Costa Rica - Day Seven

I'm so enjoying posting all our fun times in Costa Rica. It really was the best! Day seven finds us still at Arenal Springs hotel, which was a beautiful, very nice, hotel. From our hotel we had a fantastic view of Arenal volcano.
















Here's a sample view. I just love this photo but it doesn't really do justice to the beauty of the area. It's really just a beautiful country overall.


















Each hotel room was really more of a separate bungalow. We walked down these little roads to our individual bungalow.
















I don't know what kind of plant this is but it's a sample of the many exotic plants around the hotel.


















Here's another beautiful, exotic flower.


















I think these are called plantanos, a type of a banana.




















Another sample of the gorgeous flowers around our hotel, Arenal Springs.



















Each little bungalow had a set of these super comfortable rocking chairs. I really wanted to bring one home with me, fairly inexpensive to buy, but much to expensive to ship. So, I just enjoyed the chairs as much as I could while I was there.



















We're on our way to breakfast. What an incredible experience walking through the gorgeous hotel grounds with such a breathtaking view in front of us. :-)


















This is the balcony and a walkway just outside the eating area. The eating area is open to the outdoors.



















While eating, we had a chance to do a little bird watching and were able to capture this beautiful hummingbird.



















After we enjoyed our breakfast, we took a taxi into the nearby town, La Fortuna, to do some shopping. It was a great little town and we sure had fun buying gifts. This is where we found Evan's lucky machete.

















Here's the central park for the town with the Arenal volcano in the background.


















After our shopping fun, we headed to some real fun. We spent the rest of the day at this amazing resort. I wish I could remember the name, but this place had about 15 different pools of natural spring water heated from the volcano. The temperatures ranged from "cold" to "super hot". One pool you weren't allowed to get in because it was 152 degrees (Yikes!) but it had massage tables all around this pool and you could get a massage while enjoying the steam. This place was incredible. Here's Todd enjoying a nice warm pool. Within this pool were smaller hot tub like pools of cold water.


















Around all the pools were gorgeous plants and rock formations. They were fake rock formations but they looked cool all the same. :-)

















As we gradually made our way through the pools we discovered they had two waterslides. These were mega, monster, fast waterslides that I don't think would be legal in the states. You went down them so fast you skidded across the water like a skipping stone. Todd LOVED it... me.... not so much.


















Here's a sample of the "rock formations" found in various pools. Fun, huh?

















As you walked from pool to pool you walked along this paths landscaped with gorgeous plants and exotic flowers.





Here's a video of Todd's first try down the straight slide. It was incredibly fast. The slide next to it is even faster and just crazy!



We video taped some of the students who traveled with us going down the crazy, twisty, fast slide. There was a large crowd at the bottom of the slide with everyone just amazed that no one was hurt going down the slide. It was fun to watch! :-)


Last but not least.... here's a video of an older gentleman that traveled with us, someone who became a good friend of ours. We taped him going down the slide and just crack up each time we watch it. It really is just hilarious to watch him flop like a fish down the slide. :-) Another great day in Costa Rica!