Day 2 - Unbelievable

After bidding farewell to the surfers this morning, I met Orlando the taxi driver and the two of us set out on our 3 hour drive from San Jose to La Fortuna. Upon our arrival, I was fairly certain I had learned 4 things.

1. If I want any shot to meet a nice Costa Rican woman, I better know how to dance. Not looking good for this guy.

2. Orlando loves his "new" AC/DC album. And by new I mean one that came out 25 years ago.

3. If you happen to misplace your machete, have no fear. They are located in the same isle as bottled water. I picked that little tip up when we stopped for coffee. Try explaining to a Costa Rican guy that you do not drink coffee... Try explaining it when you do not speak his language...

4. If you are ever on a one lane highway on the side of a mountain and a dozen bulls with horns are running towards your car, do not slow down. At the last second they will move.

Orlando claims that he is picking me up tomorrow afternoon to play futbol with his amigos.  I am 60% sure he is not coming and 40% sure I am not going.

With those lessons now under my belt, I decided to do some exploring. I could see a volcano and mountain range off in the distance and I started to pound the pavement. Just as I reached the outskirts of town intending to play with some Lava, I saw a Burger King. It was about 900 degrees out and I had not really slept since Boston. I aborted the lava for the day and went back to town for a quick nap at the San Bosca Hotel. Word on the street is that it is 2 stars. No big deal.  (I just thought it noteworthy that there was a Burger King on the edge of a jungle. That is all.)

An hour later I went to the front desk and asked for ideas on how to spend my afternoon. I had no idea what they said and vice versa, but I heard the word waterfall and that peaked my interest. After 7 kilometers of hiking through cattle farms and then a jungle, I came across something that was truly out of this world.

Please know that what you are about to see does no justice whatsoever to the experience I had this afternoon. It defined unbelievable. Hopefully I can figure out how to get some videos on here but it is impossible with this dial up internet. FYI, the top of the  waterfall is 300FT!

I felt like I was filming for the Discovery Channel

First shot at the tripod.  It is a lot more difficult to be in pictures when your only company are monkeys.

La Fortuna Waterfall

C O L D

Looked like the water was falling from the clouds

the sound of the water hitting was deafening

Tiger Rag! Thanks Caroline!

After this, I started hiking back to town. I was dead tired and thought about stealing someones horse. Then, an american couple from North Carolina that saw me hacking my way through the jungle earlier in the day, pulled over and offered me a ride to town. Can I get an amen?

Dinner - I found a place that had Arroz con Pollo. Rice and Chicken.  How could I go wrong? Well I did. When I got my meal, I certainly did not see any chicken and the rice looked like Japanese Beatles. I had a feeling this might happen and my gut tells me it was because I kept refusing to drink their water. For the record, I still managed to join the clean plate club. Sort of.

PS I think my macbook broke and I wrote this on a spanish keyboard in the internet cafe. 

Heading into the Rainforest in the AM.

The Future Is No Place To Place Your Better Days

Mark/Chops