wake up at 6am the next morning to get ready to leave for a horseback ride to Monteverde.

Day 4, part 3: Flash floods and dancing in the rain!

Our return journey from the caves was not uneventful. The "torrential downpours" from the previous days now appeared like dripping water from a leaky roof in comparison to today's downpour. There was flash flooding everywhere, water was pouring into people's homes and shops (and this is in a country prepared for heavy rain) as the rain water overflowed the ditches. The roads were completely covered in water.

We reached an area where a flash flood was actually blocking the road. There was about a 10 foot culvert for the water to pass through, but there was so much water that it was backing up on the other side and was now flowing over the road like a river, taking tree size logs and sweeping them across the road like they were sticks. On the other side of the road, a 10 or 15 foot raging waterfall had formed. This was our road, and the ONLY road to get us home.

We waited for awhile hoping the water would cease a bit, but without luck. We were in a very lightweight two wheel drive 4-seater van/mini truck thingy... not good odds against a raging river. Images were flashing across our mind imagining our little van getting swept off the waterfall.... yikes!

So, I figured we might as well enjoy the situation as much as possible! I jumped out of the van in the downpour and our guide and I walked through the raging river that was our road (keeping close eye for trees floating down).  It was about 10 or 12 inches deep and pretty fast, but not as strong as I had imagined it being. We helped push a few large tree trunks that were lodged on the road and got them to float off and out of our main crossing route, then returned to the van to wait for the water to subside a bit.

We danced salsa in the rain! It was so much fun. By now I'm soaked head to toe and thoroughly enjoying myself (I mean, come on, dancing salsa in the rain with a local Costa Rican and running through flash flood rivers that have wiped out our only route home. How cool is that?).

About 20 more minutes or so and the water had subsided to about 8 or 10 inches deep (still moving pretty fast) and we decided to brave it. We made it through and continued our way home, awing at the amazing amounts of water that were creating mud slides (one had covered half of the road), wiping out people's homes and shops, destroying the roads, and creating waterfalls everywhere. We made it home safe and sound (although I was officially a Mojadatica, a costa rican very wet girl).

That was an exciting day! We signed up for the adventure tour, and we are getting all that we paid for and more! This trip could not be going any better (although I think many tourists might think otherwise, but I find enjoyment in the more adventure side of things I think). Apparently I'm "loca" and "valiente" along with a variety of other words according to the Ticos...



Mom's language accomplishment of the day:
Started to learn the world "quiero"
Successfully utilizing hola and gracias with more confidence, and remembering "donde esta" much easier, although hasn't actually used it in practice yet.
Was able to recognize when I called her crazy (ella esta loca) to my guide as she was kayaking over near near some buzzards... to look at a dead fish. Ewwww.



Random observations/thoughts:
'Nuff said I think. :)

Day 4: Part 2, Caving

Next on our day's agenda was going to the Venado Caves about 45 minutes outside of town. They were formed 15-25 million years ago, and there is a large unprotected section of the caves in which we were allowed to touch the limestone, stalactites, stalagmites, and corals. Not only was the caving experience different than the typical due to being allowed to touch things, but we also got a truly intense experience.

One challenging route option I had to crawl through a tunnel so tiny that I wasn't sure if my hips were going to fit (and they barely did). Other areas we bent down in about 3.5 foot areas that were filled with water up to our knees. Others, we crawled up and down actual waterfalls (there was river running through the cave, so we were in the water the entire time, some areas deeper than others). My mom had a panic attack going through one narrow tunnel and started to have problems breathing, but luckily we were only about 5 minutes from an emergency exit and so we got her out. She decided to head back up and wait for us at the bar at the entrance (where we later found her drinking a beer, lol!).

Our guide and I continued back into the caves for the final and most challenging portion of the tour. I think he brought me through a more challenging than the normal tourist route version, due to my bravery. he now mentioned that "if anything happens, follow the flow of the water to the exit." This was slightly unnerving, considering he was serious. We were the only two down there, and if anything were to happen I was his only chance at getting out.  Just the two of us and our two headlamps (one of mine which had already blown out once earlier in the tour). Yikes!!!!!!!!

One entertaining portion included him sending me first down a very small tunnel that I had to crawl on my knees to fit in, and I couldn't turn around because it was too narrow. At the fork, he told me to turn left. I got about halfway down the 15 foot tunnel to realize that he had not followed behind me. Getting a bit nervous in this very enclosed and dark space, I reached the fork and turned left. As my light hit the depthless water in front of me, suddenly something burst from the water about 4 feet in front of me. Thankfully not easily scared, I quickly realized it was my guide playing a mean joke on me and sending his hand out of the water to try to frighten me. I got a good laugh, and splashed him (totally pointless) with water and we continued on.

