Day 4: Easter, White Water Rafting, and Clear Skies!

We will post more about our Easter day once we are home (once Beth has written about it on the plane), but...our day involved gorgeous weather, a clear view of the whole volcano, evening adventures to reach a spot where we could see beautifully fiery red lava trails dribbling down the side of the mountain, and! white water rafting the Class III and IV El Torro River - as the locals say - we rode the bull! :)

...Posted from the San Jose airport 05 April

So, Daniel woke up to discover the Easter Bunny had made a small visit and had brought him a carton on his favorite, whoppers, Beth’s favorite Cadbury eggs, and a cute basket of gobstoppers. How thoughtful of the Easter Bunny!

We enjoyed another fantastic breakfast, packed a bag with dry clothes, thoroughly applied sunblock – Beth brought out the heavy duty SPF 90 this time, and headed down to the lobby to go whitewater rafting! We were picked up by a cheerful, friendly shuttle and Wave Expeditions quickly had us on our way to the Rio El Toro.

There were fourteen of us to be divided up amongst three rafts with three guides and we had an awesomely international group. We had people from Germany, Colorado, Sweden, Ireland, and the UK. Really neat – so there were lots of languages flying around on the bus – not to mention our Costa Rican guides. We ended up in the kayak with the couple from Nuremberg, Germany who were ironically named Michael and Stephanie – Daniel and I laughed and said it would not be hard for us to remember… but then had to explain. And in the back of our raft was our guide Omara – who was a direct, enthusiastic, feisty one who definitely knew what she was doing. We went over all the safety stuff and commands and practiced a little before taking off – before we knew it we were barreling through class IV rapids and loving it.

We really had a great time and loved how reliant it was on us to paddle and follow commands – our boat never tipped, although we excitedly served as the rescue crew more than once. Daniel got to pull a very scared twelve year old out of the water. The river itself had a green/brown tint because the majority of the river was fed from a local volcano and the river carried large sulfur deposits. In between rapids we sometimes had a chance to glimpse around and got to absorb the sheer beauty of the jungle we were paddling through – there were lots of beautiful waterfalls feeding into the river, overhanging trees, and incredibly rich, lush greenery all around us.

We may not have tipped over – but we had a few close calls. We also got stuck several times in the some of the more shallow parts – often in very precarious positions that we were convinced would result in us tipping out onto the rocks. We got so wedged once, Omara actually asked Daniel to hop out and try to help work us free. She called him her super friend. We were out on the river for about 3 hours without stopping, so despite our best sunblocking efforts, the parts of us that were in direct overhead sun are somewhat scorched. That would include the tops of our knees (even though we were both wearing Bermuda length shorts), and the tops of my arms. Not all of my arms – but the top of my forearms and a weird band down my hands. We are struggling today – we’re scraped, knicked, bruised, burned, and wiped out – and definitely agree that this was a perfect last day activity. Despite that – we truly had a fantastic time!! Halfway through the rafting we got to switch places with the other couple and enjoyed the view from the front of the boat – which was much more intense. For those of you who haven’t rafted before – if you paddle right you use your entire body – especially your core – so we got an awesome workout in too!

After our awesome trip down the river, we dragged the boats up the rocky edge and were greeted with fresh pineapples, watermelons and mangoes – as well as our dry clothes and a place to change! We were actually supposed to have the fruit earlier in our voyage (mid rafting trip), but at one of the points when we had gotten stuck, and water overran our raft, the bag of fruit had been washed away – along with our guide’s water. Next, we loaded up back onto our shuttle to drive to lunch and were given perfectly ice cold beers to enjoy along the way – they hit the spot! Just as we pulled up to the restaurant, our hunger set in, and we enjoyed delicious plates of chicken, rice, beans, yucca, hard boiled eggs, and salads. Yum! We washed it all down with an orange/pineapple/mango juice and felt full, happy, and exhausted. On the way home we realized that it was an even clearer day than the day before and we had an uninterrupted view of the volcano! Awesome!!!

