It rains in the rain forest

I took a road trip to see a volcano! We left on Thursday morning to visit Volcano Arenal, which is the second most active volcano in the world. Unlike most volcano's, it is supposedly a perfect cone, and during the day when it's clear you can see smoke rising from it, and at night you can even see the lava. Supposedly. I never technically got to see it unfortunately, because as I found out it rains in the rain forest. A lot. We stayed in a nice hotel that advertises volcano views, and it never cleared up. It was a slight bummer but I didn't mind all that much. I still had a really fun time because the country is beautiful. It just means I'll have to come back sometime. To get there it was about a 5 hour drive. We left early because of the traffic from Palmares, which is the second largest beer festival in the world, but still hit plenty of the traffic. I enjoyed the drive because the country is beautiful, and eventually we just drove on a one lane, windy rode that rose up into the cloud bank. After about 3 hours, I saw signs on the road for a nutella and banana crepe, so of course I had to pull over. I drove down a windy dirt path for about 3 miles and arrived at a hotel. I got a coffee and crepe and it was delicious. On our way down there was a sign that pointed to a waterfall, so we decided to walk over and see what it looked like. We were thinking it would be around the corner but it turned out to be about a mile hike down a super steep, muddy slope. I was wearing jeans and flip flops, and ended up taking my flip flops off, and just walking down barefoot, squishing my toes in the mud. It was so pretty and fun and the waterfall, when we finally arrived, was beautiful. It was an adventure, though my feet were quite gross at the end of it. Nothing a little water can't cure. Back up was a little more challenging, but it was all good fun.

We got to the hotel mid afternoon and then went to check out some hot springs. The hot springs ended up being at a really, really nice resort so they were unlike one's I've been to before. There were different pools and even a water slide. It was raining for most of the time too so the contrast was nice. They sold two day passes so the next day we went back at night which was even cooler. It wasn't raining but you could here the rain forest noises, and I even got to see a few stars through a small break in the clouds. To start off the second day we went to a place called the hanging bridges. It was probably another 10 miles up the road, and it passed by this beautiful lake that supposedly has perfect views of the volcano, but the view of the fog bank was nice as well- kinda ha. The hanging bridges was a two mile walk through the rain forest, over several suspended bridges. And boy did it rain, but it is amazing how much the canopy is like a big umbrella. The rain mutes so many noises, and puts a lot of the animals asleep but it is also very peaceful. After I had this delicious drink called agua dulce which i love and went to the supermarket to buy some to bring back with me.

We were going to visit another waterfall but Jorge doesn't have the best sense of direction. We turned down the incorrect dirt road and didn't realize it for about 5 miles. It was ok though, and raining anyway. I felt like such a nerd, because I totally ended up talking about my Theory of Knowledge class and the 'ways of knowing'. It was pretty funny but I've always been good about choosing friends who talk about the same type of stuff. The more I traveled through Costa Rica, the more I saw how developed and progressive it was. There are people with money here, both foreigners and Costa Ricans. I'm sure there are poor areas of Costa Rica, but as a tourist I did not pass through them. I also noticed that Costa Rica is much more 'white' than Honduras or other areas. Even native Costa Rican's have whiter skin, not including the foreigners that live here. I don't know if it is strange to notice such things or not. That would make sense though looking at its history, because when the Europeans colonized central america, there was a very small native influence in the area, allowing almost complete European colonization. So far I've enjoyed my stay, though I am missing the kids! It'll be good to be back soon :)