We made a plan to make our way to the Volcano yesterday for a few days, then on to the beach. This place is amazing, eveywhere you look there is something beautiful, especially the wildlife, the birds, the plants, the people are fascinating. Traveling brings that heightned sense of awareness that can usually only be attained by chemical means. :)

We spent our last morning in the fancy hotel eating ourselves silly at the buffet, swimming in our freezing (who knew?) yet refreshing Las Vegas sized pool and locating a taxi to take us to the bus station.

Ahhh...the bus station. I love taking local buses, it gives one a real sense of who lives here, what people act and smell like. In a taxi or any private transportation, there is too much insulation, not enough connection to anyone or anything. Of course it has it's benefits, it's place, but not now...this is too much fun. The girls had a million questions about the bus, the people on it, where we were going, and how long it would take. We met a cute little two year old named Laura who sat with us for the first hour of the ride to San Carlos (on the way to La Fortuna, the city below the volcano). Autumn had a blast with Laura, reading to her and playing all sorts of games. She had to use any spanish she could since Laura didn't speak a lick of english. If we lived here for even 6 months, the kids would speak perfectly. It goes to show you there is no substitute for living in a foreign country to learn a language, in slightly isolated San Luis Obispo, it's too easy to take to easy road out, even in a bi-lingual school, bummer.

We moved up the hillsides, into the mountains in our bumpy high-velocity bus. The drivers move through tiny towns and around sharp corners as it they were in a scooter, but they do it with style, a ride of it's own! The hillsides, sparcely sprinkled with speckled black and white cows, were a perfect view from our back seat row on the bus. The sharp scent of shit and diesel seasoning the air every so often is a good reminder that even paradise isn't always perfect!