cuerda de saltar means jump rope

Where to even begin? Well, I will start with me swimming in a volcano. Hah – I know it sounds impossible, but sometimes I like to that (the impossible). Now I will leave you hanging (its like blatant foreshadowing) and tell you about some other things previous to that happening.

I returned to Venecia, which is currently in full swing of “Expo Venecia”. This is probably comparable to a combination of Town Day and the Belmont Carnival (or really any generic carnival) with some Costa Rican smallish farm town thrown in (as in cows, beans and rice, loud spanish cowboy music, etc). Its probably the most people I have seen at one place in Venecia since I have been here.  I only briefly walked through it on Friday night as it was into its first few hours of being. But don’t worry – it’s for this whole week and next weekend so I plan to get my full fill of it this weekend, with possible other ACM students in tow. Now why did I miss it you might ask? Because I was headed to La Fortuna (the same town as the previously mentioned volcano trip) for round two.

Saturday was nice, spent in a local river with a bunch of local ticos who eventually built up my confidence enough that I was able to jump off some nice water falls. However, the more exciting part came on Sunday. We were in search of a location less expensive then the usual million dollar white water rafting or zip line adventure. We got wind of a hike up the old volcano, which is now a crater. Exercise is hard to come by here, especially in tourist attractions so we decided it was a must.

We walked a little over 2 miles to even get to the entrance of the park, where we were warned (for probably the 4^th or 5^th time) that this was a hard hike. The Tico dislike for exercise made us shrug off any doubts and we headed on our way. We had a brief bit of hiking in more open area, and got quite the view of La Fortuna.

Yes, another Conistonian in Costa Rica. Jake Eaton (obviously with his yellow osprey backpack)

Now, I will admit it was quite the hard hike. The intense humidity and heat are never an ideal environment for extreme excersise, but it’s a given here in Costa Rica. We were also ascending a volcano, which I guess are very steep. I would compare this hike to The Incline in Colorado Springs, for those who are familiar. Basically, it was 2 miles of staircase (except that would mean they were even and well laid out and not make of rock and roots and mud and rainforst). However, this was the least of my worries. The most of my worries was that I was in the jungle shire (see picture below) and I could not figure out how to look all around me without then slipping or tripping or falling.

This is the jungle shire.

We then arrived at the rim of the crater. It looked like this. I thought that was beautiful (not saying that it isn’t but just wait).

Then we hiked down into the crater. And then I swam. In a crater on top of a Volcano. Holy smokes!!

I think this maybe be another most beautiful place in the world.

Now it is the middle of the week, and I am back in measuring the student population mode. However, today is “Dia de Deportes” or Day of Sports. It’s a national holiday, and no one has class. It’s basically like a national field day (back in the good old days of elementary school). So, I went San Martin (the school I volunteer at regularly) and played. A lot. All day.

Corra! Corra!

(Racing on pavement means alot of scraped knees)

It's official.

Jump rope. 

Angelina calls. Its time for us to brush our teeth. This is a result of a quick photo shoot a couple nights ago after we all brushed our teeth and Angelina thought we looked especially pretty.