Once back at our hotel we crashed for a while – sunburned, sore, a little worse for wear. As the sun started setting we decided to see if we could see the lava from the volcano at night. As we drove around the volcano, watching the sunset (while Daniel watched the rode), we decided we would probably get the best view from the road we had driven on for our canopy tour – and we were right! As we headed down a very dusty, earthen road, we realized we were following several tour buses and were being followed by even more. And then we found ourselves in the mix of dozens and dozens of cars, at least a hundred people, and a one lane bridge. Yikes. Just as we crossed the bridge we glanced to were the volcano was to discover there was a beautiful fiery river of lava streaking down the volcano!!! So awesome!! We soon parked and made our way back to the bridge and leaned on a boulder as we watched several fiery burps from the Arenal Volcano – it was really cool. None were quite as big as the first, and the crowds were insane – but the view? Absolutely awesome!
And that marked the end of our night. We headed back to the hotel – called room service for dinner, and passed out after an amazing day.

Day 3: Flying Over the Costa Rican Rainforest

They fly through the air with the greatest of ease – it’s the Hals soaring over canopy trees!

Today was marked with another adrenaline rush – although this time our fate was much more in the hands of others…not reliant on our coordination and ability to repel.
To start, we explored La Fortuna last night, checked out the park in the town center and some of the little shops, and enjoyed strolling through the streets. After that we had a fantastic dinner at La Choza de Laurel – we started off with a salad of radishes, heart of palm, onion, red pepper, corn, and other greens. Daniel hardly used any dressing. Our meals had many different tastes – but the highlights included fried yucca, baked plantain, heart of palm salad, to-die-for pineapple smoothie, and unbelievably flavorful pork tenderloin. We ended our evening with a dip in the pool and crashed early.

We woke up, grabbed another fabulous breakfast of papaya, pineapple, cooked plantains, and rice w/beans, and were off for another awesome day. We saved twenty bucks by driving ourselves into Arenal National Park where we headed up some very steep hills and rocky terrain for our canopy tour. We were greeted by friendly people and soon found ourselves amongst some very nervous people who were pretty anxious about the ziplining. After repelling the day before, the butterflies didn’t really kick in until we actually started flying through the air…

We took the sky tram up to a big main platform – I spotted wild howler monkeys in the trees on the way up and they stopped all three cars and backed them up so we could watch the monkeys jump through the trees – really cool!! After that we reached the top, enjoyed a great view, and were briefed on how exactly we were going to get from platform to platform.

We ziplined in Jamaica on our honeymoon, but this was a little different. It was much higher up, much longer lines, much much much faster, and, they had you position yourself in a way that you were essentially in the upside down fetal position…flying at about 45+ miles an hour at least 1,000 feet in the air. Yikes.

They had two really short runs to make sure we were comfortable and then gave us the chance to wimp out. Nobody did, and so we were soon flying down the line over the rainforest with a gorgeous view of Lake Arenal and the Arenal Volcano on lines up to a half mile long. It was really awesome. You had the rush of a rollercoaster – of going fast and free and then the unbelievable scenery all around you.

We took turns trying to get photographs and videos of each other, but weren’t really able to film the actually ride in progress itself – although we did stick the flip in Daniel’s shorts pocket and catch one or two decent videos that way.

After our canopy tour, we headed out for an afternoon on our own – just us, a really terrible local map, and the car. We did a lot of exploring and caught some great views of the lake and volcano. We even drove up to the famous Observatory Lodge hoping to grab lunch, but at noon they told us they would open lunch in fifteen minutes…and 30 or 40 minutes later they were still buffering the floors, putting the chairs down, and setting the tables. We left.

We ended up finding a good lunch after all and enjoyed another plate of fairly local food – this time some of the highlights included coconut-cream baked yucca, mango-strawberry salsa chicken, and really amazing beef.

After that we stopped by the hotel, grabbed our swimsuits and switched to our new (and really awesome) waterproof camera. And saw the top of the volcano!!! It was fleeting…and only lasted a few seconds at a time, but for two or three minutes we could see the uneven tip! So excited! We headed to the local swimming hole. Now, to get there you drive to a bridge, park on the side of the road (preferably the side of the road that has an incline mild enough that all four of your car wheels remain on the ground at all times…we watched someone else make the mistake), and then scramble down some steep embankments to an area with fairly swift running water, boulders, waterfalls, and a tarzan swing. It should be noted that we were the only non-locals there so we stuck out like a sore thumb – I will use the cliché – I pale in comparison. But seriously, I’m pathetically pale and I’m sure I was a sight-to-see for them. There were two of us and probably about fifty or sixty Costa Rican natives lounging around on the rocks, swimming in the different pools, standing along the edge of the jungle taking turns on the tarzan swing (some of the guys could do some impressive dives), and wading through the water. Most of the people there were boys under 20. There were also no women swimming. There were young girls on the rocks (but they weren’t jumping off ledges), women with babies, and two women who were not mothers and swimming. We stood for a few minutes, watching taking it all in, and while we felt really out of place, decided we would look like chicken if we didn’t jump in.

