Hotel Tropicana Tamarindo

... I started to settle in and entertain ourselves, while everyone else commented on how prepared we were. For another thing, it wasn't raining, which makes everything better.<br><br>Finally, it was better because eventually the radio got a call. The first call was that there was a turtle -- not a leatherback, but an Olive Ridley -- right outside the waiting area. So we went to watch that, but in the meantime, a leatherback did emerge. Hurray! On the ...

... on her head and there was blood everywhere, I run over to her along with other people, Hayley runs from the beach, at first glance of the cut, it looked like a huge gash, and the water wasn't making it easier to see how deep it was, i pulled off my leash and Brendan and Rafa grab my board, Jamie was still leashed and her board was flying about in the waves and we were desperately trying to get a hold of it, I got caught between her and the board and the leashed and the waves ...

... me a lot yesterday correct my pop up due to my bad shoulder, moving my hands back. So regardless Im super stoked, its another beautiful day, no rain! Im loving it, having a great time so can't complain, but happy I didn't surf too much today and give my shoulders a needed rest for rest of week. I posted some pics from the other day on one of my earlier blogs, so check them out. I will attach some from last night. Pura Vida More to come.<br>

... a bunch laid back surfers, Ticos that offer you coke and chronic after every conversation, and the Tica´s who offer you their companionship for the night for anywhere between 70-100 dollars depending on how well you can negotiate. It´s a strange crowd but for the one night we had there we tore it up getting in around 5.

... constant rehash of where everyone is from, how long they are traveling, where they have been...over and over and over and over again. I couldnt do that for long! Course irony comes along as I realize I would rather be by myself. ;) ...except it did lead to some good chats with Michael and my Finnish roommate, Molly. Looking to head along the coast to another beach or two. Time to move on from Tamarindo!

... village to the "spectacular² Volcan Arenal. It was presumed extinct until 1968 when it erupted after 400 years of dormancy wiping out the village of Arenal and killing 80 people. Since then it has been continuously active, the last major eruption being in 2000 and since then people have had to view it from further out (about 1 mile) and people come here to see lava streams and red hot rocks being blown out of the crater at night. It ...

... as it was a fierce Sandinista stronghold) such as in the revolutionary museum , the university , the various statues/buildings/monuments and the murals painted around the city ... elsewhere in Nicaragua there seem to be surprisingly few cues to it´s recent political history. So that was Nicaragua and I would have liked to have spent more time there to get more beneath the surface but looking forward to my adventures in Costa Rica.

... ever seen one two-toed on the river before. While we were taking hundreds of photos of the sloth, an enormous blue morpho butterfly fluttered around the boat. Karina caught it and held it for display, seemingly without doing it any harm at all. So that was a pretty good day and we saw a lot in about three hours 20 mins on the water. Then we went or lunch at a very nice place where someone found a dead tarantula; and parrots, squirrels and tanagers could all be watched. .

Hola, So I have officially finished my 2 weeks of classes, Saturday morning was my last day. It is a little sad but nice to know I will be moving on and be able to put my Spanish to great use. Everyone speaks Spanish here but also a little English so it is easy to fall back on English speaking when you get tired or frustrated with Spanish. I feel alot like what Colorado Alan told me, the more I learn the more I realize how much I suck. His was about ...

... by nicaraguan standards- funny how you become acustomed and think that 20bucks is a lot of money), to pass and camp at the top. But my mind was made up and we trodded up the hill, quite an anticlimax, as the entire way up was on a coble stone road, and no sign of a path i had envisaged. never the less we were the only fools that tried to save on money by walking up the darn thing as everyone else preffered to tackle it in the 4wd ...