Arenal and San Jose

I left Monteverde and went by Jeep-boat-Jeep to La Fortuna to see the Arenal volcano. It was weird leaving the Pension hostel - I wasn't able to say bye to the crew I'd hung out with over the weekend. As soon as I got in the first Jeep and began driving through the Costa Rican countryside I wasn't in as good of a mood as I had been before, and this continued through the boat ride, and the second Jeep to my hostel. I stayed in Arenal Backpacker's Resort, reputed to be the best hostel in all of Costa Rica, and was able to wish a best friend happy birthday through Facebook as soon as I got there. There was nothing to do in the city - it was too cloudy to see the volcano, and I slept for hours.

I realized that I didn't feel like making new friends in this new city... I had it made back in Monteverde with a small weekend crew, several temporary close friends, but I was still living in a cloud after the semester abroad and the amazing friendships from that. What I learned in La Fortuna, and what I realized that I had come to Costa Rica to learn, was that personally, I needed friends to make travel real, to make it fun. Without friends, the Arenal volcanco was just a big, stupid, hot mountain. And these friends didn't have to necessarily be a lifelong crew, but rather people to share life with, whether that means years, or decades, or a semester, or even a day. But I had a friend to go see in San Jose, which made me more excited than I was disappointed I didn't see the Arenal lava flow. I was on the verge of bungee jumping that morning, but decided I'd wait to try and talk my friend in Guatemala into doing it with me. So I stayed in town, read while it rained, got some ice cream, and got on the bus to San Jose. I accidently got off in the wrong city and had to pay 20 bucks for a taxi after a 4 dollar bus ride, but I didn't even mind, as close as I was to hanging out with my ISA friend. However I did realize that from then on I should include a "Stupid Mistakes" section in the budget that should basically multiply what I should be spending by three.

Learning the lesson about friends made me feel contented; I am leaving Costa Rica too soon to experience anything but a tease, with all the unspeakably sweet sights here, but I'm ready to be with people who'll make whatever I'm doing, whatever we're seeing, spectacular. A friend made San Jose more meaningful yesterday, and Guatemala will be the same.

A song by John Legend came on the radio on the Jeep ride from Monteverde; I have a playlist of songs on my Shuffle that will bring back so many memories after this trip. I peeled off a beer label from a cafe in Monteverde, in memory of a best friend who always used to peel them off back in South America, and I stuck it on my moleskin book. Tonight I'll try and make it to the Costa Rica-U.S. soccer game, and after that, I'll hit the road for Guatemala, the third and final chapter of the trip, where I'll get by with a little help from an old friend...