On friday morning we had our regularly schedulled class and lunch, and then we departed on our bus the 3 hours and 15 minutes to the Hotel Rossi. The hotel looked pretty nice, with three beds per room, clean sheets, hot shower, and color televison there was not much more that could be expected. We even had a gorgeous view of the Arenal volcano we were only a few miles from. Soon after arriving we changed shortly and headed just down to the road to the Baldi Hot Springs that were naturally heated by the volcano. It was not quite what I expected because the only other time I have been ro hot springs were in Yellowstone National Park and they were just pools of hot water heated just like the geysers were. Nothing was added or removed. However at these hot springs the hot water was channeled through a several story waterfall, which then flowed into artificial pools. They even had other fake waterfalls and seats in the shallow pools, as wells as swim-up bars everywhere where any drink cost well over 5 dollars. Even the plants in the landscape were obviously planted by the owners of the hot springs and well maintained. The average tempurature of a hot tub is 110 degrees, and there were several of us that went in the hot spring of 152 degrees! They also had three waterslides that were incredible fast and dangerous, and there is no doubt in my mind would not be legal in the U.S.A. most people hit their heads hard on the slide, pulled a mussle in their necks, or felt like they were about to fly out. We then ate dinner there and drove back to the hotel for bed. The next morning we woke up for dinner at 7, and was very Americanized because the of the three choices for breakfast one was called "Desayuno Americano" which was ham in scrambled eggs. We then went to a hydroelectric dam. About 80% of Costa Rica has their power supplied by hydroelectric power. We got to talk to the engineer and ask him all sorts of questions, as well as go inside the dam to see all the equipment and the two turbines that generated all the power. We then went to ride horses to go to the waterfall. They were soo much fun, wanting to gallop away with the slightest kick of the feet. After maybe a 45 minute ride we reached the La Fortuna waterfall, which is ten stories high. It took several minutes to walk down the hundreds of stairs to reach the bottom of the waterfall, but when we finally got there with our legs shaking form exhaustion the view was breathtaking. We got to swim around the cool water for a couple minutes, the head back up the steep steps. We then got hiked in the Arenal National Park all over the volcan lava flows. We could even hear the rocks from the volcano. I thought it was very appropriate that my "Montesumas Revenge" began to occur that lasted for a few days, with countless trips running to the bathroom just in time. We then went to a Steakhouse where we were served chicken, but I was feeling horrible so I did not really eat anything. We went to bed and woke up again at 7 again to eat breakfast, then had a company pick us up to deliever us to a lake, where we took a 45 minute ferry ride and had a great view of the volcano the whole way. At the other side there were three vans waiting to take us to Monteverde, out next destination. One of the important things to know about Monteverde is that the locals do not like loads of tourists pouring in. One way they control this is not fixing any of the huge pot holes in the road so the entire ride was like a rollercoaster, and my stomach almost lost it a few times to say the least. That ride was an hour or two, but when we got there is was pouring rain, the same theme for the rest of the trip. We entered La Casona de Monteverde, the enterance to the park, ate lunch at our hotel, and headed off immediately after that to view the top of the rain forest via ziplines. We did a total of about 14 or 15 zip lines, with ther last 5 or 6 being what seemed to be endless rides over vast streches over the canopy. Everyones favorite part of the trip by far was the Tarzan rope. We climbed up stairs and were strapped in by our harness and attached to a rope tied to a tree way above. One by one we each took about a 3 meter drop, and then the rope pulled tight just before we were about to the ground and swung us over and above part of the rainforest, and then back to the other side. it took 4 or 5 swings to slow down enough to be stopped, but by that time you were ready to end it because the drop was very exillarating. By the end we were drenched from head to toe no matter what kind of waterproof clothing anyone was wearing because water was just everywhere. After that we only had dinner and 30 minutes to dry off and then we were off to the night hike of the rainforest. We separated into groups of eight with one specialized guide and each with a flashlight. He had incredible eyes because he had been doing this for 8 years. If I went by myself I would not have been able to see a single thing, but he was able to point out several insects like crickets and caterpillars. He informed us that Monteverde received about 12 meters or so of rainfall every year, which we experienced while we we soaked once again during the duration of the tour. He explained to us that everything worked together in the rainforest, like insects cut holes in leaves which allows sunlight to reach the lower leaves at the bottom of the rainforest. Everything was beautiful to see in the rainforest in its natural environment, but there were not any big animals that you would see on the Discovery Channel. We did see, however, some of the 52 indeginous species of bat at Monteverde, and well as the Orange-kneed Tarantula, which is native only to Monteverde. We finally ended that day exhausted around 11, only to wake up at 5:45 the next morning for a morning hike. It rained so much that night that even though the rain had stopped for 6 hours, it still was dripping from the tall trees like it was still raining. It was cool seeing the rainforest in the morning, and we got to see the rare male and female Quetezal, a very rare bird even the tour guide said he had not see in a few months. People come from all over the world to see this bird but rarely get the chance. We also so beautiful hummingbirds of different green, blue, and purple shades and markings. We finally left to go back to Veritas after the morning hike exhausted.