Costa Rica: La Fortuna

Letter to the familia:

6/5
We just got back from Arenal Volcano ( an active volcano, although there hasn't been any lava flowing from it since December). It was amazing!!! We went with our friends Sarah, Victor, Jen, and Tanner who live with us at Alijandro's. We rode on a bus (the gross, old, no ac kind, I didn't dare touch the seat head rests) for 5 hours (it only cost $4 a person) and got to La Fortuna which 

is where we stayed at a hostel. It was a really nice hostel, we stayed in tents like the kind you can stand up in, they even had outlets in them and a light. There was a really nice pool and restaurant that wasn't too expensive. The food was the best we have had while in CR. On Friday when we first got there we went zip-lining, which we got video of and pictures of  course. And then we went to Baldi Hot springs, which are springs that come from the volcano that have been made into a resort. It was paradise in there. The pictures we have don't do it justice. There are 25 pools and 3 water slides. It is all warm/hot water. And the coolest part is you can relax and look up at the volcano, it is so beautiful there. And then we ate dinner there at a buffet it, was pretty good. The next day we went water rafting, which was great fun, even though Tyler wanted to fall out and he didn't. Then we relaxed by the pool until our night hike. We had a guide take us into the rain forest at night and we got to see lots of cool animals that he spotted/ caught for us to see. We saw several frogs, a viper snake, a sloth, a few lizards, and a whole termite nest. We also saw a rubber tree and got to play with the bark, so cool. Oh and Tyler ate some termites. This morning we packed up our stuff
and headed for a waterfall. It is pretty large, but you can swim at the bottom, which most of us did. There were tons of people there so we didn't stay too long. Then we headed back to San Jose, of course the bus we were on broke down on the way, but they sent another one pretty quick. We got home ate some kind of rice with veggies and tuna in it, which was not so good, very fishy. And our juice tasted like cough syrup. No more good food :( Last Wednesday we went to the movies and saw Pirates of the Caribbean. It is played in English with Spanish subtitles, or you can go to see it dubbed over in Spanish. All of the pastries and stuff here don't have much sugar, so they are kind of bland too. I hope all is going well with you guys. Tyler is using his Spanish A LOT, it would be really hard if he didn't speak Spanish. The pic of Marta was cool. I'm so proud of her for doing that. And as for skype, we can try to set that up, I don't think we have an account. We love you all. Take care!

Clare&Tyler

Zip lining was fun until the Tarzan swing when I got pushed off a ledge by one of the guides. Sorry no pictures of my frantic face on here.  

Baldi Hot Springs- The water is naturally heated by the volcano. There are also huge nasty bugs around here. Some that can swim in the hot water. Besides the bugs I loved this place. 

Arenal Waterfall - The water was so cold, but Tyler still got in. Oh and we had to
go down about a mile worth of stairs which means we had to go up them too.