Volcan Arenal: Two Different Experiences

On Friday, November 23, the group headed off to Los Lagos Hotel by the active Arenal Volcano. Arenal is one of Costa Rica's most popular tourist destinations, but it was our last group outing through Elon, so I was expecting the trip to be a little bittersweet.
Arenal Volcano is about 90 km from San Jose (but thanks to the poor roads, it takes about 4 hours to drive there). After 400 years of dormancy, the volcano erupted in the mid-1960s, coincidentally just in time for Kennedy's visit to this country. It destroyed the town of Arenal, and even today, tourists can't climb the volcano due to the potential dangers from the constant mini-eruptions. Still, the view and the natural hot springs are really popular with tourists
This was actually my second time going to Arenal because I went with my parents when they visited during fall break. The first time, my parents and I did a tour with Desafio Adventures company, which is based in nearby La Fortuna. We did a combination tour where we rode horses to a forest near the volcano, then did ziplines through the tall trees. These ziplines was perfect for my parents (my mom is afraid of heights) and the guides were very congenial, but the ziplines in Monteverde were a lot more challenging. That night, we stayed at Arenal Observatory Lodge, about 30 minutes from La Fortuna. The Lodge actually used to be Smithsonian's observation point, and is therefore the closest hotel or tourist spot to the volcano's cone. It's also very close to Arenal Lake. On premises, there is a semi-fancy restaurant, a hiking path that goes by hardened lava, and 1 cold pool and 2 small hot-spring fed pools. The view from this hotel was AMAZING, especially when we woke up at 4:45 to the sound of what I thought was howler monkeys, and my mom thought was an avalanche. It was actually the volcano grumbling, and it was beautiful set against the clear, dark sky.
This time, the Elon group and I stayed at Hotel Los Lagos, a luxury resort a little further from the volcano. It too had a semi-fancy restaurant, but it had at least a dozen beautiful, spring-fed pools (both hot and cold) and 3 water slides. It also had a crocodile farm, so we could get really close to these giant crocs, a butterfly farm, and beautiful gardens. There are hiking trails and some small ziplines on the premises too. Some of the students opted to get massages and facials from the hotel's spa, which was relaxing. The one drawback to Los Lagos is that, unlike the Observatory Lodge, it is on the inactive side of the volcano, meaning that even if there had been no clouds, we probably would not have been able to see any of the lava. Unfortunately, clouds blocked the volcano for the whole weekend, day and night. My classmates were disappointed that we had travelled so far and not seen more than just the base of the volcano.
All in all, it was a good trip. Los Lagos has everything you need; it is good for families or tourists wanting a 1-stop destination in Arenal. However, Arenal Observatory lodge definitely had better views and a more calm, private atmosphere.
Enjoy the pictures!

- Jessi

Poverty Issues in Costa Rica

I recently completed a project for my seminar class that required me to research poverty statistics and lifestyles in Costa Rica. Admittedly, I was drawn to this project after what I experienced in my trip to Nicaragua. Until this study abroad experience I had never before been to a developing/third world country. Now I have been to both. I think that the experience is somewhat strange. It is hard to describe what it is like to travel to a country that is so much further behind than mine but both living in the same world at the same time. It doesn’t really make sense that not all countries can have the same type of luxuries, commodities and necessities that other countries have so easily. For example, I (a fairly broke college student) have a washer and dryer in my apartment that I can use whenever I want. I don’t have to worry about the sun not coming out to dry my clothes or the electricity cutting off during a wash cycle. Building materials are different, luxury items are different, you drink warm milk, the diet barely varies, and everyone lives behind bars. There is so much more that is different in non-developed countries that I could not even relate to you right now because I have been living here for far too long to even notice them or note them as obvious differences.

Anyway, I was writing about poverty. Costa Rica is undisputedly poorer, as a whole, than the United States. It was clear to me when I first rode through San Jose that there were some true poverty issues that this country was suffering with. What I was surprised to discover, however, was that compared to all of Latin America, and compared to the World, Costa Rica really is not as poor as you would think. While approximately 25% of the population lives in poverty or extreme poverty, at least Costa Rica has a middle class. So many countries have a small upper class and a huge lower class and no middle class, it says something for Costa Rica that they have a visible, strong middle class. Consider Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan, Ghana, and so many more countries that barely even have an upper class, that survive in nearly primitive lifestyles. Earlier in the year we had the chance to visit Nicaragua for a long weekend which some of us blogged about earlier. The poverty problems there are so much worse than here in Costa Rica I actually began to feel guilty for sitting in an air-conditioned bus while I watched men and women walking, barefoot, and leading their horse drawn carts or carrying their laundry from the river…I still do feel guilty.

Experiencing these developing/third-world countries truly opened my eyes up to the privileges I have compared to the struggles of a huge world population of impoverished people. I still can’t help but wonder what the world would be like if everyone gave just $10.00.