I asked him about earth quakes, imagining tumbling rocks closing our passageways (anyone ever watched the movie, The Descent? Yeah.....), and he said they happen frequently in Costa Rica, especially near the volcano. Oh, and I got to hold a Scorpion Spider that was as big as my hand! In the picture I'm holding it's antenna, and it's mouthy pincher things as far away as possible....Apparently it doesn't bite.... I hope.

We went throughs some pretty deep water and some pretty narrow tunnels, and clambered up some more waterfall areas in tight spaces until we reached the end, where there were two vent holes we visited. Seeing that rain was pouring through the vent holes, we decided we should probably start heading back. Considering the caves were part of an underground river system, there is always concern about the water level rising, and we had gone through some tunnels that dipped down and could potentially fill with water pretty quickly. We passed back through without problems, although the water had started to rise.

My mom (at the bar) was talking with the head people while we were down there. With the increasing torrential downpour, they were beginning to get concerned about us being in the caves. Apparently, one time they were down there and the water levels rose to the point they had to swim in the then turned underwater tunnels in order to get out of the caves. Scary! They were about to come search for us when we reappeared. They are now very careful about having tours during the rain, understandably. But, the rain can set on at any moment without notice.

Day 4, part 1: Kayaking Lake Arenal

Today was a very exciting day, and so I must split it up into three parts. We started with kayaking, moved to caving in some areas I feared my hips wouldn't fit through, followed by getting stuck in a flash flood that had taken out the road and dancing in the rain. Read on to find out....

Our morning started at 8am with kayaking the Arenal Lake at the base of the volcano. We lucked out and ended up being the only two going on today's kayak trip, so we got a private tour! We stopped along the way and got to spot a Howler monkey in the trees! Next, at arrival in the lake, we discovered the most fascinating plant. I'm not the biggest plant person, but I want one of these as a PET! They are so cool! They call them dormilonas, and when you touch them, they close their leaves and hide. They were so cute!

The weather was PERFECT. They said it was the clearest view of the volcano they had experienced in awhile (it's frequently covered in clouds, and today was completely clear). Unfortunately, that also meant that the sun was out, and our 70spf sunscreen was NOT holding up. Despite many reapplications and my body's lack normal desire to burn, I am nice and toasty. I kind of wish I had a skimpier bathing suit... if only for less tan lines!

The way out to the island was fairly easy going, spotting a lot of nature and easy chatting with our guide, practicing my Spanish (although his English was quite good). We explained what snow was (they obviously don't have it in Costa Rica, and he was having a hard time imagining it).

Along the way we heard a deep rumble and realized that the still active volcano was spitting out dark smoke, and lava was visibly smoking down the side of the mountain. Amazing! It was crazy that we were that close to an active volcano. Also, there was a random giant tree trunk in the middle of the lake. I hopped off my kayak to check it out, and then took a nice swim in the water afterward. So memorable!

We stopped for snacks and ate some fresh cut pineapple. Their pineapple here is amazing, but I can see why the guides don't eat it - because there is so much of it! I'm already starting to get tired of pineapple, as good as it is.

The kayaking was quite a workout, but well worth it. Especially on the way back the wind picked up a bit and we were rowing against it. I have a feeling I'll be a bit sore in the morning! Overall it was about a 3 hour kayak tour on the lake.

At that point, I was thinking that it was possibly the most enjoyable part of our trip so far (I keep saying that with every new activity, it just keeps getting better!)... but if only I knew what was to come later in the day....

Day 3: La Fortuna and waterfall rappelling

Today we went waterfall rappelling! I was honestly expecting a small very tourist non-challenging sort of thing, and was pleasantly surprised to find some real adventure. After a 30 minute off road ride (our free Costa Rican "massage" haha), we arrived at Desafio's rappelling area. A short hike into the rain forest down a steep, narrow path brought us to our first small rappel, a nice warm-up for us to all learn the equipment. The most fun part of it was that we actually controlled our descent and the "brake". It was a bit hard to trust the brake (ourselves) and most took a lot of encouragement and reminders to release their white knuckle grip on the rope enough to allow themselves to move downwards, let alone enough to allow their upper body to angle downward to be parallel to the ground. But, we all made it.

Our biggest rappel was over 220 feet high, which required us to  trust our gear and guides a bit more as we had to spin out off of the balcony and lean backwards in order for our guide to even attach us to the second safety line. Again, we had full control over letting ourselves out (no auto safety bungee, just us and our ropes. Watching our guide make it down the 200 foot drop in 4 hops (and only a few seconds) we all joked about being happy to make it down in 10 hops... I think I made it in about 6, although I panicked on the last part of the stretch which was free in the air (more like a zip line at that point) as I got going very quickly. I tested my very responsive brake and jerked to an immediate halt (brakes, check!) then finished the rest of the descent. My mom did surprisingly well on today's adventure, and most of the  others in our group were really surprised that we were doing such an adventuresome tour together (and a lot were jealous, go mom!).

