Arenal

This past weekend I headed to the Northern Region to check out the Arenal/La Fortuna area! And let me tell you, it was one packed weekend! I got to my hotel around noon on saturday and had a tour at 2:30. My tour was a canopy zip-line tour through the rain forest! Amazingly it was only me and the two guides, which was so awesome, did not have to do any waiting and just zipped along all the different lines! I went upside down on one, and flew like superman on another one! haha. Then at the end of zip-lining I rappelled down a cliff to a river, then took a horseback ride. And this was not like a trail ride, it was just me and the horse guy and we galloped all the way back, which was up steep rocky trails, I think I might have been more tired than then horse at the end! so fast! But then I was able to see the entire volcano (it had been cloudy before).
Arenal volcano is the most active volcano in Costa Rica and often on one side lava is flowing and other times it is grumbling or little eruptions. When I got back to my hotel I heard a boom and saw some ash and gas come out, and then there was a second bigger boom and another. It was pretty awesome and I was pretty excited about that!
Sunday was totally packed, I did the combination tour which started at 8 am and ended at 10 pm. Yea, busy. Started with a hanging bridge tour through the rainforest, which was 15 suspension bridges in the forest and we saw tons of animals. Poison dart frogs, howler monkeys, hornet hawk, eyelash vipers, mott motts, tons of things. Then went to La Fortuna waterfall which was nice, got to swim and relax around that, then to a volcano look out place and learned about the history of Arenal and then went on a volcano hike, then to a lava look out place but it was too cloudy and a bit rainy so I did not get to see lava. But I did get a full view of the volcano on my weekend which is rare because it is often covered with clouds, so I was very lucky. THEN after this long long day, got to go to Tabacon Hot Springs, AMAZING. They are these springs, pools and jacuzzis that are heated by the volcano and so warm and the location is just like a tropical paradise. You can walk around and find secluded hot rivers with waterfalls or hang out at the big pool one that has a water slide and a bar. But the perfect end to a busy but so fun day!!! Then up early to head home the next morning.

Bug Story time: The other night I went to my room, turned on the lights, and something HUGE scurried across the room. At first all I could think of was giant cockroach (because I have yet to see one in my house) but then it slowed in the corner and it was a huge, brown, furry spider, a bit bigger than a half dollar. So I was just was like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, NELA! (she was still here). She came in and decided to go get Andres. He came down, with plastic bags, caught it, and we took it outside. It was actually quite calm, he said its good and eats cockroaches and other bugs, so I am glad its good but much happier that it is out of my room. So now Andres is my official bug catcher and am very glad he lives in the upstairs apartment.

Words of advice from this week: Even if your itinerary says something make sure to check the ticket voucher for the exact time. Itinerary says: 630 am pick up Ticket says: 8:20 pick up.