Pura Vida

Costa Rica is beautiful.

The best thing so far occurred right at the airport, when a friend - who, after initially saying she was going, had to back out - was there waiting for us. She had planned a two-month joke for me, and I was so shocked and happy that I couldn't speak. In fact, when I turned the corner and she was there, I nearly had a heart attack. For someone to plan a two-month joke involving hundreds of miles and dollars, well, that's pretty awesome. I'm a big prankster, and I love that someone put so much effort into getting me on one. My friends love me, they really do.

So now it's three of us, visiting a fourth, and, tomorrow, meeting up with another colleague and her husband (a former colleague). So far, we've seen a volcano erupt on a beautiful clear night in the rainforest, seeing its hot pink lava sputter down like fireworks. Then, we spent a couple hours in a hot spring bar, sipping on banana colados while sitting on a bar in hot water. Yesterday, it was off to denser rain forest, where we spent hours ziplining like Tarzan across the trees. Today, we're off to the beach, where I look forward to lots of sitting in the sun, reading, hanging out with monkeys, and swimming.

Lots of photos are upcoming.