It was an exhilarating and very wet 2 hours, the whole time either spent hiking down into the rain forest, crawling through the river, rappelling down waterfalls, and hiking back up the mountain (what goes down... must come up?).  Followed by lunch of... you guessed it, more rice and beans.

Okay, so a note on the rice and beans. At first, (only two days ago?) I was talking about how delicious the rice and beans were. Then, on our third day, after eating rice and beans three times a day for the last three days, I am now not so fond of rice and beans. If I never had to see or eat rice and beans ever again, I would be a very happy (and less gassy) girl. Think I'm going to stick to the stew and potatoes for a bit, oh, and their lovely spicy ketchup that I have grown so fond of (give me three more days for that one and we'll have to see).

After the hike, mom rode the bus back. I chose to walk back to town (only about 2 miles, maybe less) with a couple I met on our tour. What a small world - the lady is a newer tango dancer  (although very experienced swing dancer) from San Francisco. We found plenty to talk about on our hour hike back to town. Other than barely dodging a few close passing cars, we got to enjoy the countryside of La Fortuna and even discovered a local swimming hole that I'm hoping to get to visit on our free day on Monday. We might go out Salsa dancing tomorrow night at a local club.

This afternoon we were supposed to hike the Arenal Volcano, but due to the torrential afternoon downpours, we were able to alter our schedule a bit and go to the Bali Hot Springs instead (hike rescheduled for Monday morning to hopefully avoid the rain). The hot springs were an incredibly touristy, but ridiculously enjoyable experience. They had over 25 different pools of varying temperatures, multiple restaurants, saunas, swim-up bars (way overpriced), and even water slides and a fairly impressive and large fake waterfall.  The hot springs are the natural result of the volcanic activity of the Arenal Volcano which feeds the springs. It was an enjoyable evening, although very very touristy.

Later, we took an hour walk all around La Fortuna, which is a pretty small town. It is very safe feeling even off of the main stretches. I look forward to seeing it some more in the daylight. We found a few new "Sodas" to try eating at (smaller, more traditional restaurants with cheaper prices thn the tourist restaurants and a more local feel, which we prefer).

Now, off to bed. Tomorrow, kayaking the Arenal lake and going underground to explore some caves in the afternoon.

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Mom's language accomplishment of the day: successfully was able to greet (hola) and thank (gracias) multiple locals (only under threat of me blogging about her, lol).  Remembers how to say (although not yet use) "where is" (donde está).

Random observations/thoughts
My quick dry clothing is not so quick to dry. Although the humidity isn't bothering me, I think even my dry clothes are getting damper by the day.
I remove the previous comment about lack of dogs. Today in the countryside they were everywhere and even saw some pretty mongrelly looking dogs in the city during our walk.
No more beans. Ever again.

Day 2: Río Toro

Today we were picked up at 7am for our three hour journey to the Río Toro. Along the way we enjoyed beautiful scenery of rain forests and winding country roads. Our non-English speaking driver referred to me to translate his occasional share of Tico knowledge to the rest of our group of four in the van. We saw many Pineapple fields, which are Costa Rica's main export according to him, and quaint little towns with their colorfully painted homes. Talk about beautiful landscaping... giant leaved, colorful flowered plants are plentiful and used as hedges in front of many of the homes.


Once arriving at the river, we were greeted by our young, handsome, outgoing Tico river guides (why do all river guides fit this description?) with their accented English. After a quick safety presentation giving us instructions in case of falling out, when to jump to the side of the boat to help prevent capsizing, commands for getting in the bottom of the boat for particularly dangerous parts ("Get down", or especially, "Oh My God!") etc, we were soon on the boats, four per boat plus our guide.


The tour was pretty much pure adventure and white water rapids. Considering there were only four of us, all rowing at our guide's command, it was a pretty physical adventure. Our boat was getting very rocked by large class 3/4 rapids, big drop offs, and sharp turns that would slam us into walls. During most of the rapids, our instructions were to "paddle harder", which was against our instincts to want to curl up in the middle of the raft. Oh yeah, and our instructions were to sit on the sides of the boat, not in the middle, and to just lodge our feet along the edges to hold us in! Which, I soon found out, didn't always function as planned.

