avoiding the fishbowl: January 2007

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The beach at Manuel Antonio Park

While at Manuel Antonio Park, some of us decided to go hiking in the jungle. There were lots of things that I saw that I either did not get a picture of, or the picture just wasn't even reasonable to post.

View from the top. Way better in person of course.

Interesting formation on a palm leaf.

Sloth, way high up in the trees.

Tree huggers...

A white faced monkey. We could also hear Howler monkeys in the jungle pretty close to us.

I'm sad I didn't get a better picture of this guy. He was super close to me and everything.

This was at and near our beachfront.

The CUTEST little girl I have ever encountered. She was pulling palm leaves off trees and making roses out of them. She never spoke a word but was always smiling.

These photos are all from the last night there.

I've seen better sunsets, but there is still nothing like sitting on the beach at dusk.

Housemates.

Dinner at Coconuts. Everyone ate sushi but me.

Nicole had octopus sushi. Ugh..

And here is a sloth in it's natural habitat, a power line.

So for my last day at the beach I had signed up to go for an open ocean boat ride to a snorkeling location with all my drinks and lunch included. Unfortunately, I had forgotten exactly how sick being at sea makes me. Within 10 minutes I was asking one of our guides for a Dramamine, and within an hour or so, I was puking off the side. Sad story eh? Well this went on for about 3 or more hours. I wasn't letting loose for that long, but I sure was sick none the less to the point to where I couldn't even sit up to take pictures. I did in fact end up getting to get into the water with my snorkel and fins on, but only lasted about 20 or so minutes before I had to get back on the boat. So it turns out that this is one of four pictures I got from the whole shebang, and it was before we even undocked. The saddest part was that lunch looked delicious. There was a grill on the boat and our guide made us kabobs with fresh cut fruit on the side and a noodle salad.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Ultimate!

Yup, that's right! I found it. Acutally thanks benben, you deserve at least 1/2 the credit. But regardless, I played tonight and there were sevens, and get this, SUBS TOO. It was really fun and apparently they have had some form of ultimate down here for about 15 years or more! I couldn't believe it. So needless to say I'll be back on monday, where supposedly there will be people filming us. My second day of Ultimate in Costa Rica will be televised. So ya, I'll get back to you guys on how it goes.
ciou, chau, chow,
Sarita

Monday, January 22, 2007

Trip to Arenal

This past weekend about 40 ISA students and I went around the country side of Costa Rica and had the time of our lives. We visited volcanoes, hot springs, hedge gardens, crocodiles, and much much more.

All of us.

Catarata Rio Fortuna

All I can say is that it was beautiful. We hiked down the mountain to get to this pristine location that was amazing to experience.

Baldi Hot Springs

After stopping by the hotel to drop off our luggage, all 40 of us went on over about a mile down the streeet to Baldi Hot Springs for a dip. It was absolutely wonderful, and like no other hot springs I have been to. There were several different levels to the place and in half of the pools there was of course a wet bar. So while you were relaxing your muscles in fresh hot spring water, you could sip a delicious beverage. I wish I was there right now.

Arenal Volcano

So something that I have wanted to do ever since I finished up geology is to see a volcano and hike around it in person. Well I did it. While cruising around Costa Rica we, me and another ISA student Kate, went on a tour around Arenal. It was very beautiful and I wish we had had more time to explore and enjoy the scenery.