So our endevors in Leon ended with some last bit of exploration of the city. Andrew, Jay and I took a trip to Masaya while the rest of the girls joined Sara at the beach. We also did some fun touristy stuff like visiting historic Leon, which was buried after one of the many volcanos of the country got a little upset. We also hit up th batman movie, ate at everything from Hollywood pizza to fritangas (sp?--but basically is fried everything...chicken, squash...cheese..you name it!) On our last night, we met up with Joe, Shruti and Caleb who are also in Leon. We had quite a night on the town (I suggest everyone ask Jay for a dance back in the States!) The next morning we left for San Juan del Sur...and as a group of very diverse tourists with a ton of bags strolled up to the bus stop, we were immediately ambushed with a ton of ppl and lots of different info on what to take and what would get us where. Basically, we ended up getting jipped as the bus that promised to get us to San Juan dropped us off in Rivas and we ended up having to pay again for a different bus to get us to our destination. Eventually, we made it to Mango Rosa, which was a gorgeous villa type resort, as much of a contrast as you could possibly imagine from Sahsa. After one look at the nice pool and hammock collection, we decided to stay 2 nights instead of our original one night plans. We visited the amazing beaches, Andrew and Jay tried surfing, and at night we grilled out. (The grocery shopping was left to the boys, who did a great job finding stuff, got to the checkout line only to find out they didn't take credit cards...but they still managed to bring back shrimp, fish, pineapple, veggies, and corn...probably pissing off the cashier during the process!)
After taking a taxi to the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, we found a bus that was supposed to take us to Arenal...unfortunately, after we paid...we found out from the driver that the bus was never supposed to go to Arenal at all! So, all of us get dropped off at the side of the road with our luggage (imagine what one word was going through our heads!) We then got a taxi, which was a truck...all our luggage went in the tina, Mia and Kamal in the front seat, April, Kristine, Jay and Andrew in the back and I was on Andrew's lap. If we weren't close enough after the 3 weeks in Sahsa, this ride finished the job!!! We finally make it to Arenal only to find out we had missed our reservations by 50 min. Thankfully, we found a hotel and restaurant owned by a Chinese lady, and Andrew/Mia used thier magic (ie Mandarin...see being multi-lingual pays off!!) to get us some nice discounts. That night we visted the hotsprings in Arenal (you can't get more touristy than 40 different pools of differing temps catering to the whims of gringos!) There was also an infamous slide that we tried out (where I came close to drowning...thanks to Kristine the rescue!) Andrew made an attempt to teach me how to swim later in the evening after said near drowning episode. The next morning we went rafting. We were supposed to go to a class 3/4 river but it rained a lot the night before and the guides didn't think it was safe. So, we drove to a river that was usually 2/3, but probably a little more because of all the extra rain water. It was an amazing experience. April and I both took little falls into the river at different points, but it was a blast.
Next day we took a jeep boat jeep trip to Monteverde, which is where I am typing right now. WE are staing at this cute hostel run by a family with the most adorable 3 kids! We took a tour of a coffee farm yesterday and explored for a bit. This morning, the girls went on a extreme canopy tour, which was 14 zip lines (up to 2250ft), a tarzan swing, and a 90 foot rappel. The tarzan swing was probably one of the scariest things I have done in my life. Some awesome pics to come tho! We leave tomorrow for managua again and will fly out around 7 am on the 30th. It feels so strange to be almost finished with this trip. It has been a brilliant experience with some great people, but despite all the fun, all of us are ready to see friends and family back in Chapel Hill. Thanks for reading up on our travels...and we'll be home soon !!!
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