Our last day in Arenal was extremely wet. As I believed I mentioned earlier, we hiked to see an old lava flow in the rain. This actually was really cool. We got to see that hardened magma from an eruption that occurred in 1992. Again, we were all pretty petrified. We were especially scared due to the signs every so often that said something along the lines of, Caution! You are entering a High Risk Volcanic Area! After we got to the lava flow we looked around for awhile and then headed back down the trail in the rain. We got back to the parking lot and our driver was no where to be found, so we had to walk down the road and find him, which luckily we did! After the hike we went back to the Hotel to change since we were all soaked to the bone. Of course I decided to wear jeans on the one day that it decided to rain!
We headed to Baldi Hot Springs around noon. We had lunch there, which was amazing. I got Sea Bass, sooo good. Then we were let loose for hours of relaxation. I didn't really know what to expect from the hot springs, but it was really pretty damn cool. As most people may know I am not the biggest fan of anything related to swimming, so I was a little skeptical. After the cold and wet weekend we had, Baldi was a special treat. It was raining while we were there, but it actually worked perfectly. There are 20 pools spread around and all of varying temperatures. The coolest is 93 degrees and the hottest is 152!!! We tried as many as possible, but also managed to stay in a key few that were just right. I prefered the large jacuzzi that was 112 degrees or so. There was another much larger pool that was quite shallow. It was 109 degrees and in the middle of it there was another smaller pool that was much cooler, so it was nice to be able to rotate between the two. I highly recommend looking for a Hot Spring near you.
We reluctantly left the Hot Springs and drove to the nearby town of La Fortuna. This was our first chance to do some tourist shopping. I was determined to get a sweatshirt. One thing I have learned, there are no sweatshirts in Costa Rica!!! Not a one!! But I did get a pretty cool Imperial shirt that also says Costa Rica and Pura Vida on the back.
After that we had dinner at our hotel, and once again as the professors went to bed, we stayed up at the restaurant/bar and had ourselves some fun. The next morning we had breakfast and departed at 8 am. It was still very rainy so we couldn't take the boat back across, so we made the four hour drive back around the lake and to San Luis. Oh I guess I should mention that during my first day in Arenal my digital camera decided to stop working. I was freaking out, but luckily, thanks to my amazing father (and mother and sister and brother) I will be getting a new one tomorrow. I also cam to find out that once I got back to San Luis that my computer decided to break as well. I was pretty upset yesterday, but I'm trying to get over it and just look forward to the new computer I'll be buying once I am back in the states...if I have any money left!
Once we were back we started packing for our homestays. We were all very excited, but also a little sad. We all have become so close that it is weird not being together all the time. Around 315, Lyndsay took Wyatt, Amy, Ashley and I to meet our families. My Family lives about a 15 to 20 minute walk from campus. Ashley is about 5 or 10 minutes away from me, so we walk to and from school together. My family is very nice. I'm not gonna lie, I think I'm still in the awkward phase, but I am enjoying it. It is forcing me to us my spanish even more! I have a 14 year old sister Jossette, who does speak english, but only Spanish to me! I also have three year old sister named Joanna, who I can understand very well. I think she talks about me sometimes, one time I heard her say, "Caitlin's madre..." and then I didn't understand the rest, but I guess she was talking about my mom! I also have a one year old brother named Kevin. My host mom is Edith, she is quite, but sweet. My host father is Milton, he is very nice and speaks slowly to me. My House a little further up the mountain and I have an amazing view, I can even see the ocean, although it is extremely far away. I'll be sure to take pictures once I have my camera.
All in all things are going well. It's been a hard couple of days, but I'm getting used to my new routine. Can't wait to see what other surprises Costa Rica has in store!
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