Valcanoes, Brits, and Senor Manuel Antonio

After leaving Panama, the boys and I headed to La Fortuna, Costa Rica. La Fortuna is the small town just below the volcano, Arenal. It was AMAZING there! We stayed at a hostel called Arenal Backpackers. For our first tour, we hiked around the volcano to a wonderful that was FREEZING cold, but we swam anyway. We hollered with some monkeys and then went to the Arenal Observatory where we saw the volcano actually erupt!!! It was so cool! I have never seen real lava before- WOWSERS. At the end of the night, we stopped at the hot springs called Baldi Springs. It was like a water park of HOT springs! So crazy! Complete with water slides and all. During the tour we met two of my new favorite people; Hayley and Debra (not to be confused with Debbie) from London. HILARIOUS chicas! Made for some really awesome entertainment and banter. LOVE them.

We ended up staying at Arenal Backpackers for three nights! It was more like a resort than anything else. There was a pool, hammocks, and DELICIOUS food. Our second day there we did ziplining through the forest. CRAZY high up in the trees. The best part was this tarzan swing that makes you so scared you could pee yourself.

A very long and bumpy shuttle ride later we have arrived in Manuel Antonio. Just got here though and it's "pissing" rain as the brits would say - LOVED THEM. Hopefully tomorrow I can take a surf lesson or something. There is also a monkey sanctuary or some sort here. Might check that out tomorrow. So far I can only tell you that it's a really hilly area and the view from the hostel is REMARKABLE. We are really high up and it directly overlooks the ocean. Beautiful.

A couple weeks into the trip I am beginning to feel the starts of difficult-ness. I cannot imagine how people do this their whole lives. I still love every second, but it's really hard and draining to spend so much time really getting to know some incredible people and then two days later have them leave and begin from scratch again. Not going to lie it's exhausting. After just a couple days of hanging out you feel so close to them, it's surreal. So, every time they leave it's like saying goodbye to a close friend over and over again. WHEW. Part of the experience though I suppose...

Till next time!!!! PICS!