Day 6: La Fortuna and Monteverde

Hola otra vez!

Today was a little bit more of a relaxing day for everyone- we’ll call it the calm after the storm that we had the last couple days.  We woke up a little earlier than normal, but as we say in Spanish, "vale la pena" (it was worth it).  We arrived at La Fortuna Waterfall.  After seeing it from above and hearing such comments as “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” from our students, we took the long, steep hike down to see it from ground level.  Once we arrived at the bottom, the students all jumped into the water to swim with the fish.  The temperature of the water was....well we’ll just say it wasn’t quite as nice as the hot springs from last night.  At this point many students ventured up stream to get a closer look at the waterfall. 

It was truly amazing how powerful the waterfall was as it hit the creek below.  After taking pictures and enjoying the waterfall, we were reminded of a valuable lesson: what goes down must go back up.  Wait...that's not right.  We were reminded of the sobering fact that in order to get back to the bus, we would have to climb up the same steep stairs that we climbed down.  We did this, with little complaining on the part of the students, but rather acknowledgements that this would probably count as their workout for the day...or week...or month. 

After we had the chance to rest and catch our breath, we boarded the bus and headed towards a quaint mountain city named Monteverde.  First, we drove around the immense Lake Arenal, which was constructed around 40 years ago, and was built to be used as a source for hydrogen power.  They used dynamite to change the rountes of rivers for flow into the lake, and after a year it was full.  It sits in the shadows of the Arenal Volcano, and was actually made over the original city of Arenal.  The new city now rests about 20 miles away the lake.

The rest of the 4 hour bus ride gave us all an appreciation for roads in the United States.  If you think the pot holes in Minnesota are bad after a long winter, imagine this: a gravel road with pot holes every 50 yards or less.  Our bus, full of students, with all our luggage on the roof, weaving around to avoid pot holes, crossing narrow bridges and making hair pin turns, barely missing oncoming cars and trucks on the narrow mountain roads. Thankfully Scooby was able to keep the ride smooth enough so nobody became a victim to motion sickness.  In fact, many students were lulled to sleep by the bumpiness of the ride.  The views were amazing; some tried to capture them with photos, but neither photos nor words can adequately capture or describe the sights from this scenic drive.  A yellow-footed monkey (not the scientific name) as well as a live toucan were among the different kinds of animals that we saw in addition the the picturesque views.

Upon arrival at the Monteverde Inn (a small bed and breakfast with an unbelievable view) we were served lunch- buffet style with one long banquet table so that we could all eat as a group.  A little more than half the group decided to walk back to town in order to buy some gifts and explore the small town of Monteverde.  There were a lot of small shops, but most importantly, students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Costa Rican culture (and the few other English speaking tourists that were roaming around town).  We were accompanied by a German Shepard dog, which the students named Franz or Pablo, depending on who you ask.

It's hard to believe that our trip is halfway over!  We're looking forward to new adventures in the days to come.

Thanks for reading!

Profes Olson and Simmons