Pura Vida~Aventuras en Costa Rica: Arenal

This weekend I was in Arenal with my program! The ride there was about 4 hours long and seemed pretty short, especially since I've been going on these really long rides every weekend. The hotel we stayed in was called Arenal paraiso hotel resort and spa. It was very nice and hugeee!! I didn't do much the first day except have lunch in their restaurant which was nice, then I went to the gift shop, and lastly I went out for dinner with everyone in the program. The center is a bit far from the hotel so we had to take our bus to the restaurant for dinner.

The next morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast; a buffet style and seriously was just sooo good! We late went to see the volcano! We took a hike through a forest. All the group members were going so fast and Jalissa and I were so behind because we were taking pictures. Our program director was waiting for us up ahead so the three of us walked together and the rest of the group was long gone! We ended up seeing so many cool things like different colored lizards, beautiful butterflies, monkeys, some animal from the rat family, etc...(I wish I knew the names)! We also saw the oldest tree in Latin America (400 years old) and the biggest! It was so amazing and it felt like so many things were happening at once! We finally hiked up as close as we could get to the volcano without danger and took cool pictures! (There were stories of people going in the wrong areas and dying of poisonous gases). The views and everything really was amazing! We went back to our hotel where I had dinner at the hotel restaurant with 3 order group members and then we went to the hotels hot springs and pool. It was my first time in a hot spring and wow was it amazing!! It felt like bath water!

That night we were suppose to goto the famous Baldi Hot Springs but it poured so hard that the program director switched it for the following morning so we just ended up going to dinner where I had my delicious banana milkshake.

The next morning we woke up to go to the beautiful Baldi Hot Springs!!! Some were up to 119 degrees! (Maybe there were higher ones but I didn't go in all of them). I dipped my whole body into the one that was 119 degrees and it was so hot but after a few minutes felt like a blanket. I couldn't move too much because it was so hot but sitting there was amazing and there was even an entrance for a natural sauna! It was beautiful!! There were also water slides in one of the hot springs that was a little cooler. I had to atleast go once and I did. People said I screamed bloody murder!! Haha! It was an experience for sure! The best part of it was that there were also mini cold pools to cool off that were 68 degrees and you could definitely feel the difference! It was great getting into the ice cold pool after.

Soon after we left to go back home. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in Costa Rica!!