Arenal

This is my bedroom from the doorway

This is my closet!

Here is my living room with a little TV.

This is my kitchen.

Kind of tough to see, but this is the terrace. Largest room in the house and open-air.

Finally some pictures! I have a lot more but don´t have the time to post them. I took a bunch of pics from Arenal, and got some videos of me doing the zipline over the forest canopy. I trapped the camera to my backpack to capture the effect. There were a total of eleven ziplines in all, with one that was over 500 above the ground. It was absolutely awesome. I also handled a tarantula on the way up there (we stopped at some touristy place) so nobody can ever say anything about me being scared of spiders anymore. I´ll get those pics later. No internet at my house yet, but hopefully by Wednesday.

And my poor, poor Seahawks. What a heartbreaker. I literally watched the entire first half of the Chargers-Patriots game to see the Seattle highlights, but, of course, that would be too much to ask. It was a painful hour and a half wait to see Gould kick that field goal in OT.

Anyway, I´m getting a little ahead of myself. Our bus driver Francisco drove us to Arenal from Heredia. We left Saturday morning at 7 am, which was rough. Our bus was tiny as you can see.

Four people across (the fourth seat folds down and blocks the aisle) and about a foot of leg room. It was pretty brutal, hot and congested. After a couple hours in the bus we arrived at our rafting spot. My boat had five other people in it, one of which has a ton of rafting experience (Eric). Unfortunately, the waters were calm, and we saw nothing more than Class 2 rapids. I think only one person (Todd Burhman from my fraternity) fell out.

We saw toucans, white herons, huge butterflies (5 inches across), leaf-cutter ants, and poison dart frogs. Two kinds: (La roja and La verde). Our guides walked around the forest and found them in only a couple of minutes. They aren´t poisonous to touch, but if they get in your bloodstream or lick one you´re in trouble. The river wasn´t warm, but it was pleasant.

I think it was another three hours until we reached Arenal and checked into our hotel rooms. We quickly changed and went to Tabacon Hot Springs, which was awesome. They take water heated from the volcano and made a little spa/resort out of it. Different pools were different temperatures, and only one was too hot for me (150 degrees F). I brought my trusty camelbak and enjoyed whisky-cokes between pools, while others paid $5 for drinks. We left around 8 pm. I forgot to mention it was raining (like RAINING!!!!) the way only a tropical storm can rain. It´s funny, because it happens in short bursts of a couple minutes, stops for maybe an hour, then rains for a few minutes again. Nothing like the slow, steady drips of the Pacific Northwest.

Sunday morning we got to sleep in until 9 then loaded back on to the bus for our Canopy Tour. First was the ziplines through the forest, then we rode horses down the mountain. I couldn´t believe that every single person in our group participated in everything. Awesome group, and an even better time. Below is a pic of the enormous tractor we rode up the mountain.

Next we got geared up with a harnass, our helmet, a hand break for the zipline, and a glove for the other hand. See below!

I took a few videos with the camera strapped to my shoulder, and I gave my camera to Emily for one where she went with one of the guides (and hence had a free hand to guide the camera around). I can´t compare it to anything I´ve ever done. I´ll but the video on UTube for everybody to see.

Horses afterward was fun. I made my gallop but I almost bounced off so I stopped. Our program director Max took a spill at full gallop right in front of me when his horse slipped. I´m pretty sure he had a concussion (very loopy) but was lucky he didn´t kill himself. He has a raw shoulder and foot though. Went home after some pizza, and got home around 10.

School today was better, because I have two other students in my class. Katy from my group and a 50 year old businesswoman from Minnesota. More later. Miss you all.