We ingeniously strung our car keys to the camera lanyard, ditched our shoes and towels, and started braving the boulders and natural pools barefoot. We waded across to a ledge and jumped about ten or twelve feet down into the main pool and enjoyed the wonderfully cold water, watched more of the guys take their tarzan jumps, and then climbed up a steep rock ledge back to where our possessions were. We had cooled off, we had checked out the swimming area, we had met our goal…we were getting out of there.

But, we decided to try the other location we had set out to enjoy as well. One of the girls we met on our canyoning tour had told us that if you didn’t want to pay to get into the hot springs (entrance for half a day is about 65-75 dollars) you can drive past Tabacon (the most luxurious resort), park by another bridge, and make your way down to another river. But this river – as opposed to the one we had just been in was at least 90 degrees. Wow. It was an amazing difference. The element that remained constant? Again, we were the only pale, pasty people going down to swim. And in this case we were the cheapo foreigners who weren’t willing to pay for Tabacon. But…the water felt fantastic. I don’t think I would have believed that it naturally flowed at that temperature if I hadn’t checked it out myself. We also got to sit and relax in a beautifully scenic spot.

After our somewhat awkward adventures, we headed back to our hotel to relax for the evening and will soon head to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Another awesome day! Tomorrow is supposed to be another adrenaline pumper – I’m more worried about this one than Daniel is, but as I promised my mom – I’ll tell you about it once we’re back safely!

Day 2 - CANYONING!!! :)

Today was AWESOMENESS!!! WE WENT CANYONING!!!!

Okay, so first of all, I promised my mom I wouldn't tell her what we were doing until we had done it safely. So now I can tell you - today we went canyoning!! Basically you repel down rock walls and waterfalls - and it was absolutely fantastic! :)

We had an awesome breakfast at our hotel this morning - lots of fresh pineapple and papaya and cooked plantains (which I adore). Then, we were picked up by the tour company in a shuttle and headed off on our trip! We changed vehicles after about 15 minutes and got in the back of the these 4x4 pickups that had been outfitted with benches and hung on for dear life. Daniel and I were on the edge of the opposite benches and the tail of the pickup was left down...so we really were holding on tight. We quickly became friends with several people - 2 newlyweds on their honeymoon, a brother and sister from California, and two girls from England - one who was traveling on her own for two weeks and another who was doing a three month traipse through Latin America with her boyfriend. They were all around our age and we spent the day laughing and joking with them as we braved the waterfalls and wrangled our adrenaline. Once we reached the top, we were outfitted with harnesses, helmets, gloves, and jackets that were semi-waterproof to help keep you warm if you were worried about being cold. And then we were off! We hiked through some jungle and soon found ourselves at the first platform.

The first jump was 165 feet and had enough ropes for two different people to go at the same time. We were towards the back, so we spent a while waiting as people were nervously hooked up to the lines, swung their bodies out over the edge, and pushed off. And soon it was our turn! Daniel went first - we had paired ourselves with the others so Daniel could go down first and then take pictures of me making my way down - and then halfway through we switched so I could take pictures of him during some of the descent. Okay, so there were two parts of this that took guts. First, was actually willing yourself to swing out over the ledge - especially when the ground was 165+ feet below. Second was actually pushing off and letting go of the rope and letting yourself fall. But - it was awesome! It was kinda tricky to not swing to the left or the right and make sure your feet found solid footing - but it really was a lot of fun. We shortly found ourselves at the bottom of our first descent enjoying the pure high of the adrenaline rush and getting even more excited for our second descent.

