Hotel Gran Arenal La Fortuna

... visit one of the hot springs in the area. And what would you know- they have a tour that does just that! Well, actually they have about a billion different tours that do just that. Naturally we picked the cheapest- 17 dollars included lava viewing, rum and coke and a trip to the hot springs. Sold, sold and sold (that was one īsoldīfor each of us, btw).

We were told to wear long pants, closed-toe shoes, a bathing suit, a sweatshirt, a rain jacket ...

... after 2 rounds of chicken-
the first was grilled, the second was fried (couldn't help it!). Grilled chicken skewers on the street make me very happy.

the trail head
Santa Elena (Monteverde), Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica farrahfig

... br>
After the wall of water, we went to the giant waterfall. I have not idea how tall it was. The hight made me dizzy. My guess it was about 300 feet. It was fun to go down the waterfall, but I would not want to do it if there was a lot of water coming donw the falls. The guide told us that during the rainly season, you have to be careful not to hit the water in the falls or it will pull you down too fast. We all made it to the bottom and had ...

... by and asked him if I could get a ride with him. I hopped in (don't worry mom it was all very safe). The woman in the vehicle with him spoke fluent English and they knew my family. I also got a much better rate and the woman told me about how on Sundays and Thursdays they have sports for women at the rec center and told me I should join sometime! That evening, my Tica mom taught me, Fabricio, and Sofia about pastel art (Judith is an amazing artist!) She let us use her ...

... I took several huge breaths, by which time I had been carried downstream to some low rocks in the middle of the river. There I clung on while trying to comprehend what just happened. A minute or so later Monica appeared on the rocky bank of the river, so I slowly swam across to the side, clambered up, and threw my arms around her while hoarsly whispering "oh God, I f***ing nearly drowned" over and over. I was like a little boy clutching his ...

... our food and for being the only patrons, we thought our service was pretty spotty and disinterested. The taxi from Arco Iris was about $4 U.S. We read in a blog about others who loved the food. Only our opinions... We booked the Hidden Valley Night Tour at our hotel. This pays for taxi to and from as well. The tour offers the opportunity to see wildlife at night. The cost of the guided tour is US$20 per person ...

... we got a taxi back to the hotel. We then had some trouble. Dawna tried to get the hotel to charge us for 2 nights, not one. Also, we shouldnt of had to pay anyway because there were still the same number of rooms in the gap allowance as Fiona was sharing with Sam. Cut a long story short, we ended up telling Dawna to sort it and not paying. Ben booked a nice romantic night in the Arenal Observatory Lodge ...

... I was lucky to choose the earliest time to go. Weather was perfect, but just as we were leaving at 1, it started to rain. And then pour! Some other members of the group were going at 1, so they probably got drenched. Rain has now stopped. Hope it stays this way for my walk tonight at 5. Managed to get my laundry done too, which is great. Clean clothes for the next week or so! Update from home: Turns out the group doing the ...

... was following us around and got very excited about something and I reckon it was the coati getting out of the dog's way in a hurry. There were squirrels too. We saw three or four eating guavas in a guava tree. One was a pigmy squirrel and the others the variegated squirrel which has reddish fur on its lower half. The difference between them is not great except that the pigmy is a lot smaller. Both species are particularly cute. Although, I should note that our ...

Apparently thereīs a volcano here! Sadly the weather was against us and we saw nothing but the most spectacular thunderstorms!! Well, we sort of knew that it might be like this as we have come to Costa Rica in what they call "Green Season" - to be honest thatīs just excellent marketing talk for "Rainy Season" !! Still, it does mean the divingīs meant to be better