At the end of one particularly rough rapid, my foot that was lodged under one of the raft's support beams in the middle, which was what was holding me in the raft, became dislodged about the time our boat flew sideways over a fairly large rapid. The steep dip of the rapid threw my balance, my dislodged foot flew free, the rise of the next rapid knocked me back, and the proceeding dip finished me off and sent me flying from the boat. Luckily, our muscular and handsome young guide came to my rescue and swept me from the raging water quite quickly. It was more of an adrenaline rush than anything.... and made my rafting trip very memorable! Maybe that's why they call it the bull river... I rode the bull, and, well...he bucked me off.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) that wasn't my last time to land in the river. Later, a guide from another raft had jumped in the water during a calm section, and in the middle of one of my conversations (of which I was oblivious to him in the water), he proceeded to grab the back of my vest and dump me head over heels into the river again. Surprise! This started an enjoyable few minutes with everyone taking dips into the warm water, before our smiling guide pulled me into the boat again, and we started the next white water section.

At the end of two and half hours (with one 30 minute break to eat fresh bananas and pineapple they had brought along for us), we finished our very enjoyable and thrilling white water rafting trip. We ate a traditional lunch called Olla de carne, which was a stew made with beef, potatoes, carrots, chayote (vegetable pear), plantains and yucca. Of course, served alongside was the Costa Rican staple of rice and beans. I also tried their Salsa Lizano, which is a curry ketchup, and was SPICY! I dished a bit to plentiful of a helping on my yucca, and had a long lasting nearly eye-watering spice that remained in my mouth long after finishing my entire non-spicy dish of food. Note to self: next time, test the food prior to inhaling a large quantity in one bite.

After experiencing our first Costa Rica torrential downpour (now we know why they have flash floods), we continued to La Fortuna and checked into our hotel, San Bosco. Tomorrow: Waterfall repelling and hiking the Arenal Volcano, and a visit to the hot springs.


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Mom's language accomplishment of the day: none. Regression perceived after a full day of touring with Americans.

Random thoughts and observations
I missed one finger's spot worth of sunscreen on the back of my neck. That'll be an interesting tan line (spot?).
A bruise is appearing on my leg from gripping under the edge of the raft so hard for 2 hours.
Didn't realize that waterfalls also came from the sky.
Surprisingly small amount of homeless dogs, and surprisingly large amount of very nice cars and full size SUV's.

update: 9pm Friday night: Woops, forgot sunscreen on my legs... pretty red color now. Can't wait for morning....

Day 1: San Jose, Costa Rica

Day 1. Arrived in Costa Rica at 5am and checked into Hotel Don Carlos, which is practically a historic tourist site of its own, past home of two presidential families. It's been owned by one family for three generations and is elaborately decorated with detailed designs in the stone work  and fountains everywhere you look, giant tropical flowered plants on every table and vines crawling around doorways, and little stone statues for our viewing pleasure that are slightly too anatomically correct.

We enjoyed a delicious typical breakfast, called "casada" (meaning "married", for the wives that packed their husband's lunches) which is a mixture of beans and rice and the meat of the day (delicious!), along with some heavenly tasting fresh pineapple and banana bread.

After taking a nap and doing a bit of research to feel a bit more prepared to brave the city, we went to the local bank and exchanged some money. I got to practice my Spanish a bit, as the teller didn't speak English. Success. Off for lunch, we found a little sandwich place and ordered some Arepas (little corn bread sandwich with savory meat stuffed inside, absolutely mouth watering) with some Yuca, a fried root that is potato-like and quite tasty.

We walked around the city, reaching the center only about 6 blocks from the hotel. We went to the Museo de Oro (Pre-Colombian Gold Museum), which is three stories underground in the Plaza de la Cultura. The museum exhibits thousands of pre-Colombian Gold artifacts, and also holds much of Costa Rica's cultural heritage of archeological objects dating from 500BC to 1600AD. Next we visited the Teatro Nacional, San Jose's largest church, Catedral  Metropolitana (rebuilt 1871), and did some shopping in local tourist stores.

We walked through a few of the many parks around San Jose filled with beautiful tropical trees, flowers, and vines, giving us a chance to catch a breath of fresh air amidst all the traffic.

I had plans to go to an Argentine Tango practica, which was advertised as being every Thursday night. However, after a fairly long taxi ride across the city, we arrived to find that it was cancelled. Hey, at least I got to practice my Spanish with a chatty "Tico" (local Costa Rican) taxi driver for our 15 minute ride! Instead, we discovered a nice little Italian restaurant for dinner, enjoyed some amazing focaccia bread, then headed back to the hotel to get packed for our next day's adventures.


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Day 1 accomplishment: Mom has learned how to ask "where is the bathroom" & "do you speak English" in Spanish. Yay!

Random thoughts/observations:
Glad I died my hair dark.
People understand my Spanish!
There aren't a lot of dogs in the streets.
There appear to be a lot of lesbian lovers.
How do women wear heels on these cobblestone streets?