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Hidden Dolphins

The early riser catches a glimpse of a dolphin, or so we hoped as we grouped by the buses waiting to take us to the port to sail off in search of dolphins. As we drove alongside the port, we spotted a boat with a slide coming off of it. Cries arose from our group of, “A slide? Please, please, please let that be our boat!” And as we were directed onto our home for the next few hours, indeed, the boat with the slide was to be ours.

The boat was great. We were served lunch and snacks on it and it had a great front. This front had these mesh nets stretched over the water in front of the boat so that you could lay down. I spent most of my time on the boat in these nets on my stomach with my head towards the oncoming wind, mesmerized by the water.

Soon, we stopped for snorkeling in a little inset on the coast of an island. As we donned the provided goggles and fins, we excitedly jumped into the water with saltines in our hands to feed the fishes. Unfortunately, we weren't on any sort of coral reef or anything and were just in the middle of water. There were no fishes to be seen until we released our precious crackers, at which point blue and yellow striped fishes began to whirl around us. At some point, I swam away from the group a little bit so that I wasn't bumping against my peers and released my saltines. The fishes were right in front of my face and it was quite entertaining. If I stuck my finger out, they would think it was food and bite it.

Once we got back to the boat, we finally got to play with the slide. You lay down on it with your feet first and there's a sharp drop that sends you flying over the ocean some feet behind the boat. Afterwards, people started experimenting with how they went down. Everyone swore by the method that involved laying on your back and going into the water head first, and once I tried it, I swore by it too. Going in this way allowed your face to avoid the water, though more often than not, your swim suit bottoms tried to avoid their rightful place around your waist.

Once we got back on the boat, we rode around for a little bit, but the weather wasn't conducive to sailing, which was necessary to find dolphins since this way the motor doesn't scare them away. As a result, we didn't have the opportunity to view the animals we came for, though usually this company is known for finding dolphins. Overall, the boat itself and its luxuries were perfect, but the activities that we did could be improved.

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The Hotel You've All Been Waiting For

After our long bus ride into Manuel Antonio yesterday, we finally arrived at the five star hotel Olivia had been endlessly telling us about. It was rainy and foggy, so we couldn't really get a good feel for the general positive atmosphere for the place, but still we were a little bit disappointed. The rooms were less impressive than the ones at Monteverde. Furthermore, though my room looks out onto a general area of the hotel, most of our peer's rooms look at the porch of a room across from them.

We've mostly attributed this to the different atmosphere of the hotel. Monteverde had a much more serene feel to it, while El Parador, the hotel we're staying at, is much more of a tropical atmosphere. You can see the ocean from some parts of the hotel which is nice. There are also lots of statues and fountains around the hotel, and their pools look nice. Of course, I understand how lucky I am to be staying at a hotel of this quality, but we've been told that this hotel was supposed to be so much better than the last one we stayed at, which was amazing. So its simply a result of high expectations.

We also went ahead and ate dinner at the hotel yesterday, which was of acceptable quality. Again, nothing stupendous for a five star hotel, but not bad. Afterwards, Emily, Brandon, and Greg congregated in our room for some card games. We passed the night with Euchre, President, and Durak, and before long it was time for bed, and though Julia and I couldn't figure out how to turn of one of the lights in our room for a while, we finally did get to sleep.

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