Salchipapas and Skype

6:50 PM.

We're back at the apartment in Agua Buena. I just got Christina hooked on Sporcle :). We just came back from dinner at a not-so-nearby soda. Carlos, our taxi driver from today, picked us up at 5pm sharp (they're surprisingly punctual here) and dropped us off at the soda, which is about 3 miles out of the town. We had chalupas and an order of salchipapas (fries with cut up slices of fried sausage).

The sodas here are just small, casual restaurants. Costa Rica's equivalent of a take-away chip shop (I can't think of any Stateside equivalent, maybe a diner?). They're not fast food by any means - few things here move quickly. The food was decent; we talked literature while eating.

A Day at the Hot Spring

10:00-11:00AM? Tuesday.

Bumpy ride, bubbling water, and butterflies...

At the hot springs (Agua Caliente). There are plenty of butterflies fluttering around. I tried to form the word "butterfly" by putting the Spanish words for "butter" and "to fly" together - I got something like "mantequilla volero" ("flying butter"). It's a comical alternative to just saying "mariposa."

The drive up here was extremely bumpy - gravel/rock roads for over half the entire way. I was worried that the car we were in would just suddenly snap under all the pressure and bumps - but we did eventually make it! Thanks to Carlos our driver, and to all the locals who pointed us in the right direction whenever we reached a fork in the road.

These hot springs are actually just a pool of hot water adjacent to the river. It's a pretty big and fast-flowing river with plenty of rapids - I don't know its name - I do know that we're near the Parque Internacional de Amistad (near the Panama border) and just over the mountains from the Caribbean side of the country. The river is cold. I sorta swam in but got instantly pinned against the huge rocks. I freed myself and made sure I wouldn't get sucked away by the strong rapids.