So this title may be overly sappy, but it's a pretty big deal {at least to me} when the people you've grown up with still play a part in your semi-adult life. And who didn't dream of traveling the world with their best friends when they were litt? Granted we may not be on a raft or wandering through Europe, but we're still young. Maybe those dreams will happen too.
So what exactly did happen? Emma and Luke {my adopted siblings for lack of a better term} flew down over !emorial Day weekend to spend some quality time with me in Costa Rica. Amd by quality time I mean of course we spent every minute of it doing something. The only time we really stopped moving was when we slept or were stuck in the car, which for Luke meant more time sleeping.
They arrived late Thursday evening to my little town after attempting to visit Poás {a volcano} that morning. And gracias a Dios, when I jumped in the car lo and behold a Pizza Hit pepperoni pizza in the seat next to me and a bag of chocolate chip cookies at my feet. I probably gained 5 lbs right there in the car. Don't get me wrong, the fresh food all the time is fantastic, but sometimes a girl wants a little {a lot} of grease. Well in the car we were and on our way to San Ramon, our lovely overnight spot before we continued our morning adventures.
After our first encounter with the dirt roads in the wind-up car as everyone had taken to calling it, we finally arrived to the B&B. now I could go on and on about this place for hours. If anyone is ever looking for an amazing get away I'd highly recommend spending a night relaxing here, but I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves and/or just ask Emma. She couldn't have found a better place to stay.
The next morning, after an incredible breakfast with oh my god it's real bacon! amd of course the obligatory fresh fruit we headed off to La Fortuna, the city that surrounds the volcano Arenal.
{SIDE NOTE- I'm going to try to figure out a way to put a map up in the adventures tab so where I am actually makes some more sense. I just don't know if I'm that good with computers.} Again, Emma did a great job finding an awesome place to stay and we arrived with no difficulties, not a common theme here. We had the afternoon free so after a brief lunch break we grabbed a list of things to do and attempted to make a decision.
Being 20-something's, we are obliged to make foolish and downright stupid decisions sometimes. So what did we decide to do? We picked the hardest hike we could find and set off in the thunderstorm. After getting our map soaked and a few false starts we eventually made it to the trail head leading up to Cerro Chato- a dormant volcano whose crater is filled with water and is now a lake. I use the term trail head loosely here. The rain had finally stopped, but what waited before us was possibly the most ridiculous climb I have ever seen. Some of the "steps" were taller than I was which meant climbing around and over things. Not to mention the entire trail was mud.
My shoe was sucked off within the first five minutes and we were all sucking wind after 30.
Little did we know it had just begun. Up and up and up we went and when it would finally look like it would get easier the next obstacle or climb would present itself amd be more ludicrous than the last. We finally reached the lookout point after about an hour and a half of straight uphill hauling ass. The view was amazing and definitely worth it.
What no one told us though was that it was another thirty minute hike down to the lake. Congrats you made it to the top, but oh by the way you have to go back down now. And by the time we'd made it to the top we'd probably been hiking for a good hour and a half. The sun sets incredibly early, but we were determined that we had to get to the bottom. So down we went. By this point caring if our shoes got muddy was nonexistent. Through mud puddles and swamps and branches and straight up jungle we went. Until finally we made it to a 50 foot drop. What? Yes, a drop. The "steps" had to be the steepest things I'd ever seen and going down my biggest fear was that my legs were going to give out and I'd tumble head first down the hill. And then Emma fell. Luckily she went backwards {and saved herself a good 10 feet of hiking by sliding down the hill}. And then there we were. In this gorgeous crater all alone. We swam around for a few minutes, but not knowing what lived in the lake, we didn't venture too far out. And the. Someone looked at the time.
We had a forty five until 5. That meant we had anywhere from an hour to am hour and a half to complete our two hour hike back before it got dark. And then it started pouring. I'm talking the kind of rain that makes it hard to hear and see. Where every thunder crack sounds like the earth is splitting. I won't go on to explain the details of the hike back down except to say that there was a lot of falling from everyone, and a few swear words too.
We did make it back. Soaked and tired. The rest of the night involved a hot dinner and bed. We were too wiped to even try to attempt going to the hot springs. Part II coming soon!
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