Mood: Itchy
Music: Fall Out Boy - Grand Theft Autumn
Bloody hell, I look like I have chicken pox. I'll explain in a minute.
Thursday:
I already commented on the most interesting part of the day in my last post, but I want to mention the scare I had at the ATM after class that day. So, I went to pull cash for my adventures this weekend, and it all went smoothly. I got my cash and my receipt, and the machine spit my card out, no problem. Well, apparently I took too long putting the money away, because as I was stuffing it in my wallet, the machine sucked my card back in and swallowed it. I started flipping out, cursing, and smacking the machine, but then I realized that it wouldn't do anything except maybe get me arrested. I ran into the bank (I'll only use ATMs attached to banks here, for just this sort of reason) and accosted the first employee I saw, and he was like, "Calm down. Let me see your ID real quick and we'll get it taken care of." I showed him the copy of my passport, and he got up and walked away. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there, freaking out, wondering how I'm supposed to get money while I wait for Charter One to ship me a new card and then while I wait for it to make its way through customs... Thank whatever higher power there might be, the guy came back three minutes later with my card in his hand, and just told me to grab it more quickly the next time.
Deep breaths. It's all good.
Friday:
I got up early and met Alex at the bus stop at 7:00 to go into San Jose, but we ended up not having to take the bus, because his host brother gave us a ride into town. In San Jose, we met up with the UCR kids - Ashley, Michael, and Katie - and caught the four hour bus to La Fortuna. La Fortuna is a little town at the base of the Arenal volcano, and it's rapidly turning into a tourist trap, but as long as you watch out for scammers trying to sell cheap tours, it's a great weekend get away.
Unfortunately, it was pouring rain when we got there. So we did what any college students would do: bought some guaro, spiked a watermelon, and ate it while drinking mango "screwdrivers" by the pool in the rain. I mean, hey, it's not like we could hike a volcano in that kind of weather.
Saturday:
Here's the only sucky part of the weekend. I woke up absolutely COVERED in insect bites, which quickly swelled up, and got red, itchy, and feverish. I'm only allergic to one thing, this one kind of little beetle, and naturally, they were in our room in the hostel, and moreover in my bed. Instead of the five bites I once sustained in a certain house full of Mexicans, I woke up with more than 120 bites (seriously, I tried to count them and lost count around that point). So I had to run to the pharmacy and get a bunch of Benadryl, which I had finished off by Monday (which reminds me, I need to go buy more). The swelling and feverish-ness have gone down, now I just have itchy red spots. Like I said, it looks like I have chicken pox.
But I'll never be one to let some itchy red spots ruin my weekend. After my Benadryl run, Alex and I went to look for a little swimming hole that our guidebook said was a kilometer or so outside of town. By the time we found it, it was pouring again (which was why the UCR kids wouldn't come with us), but hey, we were going swimming, so what the hell did it matter? This swimming hole has two small waterfalls and a rope swing, and it was a lot of fun. We had to have some tico boys show us how to use the rope swing, though, and thank god they were there, because I never would have figured out how to climb back out without their help.
Saturday afternoon, we split up, and the UCR kids went on one tour and Alex and I went on another. We hiked in the rain forest around the volcano, and we saw coatis, capuchins, (you better hold on tight) spider monkeys, and toucans. It was awesome, kid you not. Then we rode up to the viewing point for the volcano, and it was... well, it takes your breath away. We've been told that we got really lucky - a lot of times, the volcano is completely covered by clouds, and you can't see anything. One of our professors said she went on four separate occasions and never saw it once. But for us, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The volcano erupted twice, and spewed a lot of red hot volcanic rock, which looks sooooo amazing once the sun has set. In fact, the guide said it was the best day for seeing the volcano so far this year. And the sound was amazing. Costa Rica has awesome natural acoustics, ha.
After we had seen the volcano, we went to the hot springs at Baldi (it was included with the volcano tour), where we met up with the UCR kids again. It was definitely not what I had expected. I was thinking we were going to small, hot ponds inside of volcanic craters. Nope. It was a water park. There's no other way to put it. Twenty-five pools ranging from 85 degrees to 152 degrees Fahrenheit, with tropical gardens for decoration, two wet bars (which were wildly over priced), and three water slides. Yep. Water slides. I was impressed and disappointed all at the same time. I mean, I was expecting nature and I got a spa/tourist trap. A nice tourist trap with a buffet, but still. Whatever, I'm not one to complain about an all-you-can-eat dinner and the chance to lay around in glorified hot tubs for a few hours. (Though I am tempted to complain about the carepichas who worked in the locker rooms. Whatever, I won't waste my energy ranting about them.)
Sunday:
Nothing happened. Well, nothing important, anyway. I bused home. Isn't that exciting?!?
So yup, that was my mini-vacation. Oh, and si me quiere besar, besame entonces.
Pura Vida,
Sarah
New words:
agria - sour
ocio - inactivity, idleness; leisure time
boniga - manure
idoneidad - suitability
interdiccion - interdiction, prohibition
grey - flock
