I lost my camara but found some shiny frogs

I am now back in the states, home in Santa Barbara. My last few days in Costa Rica were a whirlwind of adventure from Monteverde, to Arenal, to San Jose. After a hectic day of turning in final papers, finding missing socks, and packing overstuffed suitcases we all found ourselves on the trailhead to Arenal (big active volcano!)at 8am on Friday.
We were given ample time to say our goodbyes to the cloudforest as we spent 6 hours hiking through it in our usual sodden state. The recent arrival of the rainy season had turned most of the trails to mush and much of the hiking was actually sliding through foot deep mud.
So much mud calls for special consideration, care... and mud-ball fighting.
We eventually emerged from the forest, soaking wet and covered in mud, took a boat across Lake Arenal, and found ourselves once more in civilization. Big volcanoes make for big tourist stops.
We stayed at a big goofy hotel complete with a light up waterfall shaped like a volcano and a bunch of sketchy water slides. If the hotel wasn't enough, that night we went to hot springs. It was pretty funny to see the faces of the other people at the pools when thirty college students showed up and headed straight for the bar.
The next morning we eventually rolled out bed, were herded onto a bus, and went careening across Costa Rica back to San Jose. We had one last night of group togetherness and flying through large Central American cities in seatbeltless taxi cabs, and then it was Sunday morning. The end. sniff sniff, sob sob.
My flights back to the states were completely uneventful. I had my major reverse culture shock in the Dallas Airport when I paid three bucks for a cup of coffee. Three dollars! I could get a whole meal, and a drink, and probably dessert for that! Nothing like Starbucks to say "welcome back to the states"