They aren't kidding when they say the driving is crazy here. I am so glad we were in a giant coach bus-- the car ran a red light and ran right into us. It ripped quite a bit off the side of the bus an completely demolish the car. Amazingly, no one seemed to be really hurt in the car, the driver was completely fine, the passenger was taken to the hospital (wouldn't be surprised if he had broken legs or something) and there were kids in back that were scared but alright. Such a scary thing seeing the car shooting that fast towards us. Everyone was so calm though. Police walked up and a crowed formed but nothing was blocked off.
After about 20 minutes of waiting in the bus another bus came, we switched and were on our way.
The ride was beautiful, open land with mountains in the distance, and lots of farm land and fields full of cows. So beautiful. 
I was a little worried about finding a place to stay in Rio Dulce since we were behind schedule, it was dark, and we had no idea where we were going. But, luckily there were some hostel reps and we jumped on a boat for a 10 minute ride across the lake to hostel Perico.
The hostel was literally in the middle of the rainforest, up on stilts to stay out of the water. There were turtles and fish swimming around and I woke to a giant tarantula by my bed. Bethy told me it was the hotel pet that they let run around, so I was gonna hold it but then I was told that wasn't true.....huh. It was a pretty friendly spider for being a wild one.
I wasn't a huge fan of the place because it was in the middle of nowhere, and a total tourist place. I had also started to feel really sick on the bus (partially no sleep, partially REALLY missing monterrico) and was going to go straight to bed, but they blared loud music until two. I was not a happy camper, especially after I asked the worker to turn it down but he was too drunk to understand. Besides that, there were no locals and the hostel restaurant was the only food available so it was pretty expensive. So in the morning we headed back to Rio Dulce and found a nice place right in town. Then we walked around, getting to know the place. It almost seems like a farm town, tons of ranchers and cows in trucks and chickens everywhere. Soo many people crowding the street, but not a ton of attention from guys which is a huge (lovely) difference from Motericco.
After grabbing some food we jumped in a random van with some random people and told them where we wanted to go and prayed they'd get us there (Okay, it wasn't that bad.)
The van was absolutely packed and every few miles it would stop and pick up someone or drop some people off. There was one guy who was always hanging outside the van trying to get people to ride along. At one point there were so many people that they were hanging on the outside of the van. Could you imagine what would happen if someone tried to do that in the US? Such a different world. Luckily Beth and I were in the back with another tourist so we avoided being crushed by the farmers with machetes.
After about an hour, we arrived here:
The beautiful waterfall is HOT and the river it flows into is FREEZING. It is so Incredible. There are also caves behind the waterfall, and you can climb the rocks and jump off. There will definitely be another day spent here tomorrow.
After the waterfalls, we hopped on a motercycle with a new friend.
We headed over to the lake and met a family that has a huge farm, cows, horses, crops.
They said I can maybe ride the horse tomorrow.
We walked by the lake and played with little Carlos, and then said we had to get going to catch our shuttle back.
The three of us hopped back on his motercycle and went to the bus stop where he suggested that he give us a ride back. We kind of argued because it was so far, but he insisted that it was no problem. He asked if we had seen an police and after we said no he said, "let's go." So the three of us got back on the bike and set off.
Oh goodness. Let's describe this ride in three words: beautiful, hilarious, and celoso. That means jealous. I have been getting to know that word so well...
The sun was setting and the sky was purple and orange and soo beautiful.
He would honk at everyone we passed and wave at them. So often guys on the side of the road would whistle or make hand gestures, and after one particularly verbal group of guys I said, "celosooo" and his reaction was so priceless. He smirked and nodded slowly and fist bumped. Boom.
When we got in the city, I'm pretty sure he was getting a kick out of how we were freaking out. Everyone drives and walks everywhere; there are no rules, people walk between the cars and people pass everywhere...but they know what they're doing. Soo fun driving between the cars.
Can't believe there is only a week of this adventure left!! :(
I will sleep much better tonight after reading that you are back to normal and having crazy adventures. I expect nothing less from you :)
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