Volcano Arenal and Waterfall (17/2/2007)

This was the view from our Hotel. Seeing the Volcano so close was amazing, we we´re quite lucky to see it as apparently it´s often clouded over. It errupts around every 7minutes but unless it´s very active you only see the lava at nighttime. Aswell as seeing that at the hotsprings, Helen and I woke up at 4:30am on the morning to see the lava again. Our eyes were on the blurry side so we think we got another sighting although Helen feels she was just looking at a flickering star.

The waterfall was another fantastic sight. You can swim at the bottom. The waterfall is 150ft tall so trying to swim under it is impossible. You get close but just get pushed back. We really enjoyed the weekend with the best sights we´ve seen so far in Costa Rica.

Canopy Tour and Hot Springs (16/2/2007)

(Picture of Helen and Stef above) Today was the first day of a weekend trip to an active Volcano called Arenal. We went with another work team from Pennsylvania. On the way we saw some great scenery and stopped off at a Canopy tour place (zip line). This was great fun as the zip lines got gradually longer and higher. The last apparently being the longest in the world , although lets face it, most places would probably claim that. It was 1/2 a mile long and took us about a minute to descend.

The views were amazing from high up, you could see the volcano and green mountains, as you descended into trees and what not.

Helen had a few funny episodes where she didn´t quite make the length of the line. One time she had too be rescued by the instructor which was amusing. We had lunch and continued on to our Hotel. In the evening we went to some hot springs which were so nice. Each pool had a different temperature, some too hot to stay in. We also got a glimpse of some lava down the side of the Volcano which you only really see at night time.

Valentines Dinner (14/2/2007)

Helen and I helped serve at a Valentines dinner for a work-group. We eat often with the groups when they're here and we get cooked for by a Costa Rican chef called Marlin, pictured here getting a Valentines present from us.

Trip to a Cabin in the Mountains (10/2/2007)

Two families on the campus own a cabin on the other side of San Jose in the mountains. We took a day trip up there with the McQuerys. Travelling right through San Jose was interesting and then the steep climb to get to the Cabin along some gravel roads. On the way up we got to see some fantastic views of the city and the valleys behind.

We had lunch up there, and then I was then taught how to play baseball with the two boys Jordan(9) and Justin (5) and Helen played with Joshua (6months). After a while we swapped to a true sport - football. It was good spending time with the family we stayed with when we first arrived.

A lesson by the pool (1/2/2007)

We had our lesson by the pool today. The summer has really started here which is all good.

A Procession in San Isidro (28/1/2007)

On the way to Church we had to make a few detours as the roads in San Isidro we're closed off due to a procession taking place that afternoon from the local Catholic Church. They we're starting to place flowers down in the road for the route of the procession. They're quite common here, but we struggled to find out what this one was for.

We walked down into town that afternoon before it started and looked around at all the designs. They seemed to use coloured wood shavings aswell, which we're occasionally being sprayed with water to stop the wind blowing them away and also to keep the flowers fresh. In one part there were 4 rows of half-cut oranges stretching the whole length of the road.

The procession was at 4:00 and started from the Church, where everyone followed on behind. Quite an amusing band played some morbid music followed by a few jigs.
It took around an hour and then after people started to clear away
the flowers which everyone had just walked on.