1.25.10

I have a lit essay to write in spanish due in 2 hours, but I'll do anything to procrastinating hence me writing this blog.

I have been here for almost a month! I have yet to feel really homesick but maybe that's because this trip is still in its "honeymoon stage." You know, when everything is good in the beginning. Anyway let me update you on my adventures since last weekend.

Last weekend we went to La Fortuna Waterfall and Volcan Arenal. We got there on Saturday afternoon, and the waterfall was spectacular. The water was super cold but it was well worth it. The hike to go down there was around 450 steps. Now, that doesn't seem like a lot at all, but on the way up, it was horrible! Shows how out of shape we all were cuz we were panting and gasping for air. But in our defense, it was all uphill and we were in flip flops. After the waterfall, we were supposed to go to our resort, but instead had to wait for like an hour and a half because something in our bus broke..What a waste of time. But the shuttles from the resort came and picked us up.

The resort was absolutely amazing. Seriously, the nicest place I've ever stayed in. It was called "Los Lagos." We changed into our bathing suits upon arrival (in the evening) and made our way to the pools. We could choose between the regular pools and the hot springs. For those of you that don't know what hot springs are, they are basically pools/bodies of water heated up by the volcano. It was like being in a jacuzzi. There was also a wet bar which was pretty cool. There were really cool slides as well. Some genius from our group came up with the idea of basically going the slide in a "train." It was pretty painful, and I got slammed into by one of the guys from our group, ha, but no big deal. Then besides the like big hot springs, there were littler ones. They were like little caves with alcoves and everything. It was so nice. We stayed there for a while and finally made our way back to our rooms. The next morning, we had breakfast, went to the pool for a little bit more, and explored our resorts crocodile/ant/butterfly/plant farm. It was breathtaking. I couldn't believe that one resort had all of that. Then it was time to go home and we made our way back on the 5 hour bus ride.

Everyone says "when do you go to class?!" or "where does the studying aspect come in?" lol but its definitely there. But thats not interesting to write about which is why everyone always just hears about my weekend adventures. Although the highlight of this past week was definitely the fact that a couple of people in our ISA group started a bible study. Veritas University offers a bible study but its in spanish and mostly everyone here isnt that fluent so a couple of our group members decided to start one on their own. It was Monday night and there was like of us there. It was great & I'm so happy to see what God is doing here in Costa Rica.

This past weekend was absolutely amazing. We left San Jose around 1 pm, and arrived to our hotel in Manuel Antonio around 6. or 7. I don't have a watch here and I never know what time or date it is. We had dinner and settled into our hotel. It was actually probably later than that because we went to the beach as soon as we got there and it was really dark. Our hotel was on the beach so the beach was our backyard. It was sooooo humid/hot! And the water was warm, seriously the warmest water I've ever been in. It was seriously one of the best moments I've had. Swimming in the beach, under the stars, with great company. Saturday morning, we went to Manuel Antonio National Park. The interesting thing about this park is that it protects the beach as well, so its more of a marine national park. We saw a sloth pooping which was pretty entertaining. The guide said that sloths only come to the ground once a week to poop, because theyre the lazy..What a life..Its like the slowest moving animal. Anyway, we got to the beach, and it was an amazing time. The waves weren't huge, so we were able to swim pretty far out. A couple of us swam to some rocks that were pretty far away but the rocks were pretty slippery and sharp. Soo as I was just sitting there, the tide was so strong that it knocked me over and dragged me across the rocks. Not being dramatic or anything, but I remember thinking if I was going to wake up in a hospital bed from hitting my head so hard. But I was ok, just a couple scratches all over and a bump on my head. Anyway, then most of our group, was doing a snorkeling tour, but like 8 of us weren't. So we decided to keep exploring the park, and went to "Puerto escondido" which ended up being a private beach basically. We were practically the only ones there (it was such a dangerous hike down!) . But it was beautiful, I just couldnt get enough of it. We spent like 3 hours there, just hanging out with the hermit crabs. Oh yea, on our way to that hidden beach, we saw monkeys!!! They were right above us. My genius self decided to give one of them a banana (that I had smuggled from breakfast). As soon as I took it out of my bag, the monkey turned his face towards me and started running to where I was.. I was afraid it would attack me so I peeled it halfway and just threw it to the ground. The monkey came, and started eating it right in front of us. It was sooo cute, I took some good pictures which I have yet to upload. After that, we walked back and it was so hard to walk back with wet flip flops! But we grabbed a little snack, went to our hotel, cleaned up, and went to a place called Daiquiri's for dinner. We sat on the roof and we were overlooking the beach. What a sight. We were soo hungry and the food was so good! After that, we went back to the hotel, and we were all just so drained. A couple of the guys started a bonfire on the beach, so we were just hanging out there for a little bit, and then i went back to my room. My room went to sleep at like 9:30, such grandmas I know! But it was such a long eventful wonderful day. The next day, Sunday morning, we were on the beach watching one of the girls in our group surf (she's #11 in the state of California!). My friend Cecilia and I didn't have our bathing suits on cuz we weren't planning to go into the beach (since we were sunburned and wanted to stay out of the sun), but it was just sooo appealing and we went in in our clothes. Stayed there for a little, went back to the rooms, and then it was time to board the bus again. It was such a long bus ride. We stopped at another beach, Jaco Beach, to have lunch and I had such good passion fruit ice cream! And then made it to San Jose at around 6:40. Me and my housemate got home, had dinner, and I was just chatting with my tica sisters for a little. I was so tired, but didn't end up going to sleep till like midnight -_-

I think that pretty much resumes my past week! Now, I have an hour to start & finish that essay so I'll write soon friends!

Pura Vida,

Angy

P.s. i think everyone should send me mailllllllll :)