So what are the chances of outrunning lava?

Oh. My. Gosh. Every day just keeps getting better and better. At some point it's going to become impossible to surpass the day before so I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead and head home now. Yeah, not very likely...

My newly revised plan from yesterday could not have gone more smoothly. I woke up bright and early at 6 am, had one last fabulous breakfast in Quepos overlooking the ocean and hopped in my teenie tiny little car for the nearly 3-hour drive to the airport to pick up Niki. This time I totally enjoyed the drive (even the Bridge of Death amused me this time around); I'm not sure if it's because I was excited about meeting up with Niki or just that I've now totally assimiliated and am just enjoying the simple things like the scenery and people I see along the way but, either way, the time seemed to fly.

As did I, apparently. About two hours in, I got to get up close and personal with one of Costa Rica's finest. Doh! Apparently I was doing 88 kmh in a 60 zone. Oops. Let's just say that I have enough experience with getting tickets in foreign countries to know that it is a MAJOR hassle to get taken care of and, well, let's just also say that I got out of it. The hows and whys present a moral grey area for me which I am still mulling over. (okay, not really, I'm just still feeling guilty about it!)

So, after having slowed my speed considerably, I continued on to the airport. Having left Quepos at 7:30 and not really knowing an exact timeframe I'm surprised at how perfectly it all worked out: Niki's flight arrived at 9:53, I got to the airport at 10:17 and she came out of customs at 10:30. Come on, I totally rock! She had taken the red-eye and arrived to me, well, red-eyed so she slept most of the 3 hours we spent driving from the airport to our first destination: Volcan Arenal (Arenal Volcano). I used the time to take in more of the country and to marvel at their road system. Especially at the parts where it just ends. Seriously, ends. Let me now avow that I will never again complain about PA roads and let me also say to all of my fellow Pennsylvanians: you should leave your homes right now, this very minute, find Governor Rendell and give him a big, fat, sloppy kiss on the lips for what beautiful and smooth roads we have. Turns out it really is all relative.

But, I digress. We arrived in the town where the infamous volcano is (it is still very active, most recently killing 2 people in the year 2000, but is most famous for its 1968 eruption that killed 87 people and left 3 towns completely buried under what is now a huge lake) and, as usual, had no gameplan. We asked around and, long story short, ended up in, I am NOT exaggerating, the most stunning hotel I have ever stayed in. Not even because of the hotel itself so much but due primarily to the view. It sits atop a mountain of its own and is made up of charming little cottage-like buildings that all connect with pathways and from our hotel balcony we overlook a huge valley as well as both the lake AND the volcano. We spent hours in the gorgeous swimming pool, staring out over the scene and watching the sun set and then had dinner in the open-air restaurant, watching lava flow while dining on a-ma-zing food ("pollo tropical" with mango, pineapple, papaya and orange, mmmm) and wine. As I write this, I am sitting on my bed which faces the huge plate glass window that takes up a whole wall and can see red hot lava flowing down the mountain. We decided we didn't even want to do anything else or go anywhere else tonight as we literally wanted to enjoy every single moment of being here. We're also planning on staying until the last possible minute tomorrow. In all the hotels in all the places I have been, this one is hands down the most amazing. It's simply breathtaking.

I told Niki we shouldn't have done this on her first night because it'll all be pretty much downhill from here. Either way, we have lots of other fun things planned for tomorrow and no doubt we're going to have a great time, no matter how crappy any future hotels will seem in comparison. Presuming we survive tomorrow's activities (literally), I shall post more then!

(Also, Niki brought down her cable to get pictures from the camera onto the computer (yes, of course I forgot mine) so hopefully tomorrow can start putting up my own pictures... yay!)