Hotel Vista del Cerro La Fortuna

... ride was filled with laughter and excited conversation. Oscar even stopped to show us an iguanna laden tree - there were maybe 100 lounging about the branches of one tree! He informed us that they taste better than chicken - I´ll have to try it someday. We parted ways at a bus stop. He gifted us the CD we had been jamming out to and we gave him our blog site...HOLA OSCAR! PURA VIDA!

We arrived in La Fortuna, at the ...

... I can't even begin to tell you about how happy I am for their arrival!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to have so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got some letters the other day from my family and a good friend and it completely made my day!!!!!!!! The next time I write it will be about some new adventure in a new part of Costa Rica!!!!!! Pura Vida

... could replace my fork seals. My bike had been leaking oil from the front left fork. The fork is the 2 tubes that connect the front wheel to the handlebar, and inside it is a big spring and a bunch of oil and some valves that the oil goes through when you hit a bump, which collectively make up the front suspension. Each tube is actually 2 tubes, one of which slides into the other when you hit a bump, and where they ...

... lounging for a few hours in the rain (a nice touch), we returned to the hotel and enjoyed a gourmet dinner at the restaurant. It was fusion food - we ordered Crema bicolor, which was pejibaye, tomato and cream soup, and Picadillos de la abuela which were little tortillas to go with little bites, like beans and avocados, and finally we ended with curry chicken.

... sound like lions!), parrots and frogs...and the occassional rumble from the volcano. As the sun was setting we made our way back to the car, and drove to a view point on the active side of the volcano which provided a perfect (yet safe!) spot to view the molten lava roll down the steep side of the volcano. The best time to see the lava is at night, when the red, molten rocks are clearly visible as they get splurged out of the top of the volcano. On our trip so far we´ve seen ...

... group and was the only one that went swimming at the base of the waterfall. He is quite the inspiration!! We went to have lunch before we headed home and for the first time all weekend the clouds lifted from the volcano and we had a great view! Of course I left my camera in the van so I don't have a good picture of it, but it was breathtaking!! Arenal is everything you imagine when you think of Costa Rica...it was a great weekend!

... You free fall 50 feet straight down before the rope catches you and you swing out and up, into a forested abyss. Going by the death screams of the first person in our group we knew it was going to be scary but fun. Neither of us are adrenaline junkies (far from it), but we find ourselves in situations where we have to do these kinda things, and we have some funny videos to prove it!!

It was yet another bright and early start, this time at 4:30am, and yet again I managed to hitch a ride with Ryan's tour group. Well, only as far as the Costa Rican border at Peñas Blancas. It was there that I lost them, and there where I spent my longest time in no mans land; almost three hours between borders. Finally I made it through, and jumped on a bus to Cañas, a town some 3 hours down the road. I spent the time talking to an American girl, Erin, who was to work at a ...