Nauyaca Waterfalls!

We were all so excited to visit the waterfalls here! I think it's so extraordinary and amazing to be so close to a waterfall. We climbed up on our horses for the tour that took us to the falls. My horse's name was Candy, but it kept stopping to eat grass. Nadia's horse was named Minnie, which I thought was the cutest name ever. Kerry-Ann couldn't control her horse, Patsy, and she kept wandering off in the wrong direction. LeeAnn was a pro at riding horses, so she stayed close to Kerry Ann to help her out.

I could hear the roaring of the waterfall before I could see the sight. My breath was taken away when my eyes finally found the massive waterfall. Here's a picture:

It must have been more then 200 feet tall! We stripped down to our bathing suites and starting to put our feet in. It was cold at first, but Jojo and I went straight under and got used to the temperature before anyone else did. We could swim anywhere we wanted to, and some of the people we began the tour with started climbing up the rocks to jump off the smaller of the two waterfalls. I thought it looked exciting and convinced Kerry-Ann to come with me. It was so thrilling I was scared to death when I was on the ledge but I jumped and it was awesome. It was so cold when I hit the water, but I wanted to do it again. Overall, the day was really amazing and we're all so glad that we had the opportunity to do this.

Art

We were pretty tired today, so we decided to go to a museum. We went to the Museo de Arte Costarricense (museum of Costa Rican art) in San Jose. There was a lot of cool and amazing artwork, but I was really interested in Francisco Amighetti's work.



Amighetti had an academic background, but he rebelled against the European style of art and created a distinct Costa Rican style. His artwork was influenced by surrealism, but portrayed regular life in Costa Rica. Even though some of his techniques seemed similar to European and American art, I could see the cultural flavor. He has become internationally famous for his paintings and engravings.



~Nadia

WELCOME 2010!

Wow! I can't believe it's a new decade already! It has definitely been off to an amazing start!



We kicked off the new year with a huge party in San Jose's central park. There was plenty of fireworks, food, drinks, and dancing. This was the first time I have count down to the new year in Spaninsh!

There are still Christmas decorations everywhere, but they are a sign of tradition, not holiday laziness :-). Ticos celebrate Christmas until January 6 (traditionally the day the three wise men arrived to worship Jesus).

Happy New Year!

~Nadia