Well, my attempt to see Will Smith yesterday did not turn out quite as well as I would’ve liked; nonetheless, it was yet another great day here in Costa Rica. Being Naomi’s last day in La Fortuna, we of course had to take advantage of each other’s company and enjoy a fun-filled day. After breakfast with the police, I met her at her hostel where a super nice couple from Washington D.C. that was renting a car and going up to the Castillo area and gave us a lift there, saving us a bit for the public bus. When we got to the road that goes near the national park, they dropped us off and we walked another 1.5 km to get to the dam of Lake Arenal. When we got to the dam, we scouted out a man with a small fruit/snack stand and also two kayaks on the top of the stand for rent. We went for his two-person kayak for $25 for 2 hours. Seeing he had fresh coconuts, Naomi also very effectively persuaded the man to also throw in two of them. Nothing like starting off the day like fresh coconut water and a kayak ride on an amazing lake just beyond a huge volcano. The lake was great- besides one large group of American kids in kayaks at the start, we didn’t see anyone but a couple larger boats. It was so peaceful and the volcano just never gets old.
By the time our 2 hours were up and we returned, our butts were soaking wet and my back was pretty sore from the little seat, but it was well worth it. When we walked up to the top of the dam, Naomi noticed a half broken sign that read “Beware of Crocodiles.” I’m glad she saw that AFTER we finished the trip. We then headed back to the road to the national park as this is where the base camp for Will Smith’s movie is and where they are filming now, and I was determined to try to see some of the movie action. When we got to the gravel road to the national park, a nice man in a van with a sign saying “cameras” picked us up saving us a 2km walk. As we were asking the park guy about the movie people, we found out that the filming was now too far up that we could not actually see them. He then stopped and said, well here comes the care van of the crew now, stopping for lunch.
“In fact,” he said, “these big black SUV’s are usually the ones taking Will Smith around.”
As we turned, we saw the SUV drive by with 4 African American guys, including one in the passenger seat with his arm sticking out. And although, I can’t say for certain, but from what I've seen of him in several movies, it definitely looked like it could be the arm of Will Smith. After more cars and vans carrying more of the crew went by, we decided to head with them to the base camp to try to get another look. Luckily for us, our Washington D.C. friends were leaving as well and gave us another lift to the base camp area. We watched from afar for a while as the crew got their yummy barbeque lunch and sat in their large tent eating, but eventually gave up. We did walk around a bit and found a prop for the movie, a neat large piece of a crashed airplane. We then started walking back toward La Fortuna. Although I normally wouldn’t be up for hitchhiking, with the 15km to Fortuna and having Naomi a more experienced hitchhiker, I joined her in sticking out my thumb waiting for a ride. Luckily, pretty quickly another nice young couple from D.C. in a large tour van with a kind driver pulled over for us. When we got back to Fortuna, we stopped at Mega Mart for a quick snack, and headed toward the Fortuna Waterfall. Although I really wanted to see the waterfall, knowing how long the walk would be there and needing to get back for my class, I walked with Naomi for about 2.5 miles and then headed back to town. My cool shower felt good after being in the sun all day.
With this group, I we decided to change class time from around 7-9pm to 6-8pm, having dinner earlier and finishing earlier so the officers in the group taking other classes like math to finish their high school degree will have more time to study. Yesterday was the first quiz for this group. It went pretty well. It took longer than I was expecting for just 8 questions, but I found that they did learn some of what I talked about the previous week. And of course, one of my officers, Edwin, had to show off a photo on his cell phone of him with Will Smith pretending to arrest him. Talk about jealousy.
After class, I met up with Naomi and Lindsay for one last time before Naomi left and to exchange some photos. It really is neat how you can become friends with some people in such little time, especially when sharing such amazing experiences. Today- having another great day- running around a volcano, tropical flowers, and friendly people and spending time with a good book.
No comments:
Post a Comment