Brilliant

Sitting along the edge of a beautiful green crater lake of an inactive volcano, looking up at a perfectly clear view of a larger, active volcano, surrounded by a pretty bright blue sky, on a gorgeous sunny day that is not too hot or cold, with a nice cool breeze, I almost had to pinch myself to make sure it was really Valentine’s Day and I was really at this amazing place. To say the least, I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day as my friends Lindsay and Naomi and I hiked to the top of Cerro Chato, the inactive volcano next to Volcan Arenal. It was absolutely amazing. Not only was it beautiful, but I had great company, which makes any trip better. This was the second time I hiked Cerro Chato with Lindsay, but unlike the first time, we were able to see everything! The previous time, there were so many clouds (which is the cast most of the time) we couldn’t see more than 10 feet of the crater lake and nothing of Arenal. Today, we were also able to go on a little back trail around the lake and up to the other side of the crest of the mountain. It was such a fun hike. Some parts required literally rock climbing and pulling up from tree root to rock like a big adult jungle gym (which as Naomi pointed out is very applicable description seeing as we were in an actual jungle). Other parts were so muddy, I almost had my hiking shoes sucked right off of me. Not only did we see the incredible views from the summit, along the way we of course saw the huge trees, colorful flowers, and tons of green of the forest. We also were lucky to see some cool wildlife including two loud and brightly yellow, red, and black colored Toucans. Lindsay also scared us when she came across a snake near the lake, with good reason, as the snake was black with yellow and red stripes a type of coral snake, which from what we could remember is a dangerous snake. Naomi did some research though, and this particular one would not have been deadly.  After hiking from around 10am to 4:30pm, we did not know if we would be able to walk another hour back into town. Fortunately, two nice German women let us hitch a ride in the back hitch of their small SUV. We then went to a pretty coffee shop/restaurant in Central Park where I enjoyed a delicious pineapple smoothie with milk. I then went on to the police station where I had a different dinner of beans and rice AND a yummy broccoli and egg omelet type dish. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to have class as there were several problems they had to go to help out with; however, that was fine with me as I was extra tired after the hike and the many other adventures I have been able to have the past few days. 

Sunday, was very similar to yesterday in that I got to go on a daylong hike, but this time only with Naomi and at the Volcan Arenal National Park, located on the other side of the Volcano that faces La Fortuna. I have been wanting to get to this side as this is also were the Arenal Lake is located. Naomi and I got up early to catch a bus to Castillo, another small area just outside La Fortuna. At the bus stop nearest the Park, I realized we were right next to a mini-tourist police station for Castillo. Thus, we went and visited with the officers that I knew there. They pointed us on our way to the Park which was another 1.5km away (which I’m getting pretty good at judging distances in kilometers now, running so many 5K’s helps me remember the ratio to miles). The National Park, which is also known as Arenal 1968, cost $10 to enter, like most tourist attractive areas. The park is called Arenal 1968, because most of the formations and lakes were formed by the Volcano which had its first major eruption in 1968. I had heard about this eruption not knowingly earlier when talking to a friend of my grandparents who is from Costa Rica. When talking about visiting La Fortuna, she said she doesn’t like to because she is afraid of the volcano since she lost some friends in the large explosion in the 60’s. It was a great day. We had some extra time to just sit and watch the clouds roll over the volcano and lake. We also saw the base for where the Will Smith movie is; however, unluckily Sunday they were not working. Nonetheless, we are going to head back to that area today and maybe get a chat with Will as it is their final day filming here. I really hope we do after hearing all my police officers brag about seeing him. Plus, I will be enjoying another day with Naomi before she heads on to other parts of Costa Rica.

I absolutely loved getting to spend the day with Naomi and listen to her great English accent. I felt like I was out on an adventure with Hermione Granger. I also learned some humorous differences between English English and American English. A couple examples include “mozzies” to refer to mosquitoes (which unfortunately were horribly thick in the wooded part of the trail we hiked at the Park) as well as “swimming costume” instead of “swim suit or bathing suit.” And, I have decided I am going to use the adjective “Brilliant” to replace words like “neat” and “cool” from now on. After seeing some truly brilliant things like this massive volcano, I think it is a much more adequate description. Plus, I think it is a fun word to say with a British accent. When we got back into La Fortuna, I showed her my favorite bakery and we enjoyed some yummy desert pastries and got to know each other even more. She told me about her Taekwondo training, including her recent advancement to red belt, of which most things went straight over my head, but overall very impressive, especially coming from a small, pale English girl.  After our conversation, I went on a quick run because the weather was just too nice not to, took a shower, and watched some of the very heated Costa Rican National League game featuring Saprissa and League (which is similar to the rivalry between MU vs. KU from what I gather). It was pretty interesting to see and hear absolutely every household in town watching the game and yelling in unison to the events of the game.

Monday, I used the perfect spring-like weather to go on a long run and visit the gym for a bike ride. I also learned that back in Southwest MO there was finally some snow, and thus, naturally, my alma mater MSSU had to cancel school, so, I used the free time of some friends back home to skype and rub in the fact that I was in a beautiful place and wearing a tank-top and shorts. Austin and I were also able to exchange our Valentine’s Day gifts a day early (of which I received one of the sweetest Valentine’s gifts of all time). I also made a trip to the Mega Super market in town for the first time to make a replacement key of the key I lost. I also bought some snacks for our Cerro Chato hike yesterday and found my new favorite grocery store here in La Fortuna.  Quick observation about some grocery items in Costa Rica: semi-liquid items usually packaged in plastic jars or bowls like sour cream and jelly in the U.S. can only be bought plastic tubs that are not re-sealable, and it is quite annoying when using such products. Monday was also the day to celebrate the two February birthday’s among the police officers. When I got to the station, they had a cake ready and were taking photos with it. It was really comical just how many photos they wanted to take with this cake. Both of the birthday boys had to have a photo with it together, solo, solo acting like they were cutting the cake, the entire group, photos of the cake from all different angles, and of course, a photo of the birthday boys with their English teachers. The cake was good, the texture was a bit different than cakes back in the U.S., but it was a good appetizer as we all ate cake before our yummy garlic oil and onion pasta and rice dinner. I really am enjoying the company of the police officers. It is so nice when I go for runs in this smaller town and see them drive by and get to wave at my friends, just as if I were back at home. La Fortuna is really a brilliant place.