Volcanoes and Car Accidents

A lot has happened since I last posted on here so here I go. Last I told everyone we were going to be headed to Tamarindo or Jaco. The day before we were going to leave we decided to just head up to La Fortuna to see the Arenal Volcano, this way we could spend more time with my parents for the week we were here. What we thought was going to be about a 4 hour bus ride turned into an all day event. We barely arrived in San Ramon in time to be able to catch the last bus to La Fortuna. We jumped on the new bus and thought we were extremely lucky. Unfortunately that luck changed very fast. First the bus we were on broke down and we had to spend about a half an hour waiting for a new one. When it finally arrived we got on the new bus and were off. Unfortunaly it didn't take long for that bus to stop either. Someone up front kept having a medical condition causing the bus to keep stopping. Finally we arrived in La Fortuna about 7 pm and everyone on the bus was alright... besides for some swollen bladders. That night we got rooms in La Fortuna and called it an early night.

The next morning we all woke up and were eager to see what this part of the country had to offer. My parents rented a car and we all piled in to go exploring. We started off by going diving and rope jumping at the La Fortuna waterfalls. We had a great time and any jumps we got daring enough to try my mom was quick to follow. After that we went 4 wheeling and had the chance to experience our first view of the Arenal Volcano. That night we had a room at the Arenal Observatory so we headed up there to get checked in and so we could get a closer look at the volcano since the Observatory is the closest place to the actual Volcano. We got to hear rumbling that was as loud as a huge airplane flying right over our heads. After spending a few hours taking in the Volcano and all it had yo offer we decided to head back into town to drop everyone else off.

This is were things started to go down hill. As we were driving back into town the car started to slide off the road on one of the very slick corners. It was one of those moments that seemed to take hours but in reality happened in a matter of seconds. I was in the back seat against the right window with Asleigh, Brian and Kori on my left side. When the car did go off the road it slid diagonally into the ditch at about 30 mph. Everyone on my side struggled not to crush each other while I was pushed up against the door that was getting crushed by rocks and other debris. Whe the car finally stopped my mom yelled to the back to make sure everyone was alright and didn't need any immediate medical attention. At that point all I could focus on was getting out of the car. Between the 3 people sitting next to me and the car door pounding into me I had a hard time realizing exactly what was going on. My leg and my back literally felt like someone took a metal baseball bat and unloaded on me. No one else in the car had any major injuries but we there were a lot of bruises and bumps. A tourist bus stopped to make sure everyone was alright and helped us to get the rental car company and the police there. The next few hours pretty much consisited of us waiting and talking to the police while watching out for another car to come sliding around the corner. When everything was said and done we took everyone back into town, got some dinner and headed back up the the observatory. That night I took some muscle relaxers, some Ibuprofin and spent the next few hours sitting with my parents as we watched lave crash down the side of the volcano.

The next morning we went back into town to see everyone else and make sure they were alright. Besides for everyone being a little sore we were fine. We all felt extremely fortunate to have made it through the accident....and that my parents decided to get the good insurance last minute. That day we all took it easy as we waited for my Aunt Mary, Aunt Marty and my uncle Calvin to get into town to join us. When they did we brought everyone up the the observatory and spent the rest of the day watching the volcano and moping around the property. That night my mom, Norm, Mary, Calvin, Marty, Mike, Kore, Brian, ashlee and I had an amazing dinner as we sat at the observatory dining room watching the lava crash down the mountain.

The next morning we said goodbye to my parents as they headed back to the airport to fly back to Colorado. The rest of the group went to the Arenal ziplines, but unfortunetaly I was to sore to go ziplining so Aunt mary, brian, ashlee and I headed into town to check out a local wood carver. After that we dropped off Brian and Ashlee and went to pick up the rest of the gang. We grabbed the rest of the group and then got into the car to head to our next destination, the Monteverde cloud forest.

After following windy dirt roads for about 4 hours we arrived in Monteverde, thank god for GPS!The next few days consisted of a guided tour through the cloud forest, walking suspension bridges as high as the tree tops and many other things. I even got the chance to finally go ziplining through Costa Ricas longest and highest ziplines. Theres something to be said about ziplining 500 feet about the rainforest canopy on a single zip line that can be as long as a half of a mile. After Monteverde we all got in the car and went to our final destination with the family, The national park Manuel Antonio.

Manuel Antonio is a place that is packed full of life. We saw many monkeys, some as close as a foot away from us, two different kinds of sloths and of couse many other things. That evening everyone rented some surfboards and got beat up by the waves while I spent the evening exploring the park on my own. After going out that evening to have a lobster feast to celebrate Mike birthday we called it en early night so we could get up to go white water rafting. The next morning we rafted class four rapids which was a completely different experience then rafting at home. That afternoon we went back to Alalualah to say by to the rest of the family so they could fly home and we could head up to Nicaragua. We had an amazing time with the family, got spoiled beyond belief and got the opportunity to make memories that willl stay in our family for years to come. I am very grateful to have the family I do.

We are now in Nicaragua on the island of Ometepe. The island is in the middle of an extremely large fresh water lake and pretty much con