Waterfalls, Rafts and a Bad Case of Night Terrors

A Place To Relax
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Well, we are still alive and doing good. Had another couple of really eventful days. Yesterday, we got up at 7am to head to white water rafting but,  didn´t make it. The combination of a hangover, and some really bad food left me and Jack a little worse for wear. Jackie ended up being really sick, so we took it easy and headed out to the La Catarata, a waterfall on the outskirts of La Fortuna. The waterfall was one of the most serene places we have seen. We caught a cab to the top of the falls and walked down to the base of the waterfall. Not an easy task considering I have a hard time walking on even ground. With the roots, mud, rock stairs, and cliffs to my right I almost broke my ankle at least six times. Once on the bottom, the water fall itself is breathtaking. We swam in the pools surrounding the falls and swam with fish that didn´t even move when we were in the water. It was so beautiful. As soon as we figure out a place to download the pics we´ll send some your way.

La Fortuna's Waterfall
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We took it easy last night, went out for supper with one of the guys from North Carolina and called it a night. We had a few new girls in our hostel and I feel so bad for them. I don´t think they new what hit them, when I had a nightmare in the middle of the night. Imagine how surprised they were to find me screaming at the top of my lungs, in the middle of the dorm, shaking out my sleeping bag. Apparently I was dreaming there was a snake in my bed. I woke up to Jackie screaming, and the two girls with their flashlights on me. Akward to say the least...

White Water Rafting
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Today we finally made it white water rafting. It was by far the most fun, exhilirating and most traumatic thing I have ever done. We didn´t start out easy and decided to take the Class 3/4 rapids. That was our first mistake. For the most part it was amazing, we rafted in a canyon with the tropical forest all around us and mini waterfalls. Ok if it stayed that way, but it didn´t for long.....There was only four of us and our guide in the boat. Great considering that us three girls were the weakest in the group, and the one guy we had in our boat was such a pansy and liked to talk more than he paddled. At one point our guide thought it would be fun for us to jump in and swim in the current. Not afraid to try anything once we went along with it. A couple of hits against the rocks and side of the canyon, a face and mouth full of water and we finally made it to the shore. Almost lost the only pair of shorts I have on me and am pretty sure everyone on the raft saw my bare ass, but I could touch ground again. Not one of the most enjoyable experiences, but I hoped they liked the show! If you can imagine it only got worse after that. At one point we were in the middle of a class 4 rapid and got stuck on one of the protruding rocks. Fun until another boat hit us, turned us on our side agaist the cliff and our boat filled with water. If you think of the letter V, that is the shape our boat was in. At one point I was trying to make the decision to take my chance in the water and have the rocks and water crush me, or have the boat topple over on top of me. You know what I did?...I screamed instead. Jackie was white as a ghost and she said the only thought she could think of was that if she were on the titanic, she would have been the one that jumped. A few brusied elbows, a paddle in the jaw and we made it out. Not any help from us but by the guide who apparently knew what he was doing. We spent about three hours on the river, and as scary as it was at times it was worth every moment. We bought a disk of 80 pictures to keep as a souvenir. Can´t wait to show them to you.

Getting Through
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We´re heading out tomorrow morning and leaving La Fortuna behind us. We leave at 6:30am on an interbus to the Pacific coast and are staying at Tamarindo. I´m sure we´ll have more adventures to fill you in on. Plan on taking some surfing lessons, and try our hand at zip lining. Hope all is well, and love hearing from all of you.