La Fortuna - Possibly the last post

My last adventure in Costa Rica was going to be to the Tortuguero, on the Caribbean coast. That plan didn’t work out because it would take too much time and money. Instead my friend and I went to La Fortuna to visit Volcan Arenal. My parents and my Aunt also visited there and I felt strange being the only one who hadn’t been there. We did two tours while we were there. One was the volcano tour where you go for a small hike in the forest around the volcano to learn a little about the ecosystem there. It is only 350 ft above sea level so it is really warm, but rains a lot making it humid and the ecosystem is a real rain forest. It was really interesting to see. It rains more in La Fortuna than it does in Monteverde, so of course we got to see some of the warm humid rain. Naturally, it rained while we were on the hike and didn’t stop raining until almost 7 pm. After the hike we went to a viewing point where you can (in theory) see the volcano and at night you can see lava! With all the rain and clouds, we couldn’t see much of the volcano, and that meant no lava. Oh well. I did get almost 50 mosquito bites though, exciting!

After the “lava viewing” we went to one of the hot springs resorts where we spent a couple hours swimming in the pools there. There were 25 pools and more than 7 different temperatures. Some were bars, some were just for soaking and one even had three water slides. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip!

The next day we went on a boat tour of Rio Frio in the Cano Negro area, very close to the Nicaragua It was a muddy river, but one of the top 10 locations in Costa Rica for bird watching. My parents did the same tour when they visited and saw over 20 species of birds. I saw only 15 or so but it was still a wonderful tour. Three hours on the river, searching for birds and other species was wonderful! We saw howler monkeys and caimans in addition to all the birds. Some of the trees on the banks of the river were fascinating. There were so many bromeliads on the branches of some of the trees that they looked like they were going to collapse under all the weight. It was really astounding. I caught some amazing photos of some of the birds we saw and hopefully they turn out ok when I crop them so you can see the birds better. border.

The next day and a half we spent the day in very low key activities and didn’t leave the air conditioned hotel room much because it was so darn hot outside. It was wonderful to catch up on sleep and just relax. It felt so good!

I’m going to miss Monteverde so much. I have learned so much here that I don’t think I could write it all down. The people I have met here (Jane, Stacey, Cait, Amy, Adrienne, Anna and the wonderful, fantastic Bethany!) are amazing and I hope to cherish the friendships so they last a very long time. I’ll miss my fantastic host family and all the support they have given me (whether they know it or not) during my time here. My life here wouldn’t be what it is without all the support I have gotten from all of you back home! The reading, writing comments or emails, praying for me or visiting have been invaluable and I can’t thank you enough. You have all made my 5 months away from home much easier. My time here has been fantastic and one of the best experiences of my life. I have learned so much about myself and what I want from my life in the future. The teaching experience I’ve gotten here are priceless and I have a good base of Spanish that I can build on once I’m back home and then I will have a skill to use in the future.

I will be home very early in the morning on the 8^th of June, about a week and a half away. I am looking forward to seeing my family (both real and chosen), my bunny, my own bed, cheddar cheese, sourdough bread, real hamburgers (aka Burgerville burgers) and Dr. Pepper. Once I get home, and although Oregon is one of the greenest states, I will miss the trees and the sounds of the birds that I see and hear daily. I’ll miss the slow pace of Costa Rica, getting 8 hours of sleep a night and the fact that not everyone has a cell phone that rules their life. Life here is so much slower and low key. I don’t have somewhere to go every night and things are so much easier to deal with. It will be an interesting switch back to life in Oregon.

Thanks again for everything!

Hugs,

K