Arenal

So, I'm literally sitting in a hammock under some jungle trees looking at the top of a volcano.

It's quite pleasant, really. The weather is beautiful and the scenery is gorgeous. I've been here all morning sitting in the sun, doing some editing, and just relaxing. Well, I did jump in the pool to cool off. The last few days have been much more eventful than San Jose.

The place is Arenal National Park. The questionably extinct volcano has a lot of jungle trails and waterfalls with a notable hike to a lagoon in the crater. I arrived here a few days ago and quickly made friends with three Canadians, two accountants and a vet. We went to lunch where a local told us about a swimming hole around a small waterfall not far from town, so we decided to check it out. We walked up to about 10 people swimming at this absolutely picturesque swimming hole. It looked like it was designed for people to jump off the top of the 10-15 ft waterfall into a cool deep blue pool. We stayed there for several hours jumping off the waterfall and rope swing and exploring down river a little ways.

After an unremarkable dinner of chicken gizzards and a few beers in the pool, we went to bed.

The next morning we went to a much larger waterfall:

I wanted a log picture, too, but she got yelled at :( That's not even half of the waterfall.

It was very pleasant, but I think I already talked about waterfalls enough (we didn't jump of this one).

After the waterfall in the morning, Mike and I hiked to the top of the volcano (Chatto Cero), where there was a lagoon. It was a very steep hike and I definitely did not bring enough water. I sweat absurd amounts when it's cool out, but the hot, humid jungle made it worse. There was a nice, cold lagoon at the top. After cooling off for a bit, we headed around to the other side and hiked down. We found another waterfall and a few short trails.

Needless to say, I was exhausted from a full day of hiking and called it an early night. That brings me to today. I had a very nice relaxing day. I made some money and wrote two posts. Unfortunately, the internet is being finicky and I'm having a hard time uploading pictures, so sorry there aren't more.

San Jose

For those who kept asking, I apologize for not writing earlier. I spent my first week in San Jose, Costa Rica and honestly I didn't know what to say about it. Most people will make pretty disparaging remarks about San Jose and they are mostly well deserved. The city is very much like any other and is highly Americanized. There was a Hooters, Walmart, and TGIFridays close to my hostel. Pizza Hut is doing extremely well - maybe even better than McDonalds. It was very dirty. While I've never been there, one of my hostel mates said that it looks exactly like the central valley in California.

Me and the Colonel

In short, there is nothing of cultural significance or really beauty of any kind. However, my purpose is not to be a tourist 24/7 and the city is not without certain appeal. There are some nice parks and the downtown has a little charm to it with open markets and fresh fruit everywhere. I have always enjoyed walking around sort of aimlessly just to see things, and I got quite a bit of experience with the culture from watching the people.

The hostel I stayed at was a bit different from any of the others I have stay at before: the majority of the clientele lived there for extended periods of time. Some were entrepreneurs, students, or retirees and others I couldn't figure out their stories at all. I found it quite funny though that three (of ~15) had chemistry degrees. Maybe there's something about chemistry?

I had a good time in San Jose, but you should never go there on vacation. There's not much else to say. I stayed busy doing some editing and trying to speak Spanish (very poorly).

Pictures!

 Delicious Chicken Wings

 Nice sunset

Ain't nobody gonna duck with them