Panama = Thanksgiving break!

This was my first out of the country trip that wasn't pre-planned for me! Very exciting. I left on a Monday with Megan and we headed to Puerto Viejo in Limon where we met up with Ben and his buddy Kevin (who came to visit for the week). We played on the beach for a bit and then Tuesday left fairly early for Panama. It was about a 2hr trip to the border, and then we had to wait in line to get our passports stamped. We had to cross this long, hole filled bridge to get to the Panama side, where we then had to follow this man's directions to buy a return ticket, get a $5 visa and our passport stamped again. Then we took a van to a place where we got on a boat to take us to Boca del Toro. Boca del Toro is a collection of islands and is probably one of the most touristy places in Panama, but it was super relaxing. We stayed in a hostel called Gran Kahuna, and it was awesome. The downstairs lounge areas had couches, hammocks and a big screen TV. The 1st day we just explored the area. Wednesday we took a $15 boat tour from 9:30 am to 5pm, which included dolphin watching, snorkeling, and a trip to Red Frog Beach. We saw a dolphin naturally when we were 1st heading into Bocas, so going to search for them seemed a little strange. There was one, but it was kind of weird because whenever he'd surface, the boat would like chase it and it'd disappear again. Then the boat driver started moving in a circle and the dolphin would follow it and do flips and other tricks. Snorkeling was pretty cool and after a while I got more use to it and relaxed without hyperventilating. It was nice because the water was warm. Also, the beach was beautiful with white sand and blue blue water. the waves were gigantic and super strong but it was pretty to watch them break because they created white foam. Red Frog Beach is named that way because there are tiny red frogs there. Everyone else from my school arrived Wednesday day and so we went out to this place called Aqua Lounge for Christina's birthday that night. Our group of people was the one that got everyone up and dancing at the club, and Will was dancing like crazy and of course he ended up taking his shirt off (very typical of him). Ben and some other people jumped off the diving board into the water, and then some other people were jumping on a water trampoline. It was pretty fun. Thursday we went to a beach called Starfish Beach, and it was the coolest one I've ever seen! There were starfish as big as my face all over the bottom of the water, which was crystal clear. We were wading among them and decided they couldn't be dangerous, so we opted to pick them up. They are super hard and we could see them sucking their little tentacle thing that they must move with back inside. Very neat! That night I didn't go out and Friday Megan, Ben and I literally didn't do anything the next day. Ben said we were on and eat, sleep and poo schedule!!! haha Not too far from the truth. It was relaxing though. That night we went to a club/bar that was build on top of a shipwreck. It was pretty cool. Megan Ben and I left on Saturday and man what a long day on the bus. We left Panama at 7:30 in the morning and didn't get back into San Jose until 5pm. It was a great break from classes!!

Turrialba & Arenal...I'm very behind on the blogging bussiness!

November 15th I traveled to Turrialba, which is world renowned for Rio Pacuare. There I met up with my raft guide buddy, Kyle, who is down here for a few weeks working as a guide. Our trip was pretty cool because in the raft was our guide, 2 girls from Sweden, 3 guys from France, Miguel and me. So we had a ton of different languages going on, but what was really cool was that we used English to communicate. Kyle was our safety kayaker, and there was one point I thought he was going to drown because he flipped over in a hole, and couldn't get his boat flipped back over. He was fighting with the water for probably a good two minutes and finally had to pull the string on his spray skirt and let himself out of the kayak and swim. It was pretty scary.

Speaking of scary, I've never been rafting in water so HUGE! The river was gigantic, with huge drops where at some points it seemed like our boat was going to get swallowed. I fell out, along with the whole rest of my side, but I was only in the water for a few seconds before the guide pulled me back in the boat. It was super super fun, but I do have to say that I was a little nervous at times! The following weekend API took a trip to Arenal where we stayed in La Fortuna (a town). This is totally where I want my parents to come sometime for an anniversary! What a pretty place! Friday after we arrived we had the option to go on one of two hikes. A super hard one up (literally up) a mountain or an easier one to some waterfalls. I chose the waterfall trail. We had to climb down some intense stairs to get to them, but it was worth it. The 1st one was HUGE and super powerful. The 2nd waterfall was broken up by rocks, so to me it looked more elegant. We could go underneath that one, but I didn't because it was like ice water cold.

The next day we went for another hike to get a better look at Volcan Arenal, but it was pretty rainy and cloudy the whole time. Our hiking trail seemed like one big mud puddle, but we hiked that way so we could stop and see the gigantic tree that probably is older than my oldest ancestors. It was massive! And smelled like rotting fish for some reason. It was pretty amusing because when we got to the top to see the volcano another group of people came up from the other side and had literally NO mud on them at all, while we were covered in it. That night we went to a natural hot springs resort called Baldi that has like 25 different pools of water that get hotter as you make your way up. This is where I want my mom and dad to visit because it was SO pretty and relaxing. There are little waterfalls of hot water that you can go under and let give you a water massage, so nice. Also, one of the pools has three huge waterslides. They seemed sketchy because no one was really keeping an eye on them and they appeared really old and rickety (janky for Lena). I went down the slower one 1st and literally stopped moving in the middle of the slide. I was worried that someone would hit me, so I pushed myself so I'd move again. Then, all of a sudden I flew out of the tube into the water where I couldn't reach the bottom...The 2nd slide was similar, but it was faster.

Close to the end the water pushed me into a laying down position and I couldn't sit back up. Then I got shot out on my back which wasn't the most comfortable thing. Some of the pools higher up were even more awesome with like lounging chairs in the water. The next morning Lena, Becca, Francy, Megan, Julie, Rachna and I got up super early to go rafting on el Rio Toro. The rapids weren't nearly as gigantic as Pacuare, but it was still exciting. We split up into 2 different boats and I was the only one who'd ever been rafting before in my boat. I paddled in the front for the 1st time, which wasn't too too bad like I had always thought it would be. The only one that fell out of our raft was Rachna, but that's because she was "riding the bull." Meaning the guide had her go sit on the very front of the raft, and hand all for all her worth as we went straight into a rapid. Everyone fell out of the other boat though and even though I know it is dangerous it was super funny to watch. Megan got tangled in the rope and once she was pulled back into the raft she was flailing around trying to get to an upright position. I feel like being a raft guide would be so stressful sometimes!

Oh..And I have a joke that I find rather clever...

que es el animal más perezoso en el mundo?

un pez. que hace un pez? nada. Get it?!

All the Way back to Rafting the Pacuare on Nov 15th

As you can see I am yet again very behind on my blogging, so here is me trying to catch up! A few weeks ago I traveled to Turrialba where rafting is excellent! I met up with Kyle JOhan, a raft guide buddy from the U.S. who got a job as a guide here in Costa Rica. Rafting was incredible!!! I've never been in water so big. The drops seemed so huge, and I was soaking wet from the beginning. It was great fun, but at the same time I'll admit to being a little scared. I posted pictures on facebook if you'd like to check them out! (even though by now you all probably seen them!) It was a good weekend!