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9 Days on and i´m back to the same place that I wrote my first blog entry. Not just the same place, but the exact same computer.. and yes its running as slow as ever, 5 pictures uploading at a time at the expense of 10 minutes a go. Cheers.Last Saturday lunchtime Noodle and I travelled to the surfer resort of Jaco. A three and a half hour bus ride later and we arrived in the blazing heat, without a reservation.Guess what? Everywhere was full.Eventually we found somwhere to stay about 100m away from the coast, the place was called hotel paradise and it lacked a distinct amount of paradise. None the less it had air conditioning and more importantly cable TV. Hence 9am Sunday morning, channel 25 ESPN 2 was switched on for the football. If anyone at this point was still asleep, they wouldnt be for much longer! Its true that I was delirous the whole day and not a tico nor an american in sight had any idea why.After spending a couple of days on the beach, it was time to do do some Zip Lining by Tuesday. Set about 20minutes away in the cloud forest we were greeted by three guides, each informing us how good their newly designed course was and what a treat we were in for. How right they were. With 16 cables (and 15 platforms) running from tree to tree the zip lining was a high speed, exhilerating experiance. On our way through the forest we got to see a Toucan, a Iguana, and finally some bats sleeping in a shady crevice. There were plenty of insects and some really breathtaking scenery. Apparently we would have seen Monkeys had we done the course at 9am, but I think we all know that it was never going to happen at such an abusrd time of the morning. At the point of the sheer suggestion Noodle and I just cracked up laughing. On Wednesday left Jaco heading for La Fortuna, although in order to get to La Fortuna we had to travel all the way back to San Jose´. By the time we reached San José all the buses heading to La Fortuna had already left and we were told that we would have to go to San Carlos and change. Long, but it had to be done.We arrived in La Fortuna at about 10pm after 9 hours worth of bus rides, again with no reservation. Since we had followed the advice of complete strangers the whole day we decided to do so again for finding a hotel for the night. The bus driver recommended hotel Colosal Arenal and what a great shout it was. A little pricey it may have been but it was totally worth it to have a double bed each for the night in a nice clean room with air conditioning, and cable tv!La Fortuna is the town that accomodates Costa Rica´s most active volcano, Arenal and this could be seen clearly from our swimming pool. Occasionally the cloud would blur the view, but we were actually really lucky to see the volcano clearly the whole time we were there. Apparently the town gets its name from the word fortunate, since an erruption in 1968 sent lava flowing west instead of east, sparing the town. Thats the story they like to give at least. After spending Thursday resting it was time to hit another tour on Friday. The tour started at 3pm and began with a 5km treck through the forest to an outlook post where a superb view of the volcano could be properly appreciated. Further to this we were driven to a spot where we were told that we would be able to see lava. They did not speak a word of a lie as erruption after erruption saw lava streaming down the volcano (the lava is the orange stuff in the probably otherwise black pictures!). Ironically the biggest erruption happened while we were in the van being driven off. Typical.We were then taken to the Baldi hot springs, these were simply amazing. About a douzen naturally heated (of various temperature) fresh water pools, several with bars situated inside of them so that one could enjoy a drink whilst sitting on the submerged stools. That was it for Noodle and I, drinking rounds of a cocktail, a beer and a shot of tequila, we were both totally ruined by 9pm! The baldi springs made the 9 hour trip totally woth it.Another 5 hours worth of buses on saturday, and that pretty much brings me back to the present. A selection of my pictures have finally uploaded and I am quite tired of sitting infront of this piss poor computer. Tomorrow we are off to Quito, Ecuador.p.s Danny, Jayne and Gary thanks for your messages on the message board, unfortunately it will not let me respond to them without going through the local pop3 server, keep them coming! Mark
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