Volcanic Hot Springs...mmmmmm

After waiting for quite a period of time, the bus back to the tour starting point arrived.  We all loaded aboard and prepared to leave....right as another group trudged up the path from the river.  Our bus driver decided to wait for them, so we had to sit tight for another 10 minutes while they put up their tubes and claimed their clothes.  One gentleman in a speedo stripped on down and changed clothes right in front of God and everyone.  Listening to the reactions of the other people on our bus was hilarious--they ranged from shock and outrage to heckling lol.  The other group finally squeezed on board and we headed back to the start point.

It was decided that it was too late for us to do the waterfall part of the tour--no big surprise as we had been running late all day.  Honestly though, most of our group was tired enough not to mind.  We did get to see that one waterfall at the beginning of the river rafting run and frankly, after my three flips, I was more than done with being immersed in cold water!

At the start point, I stood in line and bought a CD of all the pictures and videos from our group's day for $40.  We split the cost with Hunter and Amber, and we'll make them their copy when we get back home.  Then we loaded on the tour bus--we were the last ones on--and trundled up the road to the volcanic mud and hot springs spa.  We decided we didn't care to go in the saunas and so we headed to the last of the three hot springs.


We got in slowly to adjust to the incredible heat.  Once we were acclimated, it was wonderful!  Amber had to get out first, but Hunter, Bryan and I stayed in a bit longer.  A Canadian family with a baby--Astrid--came down and we all shared travel stories.  Astrid's dad stayed out of the water with her--it was way to hot for her, and he, like Amber, wasn't a big fan of the high heat of that pool.  We continued soaking until a LARGE group of French folks came down.  At that point, we decided to relocate--there were definitely more people than room.  We went up to the next hot spring, which was cooler but muddier.  We had this one all to ourselves until we decided to go to the mudroom.

We all thought the mudroom would involve getting into tubs of mud or something similar, but we actually got to paint it on ourselves!  One of the spa guys helped us get our backs.  Bryan skipped the mud, but took some pictures with Amber's camera.  I painted all over and so did Hunter, while Amber was a bit more restrained.

After so thoroughly mudding ourselves, we went back to the second hot spring.  We were worried about dirtying the spring further, but the Alabama folks encouraged us to go ahead and use it to rinse off since the spring was already so muddy.  By this time, the mud was fairly well dried on so it took some serious rinsing.  Then we had to rinse off the sediment from the hot spring in the outdoor shower--which was FREEZING!  After being in the hot spring, the cold water did feel nice, at least until the wind picked up!  At Bryan's urging we hurried back up the path (where we saw a scorpion) to the bus--we were the last ones on board again.  Ooops!


We apologized and quickly got settled for the trip back to Tamarindo.  I was a bit sad we didn't get to see the lava glow, but maybe that was only for the other tour to the Arenal volcano.  Oh well.  As with Bryan's dive trip, that's something for next time!  Exhausted and achy, I dozed while we were on the rough road, and then passed out when we got to the pavement.  Bryan was coughing pretty badly, like the night before, so I woke up occasionally for that.  He also woke me up to see the glow from a huge fire, but other than that I didn't wake up until we entered Tamarindo.

When we were dropped up at La Palapa, we immediately went to the front desk.  It occurred to us that Cherri was gone and we hadn't mentioned our early check-out needs to anyone else.  We spoke with the owner's daughter (who is part owner herself) and she was shocked at Hunter and Amber's departure time (which WAS super early--3:45 AM--especially for a small, privately owned hotel as opposed to a chain hotel that normally has a night desk clerk, but they did have to catch the shuttle back to Tamarindo).  She recovered quickly and was more than willing to oblige them.  She was a bit happier with our check out time.  She told the bar tender, who also opens the place up, and he pretended to "shoot" Hunter and Amber for making him get up so early.  I thought it was funny, but they seemed to miss the joke.

We all showered, navigating the challenges of sharing a wall and the inherent water pressure and temperature fluctuations with the skills developed over the past week.  We then headed to CopaCabana for our last dinner in Tamarindo.  Bryan had Mahi Mahi in white wine sauce and a Coke, I had the Crusoe salad again and the same wine as before, Amber had two appetizers--shrimp and nachos--with red wine, and Hunter had tuna and a pina colada.  It was all delicious!

Afterward, we ran to the upstairs supermercado, where Hunter and Amber bought some snacks for their trip home and Bryan and I bough coffee for folks back home.  Once back in front of our rooms, we all hugged and wished each other safe trips back.  Bryan and I went in to pack up.  All the souvenirs went in with the dirty clothes (and the few clean ones left) and all of the wet and damp things went into the extra duffel that we packed for that purpose.  We left out what we would need for the morning, stumbled up the stairs, and fell deeply asleep around 10:30 AM.