Sunday Blatherings: Back to the Grind

Hola!  I'm back from my trip and quickly gathering all the loose strings.  This was one of the fastest paced trips I've ever been on in my life.  The best part of it was getting to be with people that I love and care about.  I can't say that I got a lot of reading done, since we were busy 24/7 driving to sites, hiking, and more hiking.  At night, when we would come in to crash, I would pull out papers and grade like crazy.  A miracle happened and I actually finished it all, so I'm happy now.

I did get a few novellas read and I finished Lola and the Boy Next Door on the way home, whenever I could stay awake on those plane rides.  Other than that, I now need to survive the last week of term before I have my own reading marathon!

Here are a few pictures of my trip!

The famous volcano at Arenal.  Yes, it's still active and has destroyed cities around the base.  It sure gave me pause for thought when they said it went off in the last 50 years and it is going through a dormant time, which means it could be gearing up for another round of activity.  This was the view out of our window at the place we stayed!

On the other side of Arenal, we hiked up over the lava fields.  Here my friend and I are behind the sign that says it's a high volcanic activity area & to not go any further.  

A volcano near Arenal.  The hike down was so incredibly intense!  There were all stone steps, sometimes narrow, always steep, lined with chains to give you a little something to hold onto.  Let's just say that hiking back out of there made me walk like Frankenstein's monster for the rest of the trip!  It was really beautiful though and so worth the trip down all those stairs.

This is a picture of the criss-cross cement ground cover they used for trails all over the place.  Let's just say that I brought the worst shoes ever & should have brought tennis shoes for all of these trails.  You can see too that it was in the rainy season. 

Here's my friend peaking around the tree down the trail in front of me.  Such pretty greenery!  Just stay away from the holes in the side of the path.  Some of them are homes to giant tarantulas.  *shudder*  One guide even showed us one, which gave me the creepy crawlies for a long time after.

 So, I'm a little mad at myself for not taking more pictures of people and locations.  For me, a lot of times those pictures grab my attention faster than landscapes, but I have to say that the landscapes are pretty cool.  My batteries died when we went to hold the Toucans at this private reserve outside of San Jose.  I have to get my friend's pictures of these amazing little birds.  They are so stinking cool and I loved holding them.  

Well, that's just a snippet of my trip!  Now I need to get back in the groove and get some grading done before school tomorrow.