Hot Springs = Hot Date

We´re back in Hostel Pangea in San Jose and are relieved to return to our home base. The bus ride back from La Fortuna was again about five hours, but it was way easier and more relaxed than on the way up. The weather was cool and foggy for part of the way but mostly beautifully clear. It´s funny that many of our friends from La Fortuna and the Finns that were staying here before are here now. Heck, even my mouse that we left plugged into this public computer downstairs in the hostel is still here. How nice!

One thing we´re learning about Costa Rica (and taking full advantage of) is that the people here are incredibly nice. I´m biased enough to think that it could largely be due to the fact that a large portion of the population is devoutly Christian. And they´re not Pharisees - they seem to be giving of help and advice no matter how irritating our broken Spanish and gringo habits must seem to them. Numerous times in La Fortuna we needed directions or a helping hand and the people here seem more than willing to help. Ahmad, an Iranian man who met his Costa Rican wife in LA, married her there and then moved to Nuevo Arenal, was especially helpful and friendly to us for nothing other than a hug from Megan, a handshake from me, and promises to oppose ¨that Son of a Bush!¨

The puentes colgantes, or ¨hanging bridges¨ of Arenal that Megan wrote about were undoubtedly one of the trip´s highlights. We saw monkeys playing in the trees, hiked off the trail to pursue birds running or flying about, and literally hiked for miles through the rainforest. The hanging bridges themselves offered amazing views, and one of the best parts was that, though somewhat expensive, it was our first big splurge of the trip (<$50) and still felt affordable enough that we didn´t feel too guilty about it. Pictures will be up soon of our special time with some coatis next to the road. Read about these funny animals here: http://www.animalplanet.co.uk/bears/racoonfamily/coati/index.shtml

Yesterday´s trip to the hot springs was also wonderful. It was incredibly rainy while we were there, and late yesterday afternoon we made it to the outskirts of town and went across the street from one of the more-touristed spots. We approached massive wooden gates with trees forming a canopy above them. We used an intercom to get let in, and as the gates swung open to a narrow road lined with tropical flora, I looked at Megan and said, ¨Are we entering Jurassic Park, or what´s the deal here?¨ The rain had soaked us to the bone, but luckily we had been walking around with bathing suits on under our clothes all day, and after a half hour soaking in the five pools - all heated with natural hot spring water - we felt as good as new.

Megan got hit with her first bout of homesickness yesterday, and only playing Crazy Eights with our new friend from France made her feel any better. Also, La Fortuna hit us a little bit with the stark reality of how expensive being a tourist is. On the one hand, living expenses there were incredibly cheap. Dorms were $8 for the two of us and we probably spent $6 total for food on our inexpensive day. We saw that tours were expensive, though, and we know our splurges on the bridges and the hot springs can´t be an everyday thing. This is good advice for anyone who plans on visiting us, too: after packing your bags, bring half as much stuff and twice as much money. We will just have to be smart, taking the cheap public buses wherever we can, staying in the biggest, cheapiest dorm rooms at hostels, and springing for those expensive outings once in a while. We already have a job offer on the table, and are waiting to hear back from our first-choice company, so I´m not worried. We just want to have money and vacation time set aside for when friends and family visit and want to see the sights with us.

All in all, it was a great trip. I look forward to either staying in San Jose for a few nights and going to the Festival of Light on Saturday, maybe an advent mass, too, or bussing it to a beach city on the Pacific and looking for that slim chance of finding a teaching job, cheap accomodations, and beginner waves in a beach town. Either way, tonight it will be fun to have a beer with our Finnish, English, and German friends, and Megan and I will wake up tomorrow ready for our next adventure, wherever or whatever that might be.

A special note from Megan-
The so called ¨Happy Cows¨in California don´t know what they´re missing. The cows here have it made. On the ride between La Fortuna and San Jose we saw about a thousand pleasantly plump cows grazing and taking in the sun on beutiful green hillsides surrounded by the most coloful tropical plants on the planet. So next time you pass some poor, pathetic Californian cow give it a sympathetic smile and a pat on the tush for me.

Additional note from Megan-
Cows kick sideways.