My first visitor!

It has been a fantastic few days since I last wrote. After a fun final afternoon of roasting cashews and pick up soccer in Los Angeles, we took off on the first and only bus at 5 am the following morning and made it back to San Jose by 11. There I found my way to the Holiday Inn, the most Americanized part of the city I had seen so far, where Dan was waiting. After a joyful reunion and a failed attempt to sneak me up to his room for a hot shower, we met up with two other volunteers at Vishnu, a health food restaurant that had been recommended to us. The three ladies were THRILLED to find whole wheat pita and granola, though the only hamburgers on the menu for Dan were made of fake meat. After a requisite stop at Pops, we made our way up to Tarbaca, where he received a warm welcome (ie group hug and secret handshake) from Geraldo and family. Then we took a short hike before sunset which Geraldo offered to accompany us on but we politely declined and hit up Donde Alcides for dinner with Brigitte, Mark and Jake, where Dan finally got his fix of real meat.

The next day the two of us headed back to San Jose early and caught a taxi to Poas National Park for our fancy one night getaway. We arrived at our hotel, Xandari, before 10 and made the most of our two days there. At first, I was totally overwhelmed by the luxury of it all: hot showers, delicious organic food, a pool, an amazing view of Alajuela, the nearby city, but by the time we had to leave I was a little too used to it! We spent the afternoon hiking around the grounds past coffee farms and a few small waterfalls and rivers. The vegetation there is really rich and colorful. We saw pineapple and banana trees and heard lots of exotic-sounding birds, though we didn't actually see much wildlife. We finished the day with dinner and most importantly, chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert and a viewing of episode 8 of The Wire Season 2, and I, for one, was VERY content.

The next morning we got up early, as advised, to see the famed Poas volcano, because apparently the clouds come in heavily in the afternoon. When we pulled up to the park, the lady working the gate who took our $10 entrance fee said something to the driver to the extent that we weren't going to see sh*t because of how foggy it already was. But we figured we had come this far so we were going to give it a try. The second we stepped out of the car in our shorts and tshirts, we were both miserably cold, so our first stop was the gift shop, where we purchased overpriced sweatshirts and fleeces with cheesy tourist symbols on them...a fine souvenir. Then we made the 15 minute walk to the crater and looked out, as predicted, at absolutely nothing. We could hardly see a foot in front of us. We decided to try our luck with the lagoon, another site in the park which was a bit more of a hike. We finally arrived and it looked exactly like the crater, invisible, but this time at least there was a picture of what we should have been seeing. We did a return loop and ended up back at the gift shop, where more people were arriving and tour groups were heading toward the crater, so we decided to give it one more try. This time we could see a faint outline, so we sat around for a while and then all of a sudden everyone started gazing intently off of the overlook and there it was! A giant crater with an acidic lake in the middle and smoke fuming out of it. Very cool.

It was a triumphant return back to the hotel, and we had our last meal (chocolate macadamia nut cake this time for dessert) and headed out feeling like it had been much more than a night there. Back in Tarbaca, we had family dinner with Brigitte, Jackie (her host mom) and Jackie's two adorable daughters, Melanie and Stephanie, who literally have an endless supply of energy. We had the pleasure of camping out on Melanie's floor amidst pizza-carrying Elmo and many baby dolls. I said goodbye to Dan the next morning and recently learned that he arrived safely in NYC. It was a short but fun-filled visit.

This week begins the countdown to Friday, when we will FINALLY find out where we will be spending the next two years of our lives! It feels like waiting for college acceptance letters all over again...will share the big news as soon as I have it.