Episode 1

Hi all. We're back in civilization and busier than ever. Andrik is probably going to be absent for a while, since they've got him going at Kellogg all day with drinking all night every night. I'll let him tell you all about that stuff. I'll start telling you guys about our trip. I'm at work without pictures, so I'll add those later. For now, you're getting episode one of a mini-series. Just enough to get you started. You'll get much more as I find time to write :)

So, the KAOS (aptly named as you'll see later) adventure started on Saturday with a BBQ at Clark Beach. We met our fellow travelers and made some quick friends. We hung out for a few hours, then met back up at 3:00 AM to take the cabs to O'Hare. So the trip started with no sleep for anyone :) You'll note this as a trend.

Our entire KAOS group (one of very few whole group pictures)

Andrik eating guavas off a tree on the roadside in Costa Rica
(with Joanna and Danika, more on them later)

The first day was a long travel day. It was a three ish hour flight to Houston, then a 4 ish hour flight to Liberia Costa Rica. The flights were followed by a three hour bus ride to the base of the Arenal Volcano. The Arenal Volcano, directly outside of our hotel room

The bus ride was fun with people getting to know each other and the drinking began. We spent the night at the base of the volcano (literally) and spent some time in the hot springs, which were awesome. Apparently, the volcano spends 90% of the year under cloud cover due to its elevation, but we got lucky and could actually see the lava coming down (even if it was only a little bit). Rocks red from magma the size of cars tumbled down the volcano and the whole thing was pretty cool. No pictures turned out, unfortunately, but trust me that it was pretty freaking awesome.

Us with giant active volcano
(this picture was takenimmediately outside of our hotel room.)
You can also see that I did not have my V8 that day :)

So ends episode 1. Stay tuned for picture additions to this post and for episode 2. Here's your preview: Man our asses were sore!!!