Arenal Part Deaux

We met up with some of the Atlanta crew in Arenal for a couple of days of fun. The first night, Don, Candler, and I stayed at the Baldi Thermal Hot Springs. We checked in around 8 pm and were told we had until 10pm that night and the next day to use the hot springs. Immediately, we took the bags to the room, threw on our bathing suits, and were in the pools. They had about 24 different hot springs on site - set up like pools basically, but with waterfalls, rocks, and vegetation. Each pool was a different temperature. The temperatures ranged from 80-something, up to 153 degrees. 153 degrees? Really? Oh course, by the end of the night we had to check out the 153 degree one. A couple was talking to us, asking if we had been to it yet, we said no, and the guy said he could only get one foot in. He told us where it was, and they followed us to the pool. They wanted to see our reactions to the heat. Yeah, one foot, that's all Don and I could get. Candler, on the other hand decided it would be a good idea to jump in. Oh yeah, screaming commenced. Now, the pool for this one wasn't very deep, I'd say mid calf maybe. Well, Candler wasn't paying any attention to the conversation around him and Don even looked at him standing on the side of the pool, and said, "Be careful Candler, you don't want to get in this one." As the words were coming out of Don's mouth, he was already mid jump. As soon as he hit the water he screamed and jumpped out. All of us just stood there, mouths gaping open. After Candler's scalding bath, Don and I went to one of the pools with a swim up bar and got a banana daquiri while chillaxing in the warm goodness. At 10, we headed back to our room, where I lounged in the hotel white bathrobe and slippers in the huge, cushy bed. I've never actually stayed at a hotel that gives you a bath robe and slippers! Hot springs followed up with bathrobe and slippers. Double awesomeness. The next day, we woke up early to get in more hotspring action. We discovered that the place had 3 huge waterslides. One was underconstruction, so really just two. Candler was super excited by the waterslides, but soon realized they were way too big and fast for him. He stood at the top several times, thinking about going down, but never did. Michael and Alley met up with us mid morning and joined us on the waterslides. They were insanely fast, and I'm sure it is only a matter of time before someone is knocked unconscious or dies. Michael and I both knocked our heads, and I'm pretty sure that's where I got my bruised tail bone from. Yeah, bruised tail bone. It wasn't hurting prewater slide, but now when I sit and shift positions or stand up, I have pain in my tailbone.
I forgot to mention that when Michael and Alley met up with us at the hot springs, they did not pay the entry fee. Also, the rest of the group dropped their luggage (Alley and Michael's) off at the front reception desk of the hot springs. They had checked out of their hotel, but it wasn't check in yet at the next hotel, and the rest of the group were doing other activities. So when we go to leave the hot springs, they go to retrieve the luggage, at which point the staff realizes Michael and Alley have not paid the entry fee. They'd really only been there about 2 hours, but the staff said they had to pay $40 to get the luggage. Michael said he didn't have that much money, so they wound up having to pay $20 to get their luggage.
From there, we grabbed lunch and then checked in at our next hotel, Hotel Linda Vista. The hotel overlooked lake Arenal and had an excellent view of the volcano. That night we were actually able to see some lava coming out of the volcano - so cool. The next day, we all woke up at 6 am for rafting. It was an hour and a half drive to the river - which did not farewell for my bruised tailbone issues. Once there, it seemed like we waited another hour and a half for the rafting company to finally get us in the rafts. Costa Ricans do not seem to care about time and never hurry to get anything done. Once we were finally all loaded up in the raft, we started out down a mild rapid. Candler was not having any of it. He screamed. And he screamed. And then he squealed. And then, more screaming. At the end of the first rapid, we stopped our raft for what seemed like 30 minutes. Apparently there was a raft 5 girls and one man behind us. Several of the women were not in prime physical condition (read: very overweight). I guess going down the first rapid looked like that raft wasn't going to fare too well down the rest of the river, as one girl already had a blood nose - I assume from taking someone's ore to the face. So, several rafts had to stop and they split the group up. We got one of the larger ladies. So in our pictures you will notice some random chick in the back of the raft. The lady was initially behind me and I wanted to smack her with my ore, as she could not keep a rhythm to paddle. She kept smacking my ore with hers. Eventually the guide moved Candler behind me and the dumbass behind Angelyn. So Candler screamed and cried the first half of the trip. So much so, that it became funny to listen to he was pitching such a fit. You will have to ask for an immitaion of his crying, because at certain points he was sticking his tounge out and almost gagging while crying. We stopped at one point where there was a rope swing into the river. Pretty much everyone, well not Candler, went off the rope swing several times. Halfway through, we stopped to have fruit by the river and there was a ledge over the river that we jumped off of. It took me forever to jump. I'm not sure why it took me so long, since I quickly jumpped off the waterfall in Rincon that was higher. After the fruit and water jumps, we got back in the raft and Candler magically decided it wasn't so bad and started having fun. By the time it was over, he wanted to keep going. After that, it was time for lunch and the hour and a half drive back to Arenal (La Fortuna).