My friend Becca and I decided to go visit Anna in her site located right outside of the national park Rio Celeste. It took me 12 hours of catching five different buses, and getting my wallet and cell phone stolen to get there. But Becca graciously lent me money for the weekend and to get back home so I tried not to stress it because, well it happens. I have learned my lesson to have as much confidence as I always do with the world.We arrived in Anna's site at about 530 and met some of her students playing bingo with English vocabulary on her front porch. It's such a cool site and made me remember the only problem with my house, I don't feel right inviting people over very much. So I'm moving into a house on my own some time soon. But am very sad to be leaving my host-mom Dona Odili, although I'll only be a ten minute walk away and have already been offered veggie burgers every time I come back to visit her which will probably be once a week if her delicious bean burgers are involved! She has definitely learned the way to my heart, haha!
After her class left we worked on making dinner and drinks. Anna's house is so PC plus some comfy couches! So we sat around chatting for a few hours until bedtime. As volunteers do, we naturally woke up between 530 and 6 and got ready for the park! Anna's friend drove us up to the park and we started our gorgeous walk through the misty forest. While we climbed up the hills of this beautiful rain forested volcano it was perfectly warm out. I so appreciate not feeling a chill to my bones when I can! The trails have parts that are nearly paved with rocks with some shortcuts going straight uphill in muddy messes that one not very skilled in climbing muddy roads could slip back on, but we live here so we've learned the art of wobbly legs climbing up muddy hills. I've only fallen once, haha! 
We stopped to admire the wonders of the park. The trees so tall with vines hanging that seemed right out of Avatar and the floating islands. As we walked along the trails we ate what look like Avatar fruit even. There were crazy flowers that I couldn't have imagined. At lunchtime we spotted a gerbil that came out to say hi a couple times and scuttle back into the brush. After climbing up a very steep hill we found a turtle that I admire entirely for it's amazing skill of climbing this same hill we had just struggled our way up. It was also very far from the water. On our way out Anna and I stepped right over a light green 6 foot long, but very thin snake. Becca however did see it and we got delayed a few minutes until it stopped hissing at us and went on its way before she would pass the spot on the trail where we found it.We spent about six hours in the park. We walked up to this gorgeous waterfall where the water is light blue and swam. I LOVE swimming every chance I get. I swam at the high powered waterfall for a little while never getting very close because of the strong current. I sometimes really wish I had places I could swim near me but then remember that usually requires a place that is much hotter than where I live so I accept just swimming once every couple months. We hiked up to the "tenidores.' This is where the river with normal clear water has volcanic chemicals flowing out turning the river light blue. It really is a cool site.
We then spent two hours in the hot springs, taking the occasional dip into the colder parts of the river. We joked with all of the other visitors taking quick dips in that it's the only hot water we get, although it's not really as much of a joke as reality for us. We rubbed rocks together and gave our selves mud masks leaving our skin super soft. When we finally decided to leave I felt just as if I had left a spa. But of course the feeling faded after about ten minutes of hiking back to town. But it was a leisurely walk through a gorgeous forest and one can never complain about such things.
When we finally stepped out from under the park's thick canopy it was mid-afternoon with the sun glaring and slightly cloudy. It took us an extra hour to get back to Anna's site with the most amazing views of the volcanos and mountains around us. All of the hills covered with forested areas, fruit farms or ranches. Honestly, this most incredible day of hiking and rivers, another yummy dinner and chatting with friends til we knocked out made up for long ten hour trip home the next morning. A day in that park made my month and can't wait to find others just like it in this paradise of a country I get to work in.
