So Much to Say & Time to Say It

Ahhh, well I left you last when I arrived at Monteverde/Santa Elena. I met my dormmates, two Australia guys and a Swedish guy. I had an unventful first night stay but went to the Sky Trek-Sky Walk canopy tour and bridges walk outside Santa Elena. I met two nice guys also traveling alone but they were only doing the walkways-bridges part. So, turns out I was the only one on my tour so I had the guides to myself and it was absolutely INCREDIBLE! Seriously, if I did nothing else while in Costa Rica I would be happy with that experience. Evidently they have some of the highest and longest zip lines of the tours (although no Tarzan swing like some). The exhiliration of being so high up (can´t remember exactly how high) and going through the tops of the rain forest with the misty sky. It wasn´t a clear day but there aren´t many of them here in Costa Rica, especially during the end of the rainy season. Too bad but it was still such a thing to feel like you are flying through the sky, you barely notice the harness/equipment. Then the walkways is a self-guided tour over six different bridges hanging from the trees. Sorry to say I didn´t see any animals, well except a crab which was weird. It was almost like a baby blue crab but more brown-black.

I caught up with Scott (American) and Moti (Israeli) at the end of their walk as it started raining harder so I wasn´t taking my time with the walk. We were starving so we tried a restaurant back in town and I had Casado which is basically a traditional meal with rice and beans and your choice of seafood, beef, or veggies. I love the Batido drinks, like a fruit drink (Mango yummy) blended a bit with ice or water somehow. They also make it with leche (milk) instead of agua. We talked about traveling alone and how it´s nice to meet people along the way and sometimes to be alone. Scott has been traveling for awhile, in Dec. it will be a year I think. He plans to do 2 years, and you guys thought I was crazy. He heee. I really felt better having met some people that I could talk to about traveling, life, etc. Thanks guys, you lifted my spirits.

We hung out for our last night there and I decided to forget the beach since I´ll be at the beach in Belize and the Cook Islands the following three weeks. Instead, I went to La Fortuna to see Volcan Arenal. I stayed at a place called Gringo Pete´s that the guys had recommended. What a fun hostel, the vibe here is really nice and I met some incredible people along the way here and when I arrived. I took a jeep-boat-jeep to La Fortuna because it cut a lot of time out of the public bus and because I love boats. It felt great to feel the wind as we traveled but there was not a great view of the Volcano because of the clouds. Ebony (from CA) took the last jeep with me back to Gringo Pete´s and we ended up sharing a 2-person room instead of doing the dorm because it was only $2 bucks more. It was funny because I have stayed here three nights and had different roommates each night. Friends I met just decided that they would come share my room instead of staying in the dorm. A bit more privacy and quiet, well as private as this place can be.

Ayesha (British), Stefanie & Suzanne (German), and Loic (French) all went on the same tour with us to the Volcano (as close as you can get anyway) and then to Baldi Hot Springs (the budget springs not the fancy one at Tabacon). It was a very wet hike through the rain forest to get to a viewing point for Volcan Arenal and although it was cloudy we were able to see some lava flow at both viewing points. Not too much but it was still incredible. And, the hot springs felt great after being wet for a few hours.