The second one was a lot trickier - it was right in the heart of a waterfall and you had to let your first drop be about ten or fifteen feet or so to be able to have rock to touch. After that you were actually hopping down through the falls blindly trying to find your footing. Now, if you don't go down far enough on the first drop...there is no rock...and you just swing. Which is what Daniel did. So then he had to try to lower himself to where he could touch, while swinging freely. ...when he found a rock to touch, he touched it wrong. He pushed off at an angle and let go of the rope with his support hand to keep himself from slamming into a rock (your right hand controls the speed of your descent...the looser your grip the faster you go)...but by doing so, he started falling freely and banged up his elbow in the process. Yikes.

The third descent was a solid rock face - no water fall and a great chance to get some practice. We both bounded like bunnies and made it down in three or four jumps. Very cool! After that we went right into another waterfall one - this one was more narrow, and the water was moving pretty quickly, but the grade was not as steep so we were able to get some great pictures.

The fifth and final waterfall was a lot like the second and you had to take a big jump off the platform to be able to get down to where you could push off of the rocks while in the midst of the falls. Daniel missed this again...and slammed his elbow a second time. :( Ouch. I became a bunny and hopped down - and finished with no scratches or bruises! Success!

After that we had a fairly strenuous switchback hike up a trail, unloaded our gear, hopped into the back of the 4x4's again, met up with shuttle buses, and headed to base camp. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch there of some kind of fresh tomato-onion salad, chicken, rice, and beans - but all well seasoned and delicious...and we washed it down with tamarind juice and Costa Rican coffee. Yum yum! :)

It's peacefully raining this afternoon, we're recovering a bit and then are hoping to wander through the shops in town and get dinner there. I would tell you what we're doing tomorrow...but I promised my mom I wouldn't! ;-)

Day 1 - Orlando-San Jose-La Fortuna!

As I type, I am enjoying a fantastic view of the Arenal volcano as the afternoon rain clouds and mist drift over the mountains. We are in La Fortuna, Costa Rica and loving it!


After Justin graciously drove us to the airport on Thursday morning, we had a pleasant, uneventful flight with Jet Blue (our favorite) and after a less than three hour flight, found ourselves standing in the immigration line to enter San Jose, Costa Rica. We got through immigration and customs with no problems, found the bags we checked, and were suddenly at car rental alley, being greeted by an incredibly friendly guy. The guy told us his son name was Daniel, so of course my Daniel said "he must be an awesome guy" and the next thing we know we were getting his life story which involved meeting his wife in a military hospital in Germany after he had been shot down in a helicopter over Somalia. Crazy.

Before we knew it we were in a shuttle headed for the car rental agency and were signing up for our cute Nissan sedan. The three hour drive from San Juan to La Fortuna (which is at the base of the Arenal volcano) was thankfully uneventful. The roads were pretty decent - we drove on way worse in Daintree and Cape Trib, but were curvy, steep, almost switchback like...which means I was feeling borderline carsick for most of it, but overall it wasn't a bad drive. We got to enjoy glimpses of homes along the roads, little open air kitchen/restaurants, and the beautiful Costa Rican countryside. When we got to La Fortuna we were unable to find our hotel within town (even the hotel had just told me how to get to La Fortuna), so we found ourselves stopping a tourism company to get quick directions. As we drove through town we saw several hotels crammed amongst the shops and restaurants and were hoping ours was a little separate - and nicer - which it was! The tour company told us it was about three kilometers up the road and we found ourselves happily at Hotel Magic Mountain (cheesy, I know), which was considerably nicer than anything we had driven past so far, and not in the bustling heart of town. We were close enough to be able to drive back for meals, but far enough to enjoy the quieter atmosphere. Perfecto!

We got checked in and discovered that our balcony overlooked the volcano as well as the pool and hot tubs in the garden below. Gorgeous! Now, it was about 5 pm CR time (7pm EST) and we had not eaten a meal since 9 am EST. yikes. So, we set out for in search of a restaurant in town. We enjoyed our dinner, felt much better after eating, and started to realize how tired we were. We had both really pushed ourselves to survive our days at work and were pretty wiped out. We spent the rest of our evening enjoying the hot tub and the pool, breaking in our really awesome new waterproof camera, setting up our itinerary for the next few days, and settling into our hotel.