teh fortune cookie

It is 5:44am and it’s my third day in San Jose Costa Rica! Today, I will be going on a white water rafting adventura with, approximately, 5 other people, minus the person who I originally came with. We are parting our ways, today, and will end up sharing our adventures on the plane ride back.

Yesterday, we started our morning off early at 6:10am where an autobus de turismo took us to many different places. We began at a coffee plantation where I had my first real taste of Costa Rican coffee and typical breakfast of gallo pinto (rice, beans, and eggs), along side fresh watermelon and mango juice. Yum-O!

Following the breakfast, we hiked up to Volcan Poas which is a large crater that smells of rotten eggs (sulfur fumes)! Unfortunately, I don’t have any way to load my pictures onto the computer, so I’m sending a google picture of it here: http://tinyurl.com/yqtlyc
The clouds began rolling in, so I saw half of the crater, and then it was completely hidden! We hiked a thousand feet, where it was mystical and a bit eery as clouds hovered through the green. Seemed like something coming straight out of a fantasy.

After some good ‘ole exercise we hiked to La Paz Waterfalls: http://tinyurl.com/youaru
Where we were able to stand, practically, right underneath them and feel a refreshing mist! We had a yummy lunch buffet, in which I had fried plantains, papaya, pineapple, some warm potato-salad imposter, and pasta salad. The fruit juice I chose ended up tasting like applesauce with cinnamon so I poured myself some coffee, again!

Besides seeing three waterfalls, I saw toucans and birds that I cannot name, such as the one that sat on my finger, got up-close with tons of butterflies, saw snakes in the serpentarium, and had hummingbirds all around me!

The last stop was a relaxing boat ride on the Sarapiqui river where we spotted howler monkeys and iguanas. No crocs in the water…and no mosquito bites. Yay! http://tinyurl.com/yvr9bb

Yes, it was really murky, and the water was high, but we had beautiful weather all day — so I can’t complain!

We returned to Kap’s Place: http://www.kapsplace.com at 6pm, after a long, but extraordinary, second day in Costa Rica!

I met a person named Emily, from South Carolina, who is probably in her mid 20’s and teaching Spanish to high schoolers. We are intending to meet up tomorrow, Thursday, to take the public bus system to Fortuna (north of San Jose), where Volcan Arenal, ziplines, and hiking are. I met two others at Kap’s place, who came in last night and seemed really interested in joining us. They don’t speak of a lick of Spanish!

Our plan is to hit up Fortuna, skip Monteverde, take a bus to Liberia (capital of Guanacaste), and rent a 4×4 to drive along the Pacific coast. Our destinations are Playa Grande, Tamarindo, and Montezuma. Supposedly, the most beautiful beaches…and tons of surfing. We’ll see what happens, as anything can arise, and we may end up in Nicaragua for a couple days.

I came here for an adventure, and it looks like I’ll be getting one!