Ricki, our guide, had a mantra today: "A rainforest wouldn't be a rainforest without.......(fill in the blank)." If you guessed "rain," you are correct. We came to realize just how true this statement is today as the wet stuff kept falling and falling and falling from the sky. It was an awesome day- don't get us wrong- it just rained a lot. But, hey- when you're in a rainforest during the rainy season, you've got to expect it. Fortunately all of us were well prepared with raincoats, some stylish ponchos, and umbrellas.
Our day started out with an excursion to the Poas Volcano, which was breathtaking. We walked uphill for quite a while and finally were rewarded at the top of the volcano by a spectacular view of the 2nd largest active crater in the world. The water was green in color, with a Ph level of almost 0, making it impossible for almost any living organism to survive in it.
We then continued on to the lake near the crater, which was actually the original crater from this volcano. The first one we saw was formed because lava couldn't make it through all the rock that was left behind the first time the volcano erupted. We took some pretty pictures there and loaded up the bus to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.
At this point, it began to rain. Fortunately, all of our luggage on the top of the bus was well covered by a tarp, so we didn't (really) have to wory about it getting (that) wet. Our lunch at the Waterfall Gardens was a lot like being at the Rainforest Cafe in the Mall of America, exclept that our surroundings were actually real. After lunch (a buffet including all the Costa Rican staples such as bruchetta, French fries, pizza, and chicken), we continued on to the animal portion of the park. We saw and interacted with some very cute monkeys (who reached out and squeezed our fingers, tickled our hands, and tried to pull us into their cage to play with them), butterflies from the jungle (which happily landed on our fingers), a multitude of colorful birds (the toucans actually landed on our arms), and a wide variety of colorful rainforest flowers. 
The bus next brought us to the La Paz Waterfall itself, which was incredibly powerful. We stopped to take pictures near it and marvel at it, but the rocks were too slippery to climb on, and it's not safe enough anymore for anyone to go behind it like they used to.Our bus ride after La Paz Waterfall was definitely not for the faint of heart. Traveling on a road that our guide and bus driver hadn't traveled on in 4 years since the last earthquake 3 years ago was both interesting and a bit...shall we say...exhilirating. :) There was a lot of fog. Actually, they were clouds, becuase we were actually in a cloud forest. And the roads were kind of narrow. But our driver, Scooby, did a phenomenal job and got us to all of our destinations safely.
We arrived at La Quinta, a lodge in the rainforest, had a delicious dinner and are now ready to hit the hay after an action-packed day.
Thanks for reading.
PURA VIDA!!!
Profe Simmons y Profe Olson
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