Sunday, April 27 continued

For lunch, we had our first authentic Costa Rican meal experience. We dined where the locals dined. Alice sprayed Off on the tables in an effort to rid us of the swarming flies. We saw Luis laugh and some of the locals stare. :D Since we are a large group, our order took a very looong time. We were so hungry that we watched the locals eat and tried to discern what they had ordered, all the while thinking irritated thoughts of "hey, we came before them!" Alice and I ordered chan - a beverage made from the seeds of that passionfruit-like fruit from the morning and sugar water. Refreshing. I swear Luis got more seeds in his drink than us. :p Typical meal - casado: salad, rice, beans, plaintain, and meat.

After lunch, nap time on the van! The balmy weather and warm breeze from the open window in the van made for perfect conditions to fall asleep. When I awoke, we were in the town of La Fortuna and near our hotel. Our hotel was clean and minimally furnished. We quickly divided ourselves into our hotel rooms, changed, and jumped back onto the van to head for the hot springs. On the way, we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of Arenal. We were really lucky to see the entire volcano with no clouds covering any part of it. (Since Arenal is lower in elevation, it tends to become clouded over easily.)

Luis dropped us off at the Tobacon Hot Springs and drove back to San Jose. Bye! The resort was created to resemble hot springs in a tropical jungle. Paved paths wound through the resort, leading us to different hot springs - some with waterfalls, some that were just pools, some were pools that led to waterfalls. Had a great time pool-hopping. At first the water was so hot but by night, the temperature was perfect. There was also a bar in a swimming pool - literally a wet bar. Yummy mango daiquiris. Virgin for me! Shal and Nancy went down the kiddie slide on the side of the pool. heehee, two big splashes!