La Fortuna & Puntarenas

What I'm doing: I just got back from the most amazing trip to Nicaragua! But first I am going to write about the weekend before I left because it was very fun.

Saturday, November 3rd

We went to la Fortuna, which is a very touristic area near Volcan Arenal. There were 10 of us who went; the other 5 girls in our group went the weekend before. They told us which bus to take and which company they used. At first I was sad that we did not go as a large group, but it was really fun to spend some time with the other girls that I do not normally get to hang out with.

We caught the 5:30am bus and got to la Fortuna at around 8am. We found Red Lava company after wandering around for a bit. They said they would give us the same package of zip lining, repelling and horsebackriding for $35. It was $5 cheaper than our friends because our group was so large. The van was going to pick us up at 10am, so we had time to grab breakfast.

A van came to pick us up, and we stopped by a hotel and two other girls joined our group. We went to the zipline place to get suited up and ready. The first line looked scary, and you could not see the end of the line...my hands were sweaty and I hoped that I could handle the 9 line course.

It was like we were flying! I normally went in the middle of the group. There was a guide at the beginning waiting for us at the other side, and there was a guide with us at our side as well. Some of them were pretty long and fast, others were a little slower. One time I did not make it all the way to the other side, so I had to turn around and go hand-over-hand to the end. Once we made it through all the ziplines, we did repelling.

I have repelled once when I was in 6th grade at camp. It was scary but not as steep as the one we did at la Fortuna. You are supposed to stop yourself as you are going down, but I was going to fast and had some trouble stopping myself. I felt like I basically fell to my death. But I survived.

Next came the horsebackriding. Two summers ago my family and I were in Yellowstone and we went horsebackriding, but the horses just walked at a slow pace and we got to see all the nature around us. They do things a little differently in Costa Rica. My horse was running SO fast. I thought I was going to fly off, and my throat hurt from screaming so much. Rocks were flying everywhere and the horses do not go in a straight line. It was quite the adventure, but I am really glad I participated and did all of the activities.

We also did some shopping there and got smoothies when we got back to the main town. We caught the last bus home to San Ramon and arrived around 8pm. Such a fun and full day of activities that we planned all on our own!

Sunday, November 4th

After church, Mariah and I met up with Brayan and his brother Derek to go to Puntarenas for the afternoon. It took us around 1.5 hours to get there by bus. Puntarenas is on the beach where many cruise ships stay. We got to see one while we were there; this also means there are many vendors and knick-knacks to buy. I did not purchase anything though, since I knew things in Nicaragua were probably going to be cheaper. We took pictures on the beach while it was still sunny.

We also got a churchill. It is a shave ice/fruit sort of mixture. Winston Churchill liked to go to Puntarenas and order it, so it got named after him. It was super yummy and different from anything I have tried before.

We went and sat on the beach to watch the sunset and talk. It was super good to practice Spanish and have good, meaningful conversations. Both the boys are very funny, so Mariah and I were always laughing. We grabbed pizza later in the evening and took the last bus home. I am constantly amazed at the wonderful people God has placed in my life here. So, so blessed. My facebook status on Sunday night said this:

 

It's perfect weekends like this with family and friends that make me realize that I do not want to leave Costa Rica...

 

 

Con mucho amor.