Volcán Arenal

This weekend we headed to Volcán Arenal, an actice volcano in the northwestern part of the country. It is supposed to be very cool if you can see the top, because it is always spewing magma. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time we were there. Go figure.

After arriving, we headed to Baldi Hot Springs for some fun. For the five hours we were there it was only misting, so we could enjoy the warmth of the water (one pool was 152 degrees, which I avoided). The highlight of the springs was a trio of water slides, one that was long and kind of boring, one that was short and pretty fun, and one that was short and extremely dangerous (practically skipping you like a rock over the top of the water when you came out!). These were great fun until a guy from our group chipped off about half of his front tooth and someone else we didn't know almost got a concusion. Then we quit the slides.

Today we went to 'puentes colgantes', or hanging bridges. Several of the bridges were very high (I can't remember the actual height, but I did a scienctific experiement to get an idea. The result was it takes my spit about 5 or 6 seconds to make it all the way to the bottom!) This is a pic of the highest bridge from down below.

Our ever-so-stylish makeshift ponchos, ie. trashbags.

The town park and church in La Fortuna. You can see the lower half of the volcano in the background.

Pura Vida,

Billy