Friday, June 3, 2011

Manuel Antonio and La Fortuna Weekend trips!


I can’t even begin to list everything we did each weekend! When we left Heredia at the end of the first week, we traveled to Manuel Antonio, the beach! I was sad to say goodbye to Kathia, Gustavo, Karol, and Beatriz, but by this time we were all so ready for the weekend. We were also so happy to see Javier! We had missed him (and his English). After driving for a while down some more beautiful Costa Rican roads, we reached the Tarcoles River, home to many giant crocodiles. We should have known that Javier’s surprise of the day (sorpresa de la dia) was a guided boat tour down the river to see the crocs up close and personal. I can’t wait to show everyone the video I got of our guide hopping out of the boat, luring a crocodile towards the boat by slapping a chicken on the water, then proceeding to feed the chicken to the croc by dangling it from his teeth. This Tico man was intense to say the least. We especially loved his necklace made of a dozen giant crocodile teeth. The tour took us all the way to where the river opened up to the Pacific Ocean, which was so cool to see. After the tour we of course had a delicious lunch while overlooking the Pacific Ocean, deciding that this couldn’t actually be real life. We then made our way to Manuel Antonio and enjoyed the day at the beach. This first weekend we went on many beautiful hikes. The best part was how we were able to see so many animals in their natural habitat, in the wild. Of course, Javier could spot a camouflage lizard from a mile away, so you can imagine how much we actually saw. My favorite for the day was walking up to a group of trees on the beach, and seeing a dozen spider monkeys climbing down to take a piece of fruit from a random guy holding it up to the branches. I spent about 30 minutes just watching these brave little monkeys.
This weekend was just what we needed after a tough first week of getting used to our surroundings and 4 hours of Spanish class a day. Although we loved CPI Heredia and all that we did in the first week, we also love our weekend fun :)
This past weekend, I literally melted in the Hot Springs (Piscinas Calientes). I was just getting over being sick (I had to make a trip to La Clinica that week) and was so ready to relax. I think this weekend trip was my favorite; el Volcan Arenal was absolutely breathtaking. The view from our hotel window was unreal (giant volcano in your face). I really felt like I was at a site where a movie was being filmed the whole time. The Hot Springs are definitely something everyone needs to make a point to visit sometime in life. There were 5 pools, each different temperatures. The point is to spend 10 minutes in each one, working your way up to the hottest, and then spending 2 minutes in the cold pool. In the hottest pool there was a waterfall with a natural sauna behind it. It was a treatment that according to Javier was supposed to take 10 years off your skin. Javier said it so of course I believed it. We enjoyed some bebidas and had dinner after (of course, delicious casados). A casado is a meal that consists of rice, beans, a meat or fish, and a salad or veggies. It is called a casado because it is a “marriage” of food/delicious. We ate them for almost every meal every weekend! And never got sick of them. Good thing I bought dos libros de cocina to bring home with me :) The next day Javier took us on another hike through the national park at the base of el Volcan Arenal. This weekend was like a dream, and I was depressed to leave. But instead of being sad I just can't wait to come back :)

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