-Craig Campbell

We Went to Arenal

This past weekend we all took our final group trip to Arenal, Costa Rica. According to some Tico talk, this is one of the most favorite places in Costa Rica because of the active volcano and beautiful surroundings. Unfortunately, we all decided to come to Costa Rica during the rainy season, and rain comes from clouds, and clouds block the view of the sweet, lava-flowing volcano. We didn’t get to see it. Nevertheless, the weekend was pretty cool because we just lounged away in hot springs located on the property of the Los Lagos resort. Also, the hotel pools had some really fun, slightly dangerous waterslides that we repeatedly went down along with the 20 or so children who enjoyed them. I did get to have a first-time-in-my-life experience while I stayed there: a massage. Before coming to Costa Rica I had never had a massage before and I decided that since I have been doing so many new things like bungee jumping, eating rice and beans all day, crossing unfathomably dangerous streets, speaking in Spanish all the time, handling hummingbirds, learning Latin dances, and relaxing on beaches in September, October, November and sooner than later December, I may as well treat myself to a good old Costa Rican massage. The experience was very relaxing and definitely set me up to be in a good mood for the upcoming stress-filled week. The massage was a good life decision and a good way to start the end of my Costa Rican extravaganza.

-Craig Campbell

10 days

At this point, I find myself switching back and forth regarding my feelings on leaving. Everyday, every minute I change my mind. Each minute that passes is one less I will spend here in Costa Rica, in the country that has become my home. Leaving my "family" here is going to be very difficult. Naomi has become a second mom, and José (despite how ridiculous he is)has become a part of my family. I am going to miss their son and his newly adopted 2 year old Anthony. I knew that was going to be the most difficult part of living and as each day goes by I know I am getting closer to leaving them. It scares me that I will probably never see them again. However, I know that once I return to the states I am going to go back into my my normal routine and get back to my regular life. The same has happened every time I travel abroad. It's always hard to leave. Then the period of adjustment, missing the way things were, and then moving on. Obviously, I realize that this experience will stick with me and I will always remember my time abroad, yet I also realize that I am going to be able to move on and continue. I realize as well that I am leaving one family for another. Seeing my friends and family again is really exciting. I find the whole process of adjustment rather interesting. The way I switch back and forth between excitement and sadness depends entirely on my mood. So at this time when I feel stuck between two places, I am trying my best to enjoy these last days and make the best of the little time we have left.

-AG

Los Lagos Hotel: The Other Side of Arenal

This weekend we went to Arenal Volcano as a group for our last Elon-planned group trip. I had already been to Arenal with my parents over fall break, and was excited to go back. I really enjoyed staying on the active side, where we were guaranteed to see lava during your stay. Therefore, I found it interesting that I did not see the top of Arenal during the entire trip due to the clouds. It seemed kind of odd to go to a hotel near an active volcano and be unable to see it during the entire weekend. However, I thoroughly enjoyed spending a relaxing weekend in the hot springs. As I had remembered, everything was overpriced in Arenal because it is such a hot spot for tourists. The hotel had mediocre food (confirmed by others in the group...this is not just me being difficult because I'm a lactose-intolerant vegetarian who prefers healthy food) but we went to a really nice Mexican Restaurant.

I also had a fun incident with Kim and Sara where we got caught in a rainstorm on our way to a "look out point" which we still aren't completely sure if we found. The best part was that we happened to have our cameras with us. The rain was intense, to the point that each drop was painful. We returned to the room completely soaked. Luckily, the cameras were saved and we have a couple pictures from before the rain got too bad. Overall, it was a good time. While a very different experience than the one I had at Arenal the first time, I was happy to have the time to relax and enjoy the beauty of our hotel.

-Amanda

National Theater: Starring Abuela

A week ago our group took a trip to the National Theater to see Cullen’s tica abuela (grandma) sing in a choir she is a part of. I’ve had the opportunity to get to know her a bit as she lives down the street from me. She’s really sweet and always willing to talk and feed you. She invited our group to come see her perform and we decided to make a night out of it. In all honesty the show wasn’t that amazing because it was mainly community group choirs and a lot from local high schools, but it was nice to be there. I especially liked watching the choirs with really little kids. One tiny girl had glasses that kept falling down her nose...she just kept on singing her heart out opening her little mouth extra wide to squeeze all the words out. It's nice to see that these kids get to be part of something in the community as there are really no after school activities for children or many extraccuricular activities.
The pictures in this post are from the night. If you ever come to Costa Rica be sure to visit the theater...and just hope that "abuela" is performing the night you come! -CM

El parque de diversiones

So Saturday Caitlin and I go to the only amusement park in Costa Rica. She called me 15 minutes before we needed to leave, and I was more than excited to accompany her. The park was just like most amusement parks in the United States. It was a little smaller, but it was really clean and nice. And it only cost 10 bucks to get in! We were with about 10 Ticos from Caitlin's church, and they were all so nice and so much fun. We went on all the rides, which took a little bit of convincing to get Caitlin to go on all of them, but it was worth it! We had a great time, even, waiting in line and talking to the Ticos, a few who spoke some English, although we got by with our Spanish. We stayed until the park closed, and we went on all the big rides at least once. We also went on the paddle boats, bumper cars, and the water rides. We got to try this typical Costa Rican candy made of milk and sugar, almost like fudge. It was really sweet and tasty. All in all it was a great day. Our new friends walked us to our bus stop to make sure we would get home okay, and we have already been in contact with them since! We hope to see them again before we leave, but either way, I will never forget this fabulous experience!
-KH