Yes, here too, but I'm back to talking about our vacation....
Sidenote: by far the worst part about going on vacation is coming home to stacks of work twice as big as when you left!!! Not only have I not told you about our vacation yet, I have not even had time to read my typical blogs! :(
So anyway, back to the rain... in Costa Rica!
Our first day in La Fortuna was full of naps, swimming in the hot springs, some super yummy mojitos, mud facials, and going to bed early early! Oh, and it was pooring down rain, which was fine, because it was still in the 60's. I also think the hot springs were that much more enjoyable because of the rain!
Day 2: Hiking around the Rio Celeste (Blue River)
Via trip advisor I had found a tour guide for us to hike around the Rio Celeste with. Through email I booked Erick Guzman, who had FANTASTIC reviews and was only $70 for the whole day for the whole group. (Using a tour company would have been more like $70/person) The plan was to pick him up in front of "the church" and he'd ride with us to the river. Scary, right? Not really, we had 3 pretty tough husbands with us, and again, there were lots of reviews about this guy on trip advisor. So anyway, we find him where he said he'd be, he talks to us for a while about who knows what because he was NOT easy to understand! and we were off. Back note... he introduced himself as Enrique... Erick english name, Enrique spanish name??? Before getting to the river, he stopped us at a little "gift shop" owned by I think the "people" who I'm assuming own the land around the Rio Celeste. I'm thinking it was like the equivalent to tribal land??? I probably would know more about it if Erick/Enrique didn't switch back and forth between Spanish and English while he was interpreting for the guy at the gift shop. I do know however, that when the guy at the gift shop held up a leaf, and motioned for us to nibble on it, but not to swallow it, so I did, my whole mouth turned completely numb! And I was being cautious with it! Connor and Jamie tossed that sucker straight into their mouth and started chomping away! I can't imagine what their mouth felt like! We finally figured out he was trying to tell us that's what they use when they have a tooth ache :). The gift shop was very neat though, all hand made stuff that was representative of the land and animals around there.
When I get some pictures, you'll see better, but the hike was amazing, even in the pooring rain and extremely dense fog! For some reason the sulfer, mixed with the minerals in the water, make it an amazing sky blue color. The way the story goes is... When God was finished painting the sky, he cleaned out his brush in that river. (Erick/Enrique did attempt to tell us that story, but I was only able to understand because I had already read it online before we left). During the hike, we arrived at a large waterfall that was beautiful! Erick/Enrique told us it was too deep to cross, which we were fine with, and then through what I can only guess was complete miscommunication, had us all holding hands trying to cross it, still in our clothes and hiking shoes!!! The current was quite strong and I can understand why we were not supposed to cross it in the first place!! When we got to the other side, I was a bit concerned about having to cross back over it to get back to our vehicle... but somehow we ended up back at the beginning of the trail without having to cross over it again. I honestly don't know how, Rich says he knew we didn't have to cross back over, but I don't ever remember crossing a river a second time?!?! About half way through our hike we realized it was better to just not ask questions, unless we wanted to have a confusing conversation and make a lot of those fake, oh yes, I understand what you're saying, faces. Anyway, after the hike, we ate at the "ranger station type place" and had by far the best meal of our vacation. MMM... it makes me drool just thinking about it! Rice, chicken/steak, mashed potatoes, beans, salad, and fried banana. Sooo yummy! On the way home we passed some people pulled over on the side of the road, and Erick/Enrique (by the way, all 6 of us debated the whole day whether his name was Erick or Enrique) yelled a hello out the window. He tells us, that guy was my friend... he's a tour guide too. Rich says to him... oh, but he knows you're #1, right? Erick/Enrique says, "No, he's #1, he's my cousin, his name is Erick." Soooo... the day finally makes sense.... Erick, english speaking Erick I might add! pawned us off on Enrique!!! With that being said, we all loved Enrique. The language barrior was tough but also hilarious and made for an adventurous day! He kept us from getting lost in the rain forest, told us about all the poisonous snakes that were luckily hiding from the rain and not out on the path, and did his very best to answer our questions. Speaking of him, I'm supposed to add him as a friend on facebook! Thanks for the reminder :).
That evening we were pretty tired again, so we did more hot springing, more yummy drinks and dinner, and more going to bed early! Tomorrow the sun will come out, YAY! (disclaimer: the sun will come out in my story, it's unlikely to show itself here in real life)
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