lava!

Mitch planned the most awesome birthday weekend for me that anyone could ever ask for. It started with a rental car which was a blessing in several ways: 1. It allowed us to drive anywhere (our 4-wheeler isn't street legal) without getting bugs and dirt in our eyes. 2. It had air conditioning! 3. We could bring as much stuff as we wanted instead of limiting it to a little backpack like usual.

He picked me up from school and we headed to Paqueres, where we barely caught the ferry to Punterenas. From there, we headed up to Lake Arenal where we had a room reserved at the Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge. After lots of junk food and a few wrong turns, we finally made it to our destination. As we were checking into our lodge, we looked up and saw red lava and rocks pouring down this gigantic volcano! As we stood there in excitement, we could even hear the explosions of the rocks hitting the volcano. We fell asleep watching and listening to this unbelievable sight. And when we woke up, it was the first thing we saw.


The next morning, we had a delightful breakfast at our lodge, then we set off on an adventure through the jungle to a waterfall. We saw leaves bigger than Mitch's head!


A bug that could have eaten my hand for breakfast. This picture may be too small for you to see him, but he's latched on to that bright pink flower. He's called a Hercules Beetle. He was about 6 inches long!


And we fell in love with these trees that we called "Rainbow Trees". They look like they've been painted all colors of orange and green. They're beautiful.


We made it!


We kept saying that it's impossible to capture the magnificence of what we were seeing in a picture, and I feel sure that words don't do the trip justice. But it was truly amazing. Best birthday ever. :)