Tarzan and Jane of the Jungle

Written 01/14/2009

On Wednesday we woke up after sleeping inside (praise Jesus) to about 100 less mosquito bites than the night before. It does seem like the mosquito likes the taste of my blood much more than Matt’s. I have about 50 bites and a few of them are literally the size of a quarter (I wanted to take pictures and post them, but Matt thought that was weird and gross and I thought you might be reading this at your respective desks enjoying your breakfast or coffee, so I did not). We had cornflakes and O.J. for breakfast and we decided to head down to the local swimming hole for a refreshing morning dip. We had seen it on the way to the waterfall the day before and decided to check it out. There were about 15 local kids swimming already and we had to climb down the rocks to get to the edge. Basically, the only way to get in is to jump off the rocks about 20 feet down into the cold, cold water. So being the well-mannered lady that I am, I let Matt go first. It was cold but very refreshing and we stuck around for awhile to watch the loco Costa Rican kids do flips off the rocks and swing off the Tarzan rope into the pool. (No mom and dad, I did not do anything dangerous.) We came back for beans and rice version 2.0 for lunch. This time we boiled the beans all alone for about 40 minutes before we were hungry enough to give up and just eat them. They were still semi-hard but we had some salsa and tomatoes to add to the mix. I foresee many days of practice to get those beans cooked just right. 

After lunch, we had reserved space to go on a jungle hike to see the volcano and then go to a natural hot springs. Our guide William picked us up and on the drive to the hike told us about the 1968 eruption of Arenal that killed 80 people. He told us that he grew up in the jungle of Costa Rica and learned English from the tourists he had in his tour groups. He also has climbed Arenal eight times, which was illegal all eight times, and was part of a few rescue missions at different times when the volcano erupted and hikers or planes went down on the mountain. We stopped a few times and he showed us a bunch of Costa Rican flora. He gave us “tattoo leaves” that you can lay flat on your clothes or skin, slap it, and it leaves a white tattoo of the leaf on your body. He also gave us some citronella buds and leaves which I rubbed all over myself and put in my pockets, socks and under my headlamp to try and keep away the bugs. I have no shame.

We started the hike which was about an hour both ways, through the jungle and on the way there most of it was really steep and muddy. There was a Tarzan rope that Matt got to swing on which was pretty cool to see a real one, made in nature that actually really can hold and swing a person (be it Tarzan or Matt). William told us not to touch any of the trees or flowers because there were snakes that camouflaged themselves by coiling up on the same colored trees and flowers and trees that were full of pointy spikes just waiting to tear my ever loving hand apart. Because the hike was so steep and so muddy there were times I had to decide between falling off a mountain and temping the trees. Luckily, no snakes or thorns found my hands and we made it to the lookout point. It was really cloudy so we couldn’t see any lava but the view was amazing. Once it got dark around 6:00 p.m. we started hiking back down. It was pretty freaky, at one point William had us all turn our headlights off and I literally couldn’t see Matt an inch in front of me. We saw one huge gross spider, I didn’t fall down once and we made it to the second lookout point where we were promised a “special Costa Rican drink made with pure Costa Rican sugarcane.” Turns out it was rum and Fresca, so seriously, you all have it made. Save the money we spent coming down here and head to the 7-11 and pick yourselves up rum and Fresca (Squirt will do in a pinch) and you too can have the drink of the Costa Ricans.

After the hike we headed to the hot springs which is a river bed that runs at about 100 degrees due to the volcano. It was awesome. Like sitting in a hot tub only in a river and surrounded by what is apparently the cleanest water in the country. (Take your rum and Fresca into the hot tub, I swear, the exact same day we had without leaving your house.) Apparently the water went from cold to hot in a matter of only two weeks and so they brought in a scientist from Japan to try and figure out what was happening but then the volcano erupted and it’s been hot ever since. When we finally got home it was about 9:30 and we were exhausted so we had some (you guessed it) beans and rice and headed to bed. We are planning a day of rest and relaxation tomorrow and then are heading to Monteverde on Friday so we will catch up with you then.