Arenal

Well, last weekend all the ISA kids packed on to two buses and headed off to the Volcanan Arenal. We hiked down to the Fortuna Waterfalls which were beautiful but FRIGID. In order to swim in them you had to climb over all these boulders then just jump into icy water and try not to get sucked under by the pressure of falling water. After that pleasant experience, we went to these hotsprings which are essentially shallow pools filled with water heated from the volcano. There was one spring that was 165 degrees F. You couldn't even walk into to that bad boy because the pain receptors in your feet started screaming bloddy murder. So we scooted into the pool, butt first. Obviously a good time was had by all.

The volcano stayed cloudy all weekend until the hour before we left, at which point it cleared up. I took some excellent pics, which I shall post as soon as I can figure out how to upload them without it taking FOREVER.

On Monday morning my Tica mother gave me food poisoning, which made for another pleasant experience. To the really nice Tico people who gave me a ride home (who probably are not reading my blog), thank you. And thank God that I didn't get sick in the nice tico's car.

Essentially it has been a trip of extremes. I don't know, I'm starting to think that three months here was a little excessive. By the way, the food here, not so much.