So Much To Say....

It's been a long time since I wrote and my only excuse is that we've been happily inundated with visitors. After Mara's truly special visit, our friend Chrissy came and led us on a whirlwind itinerary that would have made my parents (the travel professionals) proud. First, we went on all three of our first zip-lining canopy tour ever, which was... AWESOME! Okay, at first it was terrifying and I kept thinking, "Why doesn't anybody ever talk about how truly scary and awful this is?" But then, after the third cable, I was loving the thrill, the view, and the ride and forgot all about the fear.... mostly.

Chrissy then convinced us to take a day-trip to Arenal and I will be forever grateful for her "persuading" (read, "strong insistence"). We took the taxi-boat-taxi across Lake Arenal and were freakishly lucky to have blue skys, calm weather, and a totally stunning view of the volcano! After reaching La Fortuna on the other side (Monteverde is about 3 hours from the Arenal area), we entered Eco Termales hotsprings and were swept away to a tropical paradise.

The Arenal Volcano is quite active (on a clear night, you can watch the lava spew out) and ever since it's big eruption in 1968, it has heated the natural springs around the area causing a flux of deliciously beautiful natural hot spring resorts. Eco Termales was perfect. We soaked ourselves in volcanic waterfalls, drank perfect pina coladas, and were entertained by a troop of Howler Monkeys! Seeing Howler Monkeys are very rare and I will post Chrissy's awesome pictures soon. I won't talk about the part where I slipped on the wet stones, came crashing to my knees, and bled everywhere. Rob got me ice and a pina colada. I'm fine now.

We returned to our house to find David and Renee and all five of us headed out the next morning at 6am for our walk up to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. This was Rob's and my third time, and I don't think it will ever stop being a fully astounding experience. Our guide this time, the wealth of knowledge, Eduardo, kept commenting that James Cameron simply stole the Cloud Forest as his setting for Avatar. I think Eduardo is right; the size of the ferns, the details of the bugs, the sounds of the birds- it's all almost too perfect, too dazzling, too awe-inspiring. And, the freakish luck that Chrissy brought continued because we saw eight Quetzels! Quetzels are the prized, endangered bird of the central american forests and people freak out if they see one. Eduardo was out of his mind with excitement which was just a bonus addition to our happiness. We also saw more monkeys and toucans dive-bombing nests (they kidnap and eat other baby birds). We capped off the day with a night hike where we saw an owl, glowing bugs, and about 15 tarantulas. I'm not exagerating- they're everywhere....

After sadly saying good-bye to Chrissy, our fun with David and Renee continued as they explored coffee farms and waterfalls while we were at work. Last week-end we took taxi-boat-taxi with them and enjoyed it just as much as the first time and once again tested our luck with beautiful weather. This time we visited Tabacon- the king of the Arenal hot spring resorts. We decided to splurge on a room here and soaked up the luxurious volcano pools and reveled in our fancy hotel rooms that are up to standard for one of my parents' safaris (those of you who have been on one of their safaris know what I'm talking about).

The next day, perfectly relaxed and pampered, we visited Arenal National Park and hiked over the lava flows as close to the volcano as non-scientists are allowed. The most amazing part was getting to hear the rocks tumbling out of the volcano. When we looked through the binoculars we could see those rocks tumbling down the side, some as big as small houses!

Our last night with David and Renee we spent at the home of Irene, our new friend, thanks to Mara, where we had another fun night and watched an incredible lightening storm over the lake, out of her panoramic windows.

Now that we're back in Monteverde, enjoying the last week of school, I am a bit worried that our luck has run out weather-wise, because we are living and breathing in rain. I'm hoping it will clear a bit after Peter, Brad, and Erin arrive this week-end.

Pura Vida!