One more week :(

I realize it has been a long long time since  I have updated this, but so much has been going on! For the past week, we have been all over this country! I am glad to be back on campus, but I am really sad we only have one more week here!! I am going to miss this place so much more than I am able to explain.

Last Thursday, we left here at 7:00 for our 6 hour ride to Cabo Blanco. We had to drive for about 2 hours, get on a one hour ferry and then drive the rest of the way to Cabo. We stayed at a total nature reserve that you have to be invited to come in to and apparently only 12 groups get to go per year. Cars weren't allowed to even come in so we had to hike for about a mile with our bags up to this place. Cabo Blanco is on the southern coast of Costa Rica and it was HOT HOT HOT! It was similar to summers in Georgia...you should stood there and you sweat. But, it was absolutely beautiful. We were right on the beach and surrounded by gorgeous trees, plants and birds. The next morning, we were supposed to go snorkeling, but the earthquake that hit Japan sent a tsunami warning to us in Costa Rica. We had to go pack an emergency bag and hike up to a safe place and stay there until the warning was over. It was crazy because a lot of girls were freaking out and we didn't know how serious it was because we were so far away from any source of internet or TV. Well obviously, everything turned out to be fine and the rest of the days, we went on with our normal activities. Eventually, we did get to go snorkeling and it was awesome!! I saw so many cool, colorful fish and we also saw a HUGE sea turtle. We got to pull out our mattresses on the porch every night and fall asleep listening to the ocean, it was great. After 4 days at Cabo Blanco, we were ready to leave because it was miserably hot and the two old park rangers there were crazy, but that's a long story.

After Cabo Blanco, we were on our way to visit the Arenal Volcano (6 hours in the other direction). We went from roughing it, to absolute paradise! We stayed at a resort/spa type place with lots of hot springs and we stayed in cute little villas. The night we got there, we had a buffet dinner at the hotel and they had STEAK! It was awesome. The next day (first off, there was bacon for breakfast) we hiked some of the trails up the volcano and hung out at the top for a while to admire all the beautiful views. The rest of the day was simply relaxation...we went to another resort that had 20 something hot springs and 3 water slides. It was one of the nicest places I have ever been to. We hung out there the rest of the day and destroyed the buffet for dinner as well and of course took over the chocolate fountain. 

Today on our way back, we stopped at this cool river where you could rope swing into the river...it was AWESOME! I did it four times... and it was only like 9:30 in the morning. It was definitely one of the most fun things I have done here. I am going to miss all the cool little waterfalls and rivers that we have been to and the fun hikes to them. We are back now and I know this last week is going to fly by...especially because we are going to be super busy finishing up classes as well. I gave up Facebook for Lent, but I will load some pictures on here later tonight!

Pura Vida!!