It didn't take longer than 5 minutes on that ride for me to fall completely in love with Arenal. Even when my horse rammed my knee into a fence post as it was going for drink of water, the view of the mountains and the clouds blowing away to reveal the top of the volcano made it every bit worth it.
Before even arriving to Arenal, we stopped at a cathedral in San Carlos that had a decorative spruce tree garden in front. The shapes in the trees were lovely to admire, but the inside of the church was even more impressive. We were given only a few minutes to explore the garden and the church, but I still had time to be taken completely aback by the hand-painted murals on the cathedral ceiling and the hand-laid tiles on the floor, and light a candle for Meghan Joy, whose bowling event the MJB Foundation would be hosting the next day, with our birthday to follow. 
I also celebrated my 24th birthday on Sunday, spending most of the day in Arenal. I celebrated my birthday in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We walked down the 500 steps to Catarata La Fortuna, climbed over the rocks, and swam under the freezing cold waterfall.
We then walked all the way back up those 500 stairs. In the pouring rain. But, honestly, I wouldn't have changed it if I could've.
The hotel we stayed at (Los Lagos) had thermal pools heated by the natural springs from the volcano. We spent most of our evenings relaxing in those, and even got to see a few iguanas when we were there during the daytime. It also had a huge buffet with lots of healthy, low-carb, low-sodium options - something I've missed a lot since being here.
At lunch on Sunday, the loudest birthday song I've ever heard played over the speakers in the restaurant, and they brought out a cake covered in frosting and marshmallow flowers. The group sang to me in a mixture of English and Spanish, and we all ate some very frosting-heavy, but delicious cake together.
Despite my lovely distractions over the weekend, it was hard to keep loved ones in Ohio off my mind. I've never completely missed an MJB event before, and I've never not seen my family at least during my birthday weekend, if not the day of. However, they made me feel loved and missed with a video of well-wishes put together by D. Its beautiful, and made me both laugh and cry, and is something I'll continue to treasure and look back at whenever I miss them during the rest of my time here.
Overall, between the adventures horseback riding and swimming in a waterfall, and the relaxing in the pools and eating good food at the hotel, my birthday weekend ended up being amazing. While I wish I could have shared it with some people back home, its certainly one that I won't soon forget.
Pura Vida
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