Day 5: Tirimbina Rainforest Center & La Fortuna

Hola a todos!

Today we awoke half excited and half nervous for the day's adventures.  Taking a group of 20 high school students white water rafting is the kind of thing that can keep a chaperone up all night.  That and noticing the silhouette of a gecko on the window right next to your bed as you're trying to fall asleep, running next door to solicit the help of your brave co-chaperone, then having to capture said gecko in a glass and run outside to release it into the wild.  But, I digress.  I had pictured one raft full of students and chaperones braving class 6 rapids with several waterfalls along the way.  I was unsure as to how we would do.  I'm happy to report that the guides split us into 4 different rafts with 5-6 students in each raft and an experienced guide in back.  We went through a safety training and practice, then hit the water.

The rapids were only class 1 and 2 (with a couple 3s mixed in), so the trip was much more enjoyable than it was nerve-wracking.  Our guides kept the calm parts of the river interesting by starting water wars with other rafts, resulting in all-out splashing contests.  The guide in our raft taught us that in order to win a water war, all one has to do is declare oneself the winner.  So, after each war, our group would raise our paddles high, joining them in the air, and yell, "WINNERS!"  Other groups did the same thing, but yelled, "PURA VIDA!!!"  Our guide also incorporated 3 "life lessons" in to our tour, which the kids thought was pretty cool.  They were: 1) find a wise person in your life and ask them all the questions you can to garner as much wisdom as possible from them, 2) be proactive in finding the perfect job that makes you happy, because it's out there somewhere, and 3) smile- it can get you a lot farther in life than you ever thought possible.  Halfway through the trip, we pulled over onto a beach and swam while our guides cut fresh pineapple and watermelon for us to feast on.  It was the perfect treat on a warm day on the water.

After the whitewater rafting adventure, we drove to La Fortuna and checked in at the hotel.  La Fortuna is a small, quaint city at the foot of the Arenal Volcano, which is still active.  It's actually the most active volcano in Costa Rica (but I'm happy to report that it decided not to erupt when we were there).  Our dinner was at a hot springs resort which was immense- multiple hot spring pools dotted the park amongst beautiful tropical gardens and paths, restaurants, and waterslides.  Each pool was kept to a specific temperature by adding a certain amount of cold water to the burning hot thermal water.  It was quite an experience!  We spent a couple of hours swimming, relaxing, and going down waterslides before heading back to the hotel.  By this time, it was 9:30 and the kids were understandably exhausted.

FYI: our internet access has been a bit shaky lately due to weather conditions, but we´ll continue to post as often as possible. 

Thanks for reading!

Profes Simmons and Olson