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! ;-)