Arenal! Strike 2 on seeing a volcano...oh well. How do zip-lining and bungee jumping sound for alternatives?!

Two weekends back, Grupo de Kansas bussed it up to Arenal, a famous volcano in Costa Rica. Halfway there we stopped and had breakfast at a nice restaurant. I had an omelet with ''the works'' which means onions, tomatoes, peppers, cheese, jalapeños, potatoes and whatever other wonderful ingredients you can think of (which reminds me, I need to take some food pictures for my next post!) Equally delicious was my natural strawberry juice beverage. Yes, sounds strange, but hey, if orange juice, grape juice and apple juice are out there, why not strawberry? SO tasty.
I spent the remaining two hours on the bus reviewing flash cards with Brad. Flashcards are a great way to learn any subject. I must have 200+ flashcards with all kinds of Spanish words, phrases, and new vocabulary.

We stayed at a place called The Springs Resort. Half-surprisingly and half-not, the majority of signs, maps, and directions at the resort was in English (hence the resort's name). I was hoping for something less touristy but in this case it was unavoidable. The resort was probably the nicest I've ever visited, right up there with the Marriott we went to back in February. Floor after floor of beautiful dining rooms, paintings, and tropic scenery. There was even an outdoor bar where you sit in chairs halfway in water!

The resort's ''backyard'' consisted of a series of hot springs, each designed to maintain a specific temperature - anywhere from 32º - 39ºC (90º - 102ºF for everyone still stuck in ''American'' units, haha). Anyways, we found a slide between two springs and spent a good hour coming up with cool ways of going down it.

The coordinators and a handful of students went back that day to San José, but the majority stayed in Arenal because we had other plans in mind...

Zip-lining and Company!

Shannon found the hostel Backpackers online and we booked reservations for two nights there. We stayed in tents but I would hardly call it camping...

I spy 2 mattresses! Haha
The owner graciously helped us find the perfect tour for tomorrow. The package was: frog tour, butterfly tour, canopy tour (zip-lining), indigenous tribe tour, and horseback riding - all for under $60!
That night we went to a disco-tech in hope of a good time, but honestly it wasn't all that great. A ring of speakers encircled the dance floor that BLASTED your ears to pieces...I couldn't spend more than a few songs dancing without thinking about everything I learned in my hearing sciences classes.
On Saturday the 6th, we hopped in our exclusive tour van and traversed up into the mountains to start our tour. The frog enclosure was pretty neat - the species of frogs we saw were the Blue Jeans Poison Dart Frog, the Blue Poison Dart Frog and the Green and Black Poison Dart Frog. Why the name Blue Jeans? Take a look for yourself:

As for the butterflies, we saw a few basic monarchs, but the eye-catcher was the Morpho. The inside of its wings are a bright fluorescent blue.

The outside wing color, thanks to Mother Nature, is quite different:

These particular Morphos are enjoying all-day happy hour (guess that would be happy day, huh?). According to our guide, the citrus affects them the same way alcohol affects humans. After a nice sip of citrus they fly around haphazardly in a drunken-like state.

Next, after going through a safety walk-through of how to control our zip-lining harnesses, we were ready to rip through some Central American jungle air. We took a tractor-bus to the top.

The first four cables were only for practice - not the real deal. The first one sure felt real!! And the six ''real'' ones that followed were even better. One of them even stretched on for a whole kilometer! (0.6 miles). We got up to 600 m above ground level and up to 70 km/h! (45 m/h). Here's a view from the zip-line:
That is La Fortuna Waterfall
After our 10 amazing cables, we rode horses back down the mountain. Halfway down we stopped at an indigenous tribe's village. We greeted the chief with a shoulder tap and a hello - ''capi capi'' in their native language Maleku. Although the tribe we visited was only a simulation of an authentic tribe, it was still enjoyable and realistic. Bona fide tribes do exists, accounting for only 1% of Costa Rican's 3 million people. The indigenous people of Costa Rica are best known for making animal masks, and each mask represent a personality. Back down the mountain we rode our horses. Kirsten, Abby and I got our horses into a full-on gallop which was exciting!
Here's the crew after the tour, dirtier than expected. Zip-lining splatters you with mud every now and then, and the horseback riding didn't help either.

We returned to La Fortuna and ate lunch as we anticipated our next thrill...

Bungee Jumping!

Only Shannon, Abby and I had the guts to do it. And honestly, I'm not sure how to describe the feeling. Teetering 131 ft above the ground on a tiny platform with nothing but a cord keeping you safe...you get the picture mom :) Oh wait, here's the picture:

I lost my breath at the initial fall. Halfway down I start screaming ''oh my God oh my God oh my God!'' It wasn't funny to me at the time, but my spectators had a good laugh.

On our walk back from the bungee jump site, I heard a strange but familiar sound: A B flat scale! Naturally, I followed my ear across the street and inside the town church was a high school band! I had just caught the beginning of their concert. I stayed and listened; afterward, I helped them take down the chairs and stands and talked to a few students and the director. They were from Canada traveling Costa Rica and putting on five concerts...sound familiar? Haha, that really made my day.
We ate dinner at a pizza place (I hadn't had pizza in forever!) and spent the rest of the night talking to Diego, the owner of our hostel. He is a very cool guy and invited us back to Backpackers for a good deal.
On Sunday, we caught an early bus back to San José. I happened to see a sloth hanging from a tree! Nature never lets you down here. Just keep one eye open and you'll see something remarkable every time. Oops, I spoke too soon, haha. It just so happened to be another extremely foggy weekend and we missed our chance to see el Volcán Arenal.

Regardless, it was an awesome weekend and I can't wait for the next!