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We woke up at 6:30 am, got ready, and ate breakfast at Las Cabanitas’ open-air restaurant. We then drove to Lake Arenal, which sits at the base of the Arenal Volcano, and is the largest landlocked water body in the country (33 square miles). There we paired up and started kayaking across the lake! Under the overcast skies, the lake looked dark green, and we were half-expecting the Loch Ness Monster to rise out of the water (we all know it vacations in Costa Rica). We kayaked half-way into the lake, before anchoring ourselves at a shore, and jumping out into the water. The sun had finally come out from behind the clouds, and the experience was surreal. We then got back into our kayaks, and kayaked back to the entrance point furiously, in order to move effectively against the wind.
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We then drove to the Rainforest Chocolate Tour in La Fortuna. Erica, our guide for the tour, explained how chocolate was made. We first walked through a cacao plantation (in Spanish, ‘coco’ means coconut, and ‘cacao’ means chocolate), and saw beans of different sizes, ranging from tiny white flowers to big red beans.
We learned that the plants grow for 5- 6 years before producing beans, which took 6-7 months to mature. After, workers would pick the beans and fermented the cacao in vinegar, so that the sweet juice inside the bean changes, the insects don’t attack and the cacao seed inside doesn't germinate. Once the beans ferment, they are dried for 7-14 days, roasted, and the cacao shell and nut are separated. They are finally made into powder or paste. The tour guides demonstrated the entire process before us, from tasting the fermented bean to grinding the powder ourselves. Then, we all got hot chocolate (powder we had made ourselves mixed with hot water). Finally, the chocolate was made into paste, which Erica gave us several samples of chocolate (mixed with condiments such as extracts—vanilla, orange, chocolate; sprinkles, coconut shavings, sugar, salt, etc). After eating at least 5 cups of rich, dark, delicious chocolate, we waved goodbye to our guide, collected dried cacao beans (our souvenir) and headed back to Las Cabanitas. |
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There, we ate lunch, and headed out to the La Fortuna Waterfall, located about 5 miles outside La Fortuna, and walked down a trail down to the waterfall. The view was beautiful, with glimpses of the blue waterfall behind the dark green trees, and the gurgling of water, laughter of visitors and screeching of cicadas all melded to create a pleasant environment (with plenty of rest stops at the end of each flight of stairs). At the bottom, we were greeted with the sight of the powerful waterfall, drilling into the stream below. We took several photos, and then swam downstream. It was pleasantly surprising to see that the stream was very clear and fish were swimming alongside us! The middle of the stream was fed directly by the waterfall, creating a strong current that we all tried to swim against. After the fun experience of splashing each other, swimming with fish and taking multiple pictures, we walked back up the trail (which was ten times harder now) and perused the souvenir store at the top.
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We then wrapped ourselves up (for the second time that day) and went to Baldi Hot Springs, our last stop for the day. It was nothing like I imagined. The Hot Springs were, in reality, an amusement park of 26 different lukewarm, frigid cold and steaming Hot Spring pools and wet bars. We spent two and a half hours there! My friends and I went to each pool, while getting to know each other better, venting about the trip and relaxing in the clean, sulphur-nourished pools. Finally, when we were all weary and satisfied from our first adventurous day in Costa Rica, we drove back to Las Cabanitas for freshly prepared dinner, thorough showers and bed.