After my second week of classes, I decided to go on a trip to La Fortuna to see the Arenal Volcano. Friday afternoon, some other students and I took a bus to the city of La Fortuna. It was a 2 hour bus ride from San Ramon. I discovered that unless I close my eyes and try to sleep, I feel very carsick on the buses here. The roads are very bumpy and curvy through the mountains, but the view is spectacular. We arrived in La Fortuna around 2:30pm and went in search of a hostel. A man at a tourism booth pointed us in the direction of Gringo Pete's Too. The hostel was pretty nice. And everything was painted purple! The best part about the hostel though was that there were sloths across the road! That night we went to the Arenal hot springs. It was amazing. The hot springs were like a river with some waterfalls and pools, and the water felt like a hot tub. It was a perfect night hanging out with friends in the hot springs, looking at the stars above us, and watching the fireflies dance around us. When we first saw a firefly, we thought someone was in the woods besides the hot springs with a flashlight. It was that bright! After the hot springs, we went back to the hostel and played card games with the group. Hostels are great because you meet people from all over the world. We met some people from Israel, Sweden, and Germany.
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to hike up Cerro Chato, an inactive volcano right next to Arenal. Even though the hike was about 2 kilometers, it felt like 10. It was the most difficult hike I have ever taken and will probably never do it again! But I was very glad I did it once. It took about 3 hours to hike up the volcano. It was mostly steps made from roots or wood and mud. Once we reached the top, there was a small lookout area where you could see the Arenal Volcano. Then it was about a 30 minute hike down a muddy hill to reach a lagoon at the center of the volcano. We all expected to go swimming after the tiring, hot hike but the air around the lagoon was chilly and the water temperature rivaled Lake Superior. As someone who is used to swimming in Lake Superior, I jumped into the lagoon anyways. It seemed like a really short trip back down the volcano. Much shorter and easier than the hike up. After a short break at the hostel, we walked 20 minutes to a waterfall where we swam and jumped off a rope swing. It was so much fun! It was a very exhausting day and I will be sore for days, but I had a blast. We finished off the night with dinner at a soda (a tiny Costa Rican restaurant) and had the most delicious gelato for dessert!
Sunday morning, I took the 5:30am bus back to San Ramon. I went straight to bed when I got home! Then at 2pm the USAC group had a Super Bowl party. I am very glad I don't have class on Mondays. It gave me a day to relax and do homework before getting back to school. I'm sure I will be going back to La Fortuna again. It was a great trip. Now I need to decide what to do next weekend!