One Way United

Well, after a really bad day, we did what anybody would do in our situation.  We put the past behind us and kept on living it up.  In Costa Rica, they say pura vida (pure life) which is a phrase like ¨life is good¨ or ¨live it up¨ or ¨hakinah matahtah¨ or something.  So. for the next few days we lived the pura vida.  First, Amanda and I went rafting down class 4 rapids.  There were a few times rafting when I really feared the raft was going to tip over.  One time, in the middle of one of these rapids, we were unable to pick up enough speed and we got stuck as water poured into our boat and we lost one guy.  He survived.  There was another huge rapids in which a little kid that was in our raft fell out and went down the rapids between rocks and such.  That was probably the scariest moment of the afternoon.  But, don´t worry people.  We went with a big tour and there were people in rescue kayaks floating down with everybody and at least 6 or 7 rafts, and we had helmets.  Overall though, it was pretty intense.

The next day we took a bus out of San Jose to a breathing, living Volcano…Vulcan Arenal.  We hitchhiked to this beautiful waterfall.  Somehow people from L.A. kept giving us rides.  The waterfall was pretty huge and there was a large pool at the bottom where you could kind of swim.  Amanda and I tried swimming to the waterfall but the waves were so strong that I think it was impossible to actually swim there.  After getting back to our hostel we went on a tour of the volcano.  This young guy named Jeremy took us on a little nature walk where we got to see exotic birds, and different kinds of plants and trees.  One tree had a vine reaching toward the ground because the tree was so big it needed more soil.  I climbed up the vine about 20 feet for a photo-op (I like making my mom cringe )  We when got to the viewpoint where we could see the volcano, it was very interesting.  This was my first time at a volcano that was active ALL THE TIME.  We watched several eruptions as we sat there and watched as lava streamed down its slopes.  The volcano also made strange sounds that sounded like drum beats.  In the distance we could hear the the cries of the howler monkey.  The atmosphere was really surreal.  I could have sat there forever just watching the volcano and listening to the song of the volcano and the jungle.  But, we had to move on to some natural hot springs.  Darn.  The hot springs were not touristic at all which was really nice.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves.  The temperature was perfect…hot but not too hot.  There was a small little water fall that we could slide down into a pool below.  My favorite part of the hotsprings, however, was a small underwater cave that led to another secluded pool.  When Jeremy told me about the cave, he didn´t say that there was a whole other pool on the other side.  I was curious about it and submerged myself, felt around, and discovered an air pocket.  I thought it was just a place in the cave where the water didn´t rise to.  But, instead, I got to the other side and found a huge pool.  As you can tell, I really liked it.  Anyway, after that we went back to another viewpoint of the volcano so we could watch it at night.  That volcano at night is simply amazing as you can´t see the volcano itself but the lava glows bright red.  We watched several small explosions and were able to see the lava as it zoomed down the slopes.

Today, we did yet another tour.  First, we went by horse to a waterfall viewpoint.  This was Amanda´s first time riding a horse in a long time and Adam´s second.  My horseback riding experience pretty much consists of my 5 day trip to the ruins of Choquekiraw.  My horse was absolutely insane.  He loved to sprint and would keep passing the horses in front even though I was doing everything I could to make the horse slow down!  A few times I was really worried I was going to fall off as the horse sprinted down hills without much regard for its rider.  I was actually relieved to get off my horse so I could zipline hundreds of feet above the jungle floors.  Yep…the horse was that crazy.  The ziplines were quite a rush and don´t worry, 100% safe.  There were a total of 10 ziplines and a few of them were almost a kilometer long.  On several of them you could not see the next platform at the end of the line.  The guides would clip you in and then WHOOOOSSSHHHH…we would be zipping through the canopy at lightning speeds.  The scenery was terrific with towering waterfalls, green jungle trees, and at some points open plains but generally I was too focused on not dying to notice.  Although, I have to admit, I still was more scared of my posessed horse who seemed intent on scaring the crap out of me.  Luckily, we didn´t take horses back.  After ziplining they took us to this tiny indian village and then to a butterfly farm.  Then, we arrived back at the hostel still alive and unscathed….somehow. 

Tonight we are going to attempt to take a bus north toward the Nicaraguan border.  Love to all of course!

Share on Facebook