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Costa Rica September, 2007
After about two weeks of planning, we were finally on our way to Costa
Rica. We decided on a 10 day trip and tried to hit as many hot spots as we
could Exploradores (our tour guides) picked us up promptly at 6:20 am from our hotel (Agapi). The bus was comfortable, air conditioned and very clean. We had a few stops along the way to pick up other people and then began our river rafting tour. We had a filling breakfast at the Exploradores Center, a short drive to the descent area, rafted for about two hours, stopped at the "In Route" Exploradores Center for an excellent lunch setup by the guides, continued our rafting adventures until we reached the Exploradores Center (our original starting point). We showered, had a quick snack, and bought the picture CD (well worth the money). We thoroughly enjoyed the thrill and adventure of this trip. The rafting was excellent, our guide (Henry “Ninja”) was fun, knowledgeable and professional. The rapids were strong enough to cause one of the three rafts to overturn, however, no one was seriously hurt. Guides in kayaks accompanied the rafts to recover any bodies of people who had fallen in the water. It was an excellent beginning to our Costa Rican adventure.
Our rafting trip ended around 3:30 pm and now we had a three and a half hour van ride to our next destination Arenal. During our trip, we had one rest stop break at a local restaurant called Restaurante de Veintidos. We were expecting a quick cup of coffee and restroom break then back on the road, but we captured pictures of an iguana and a two or three toed sloth (couldn't tell from far away). The iguana was hanging on a branch minding his own business probably sleeping and the sloth slowly climbed around the iguana to get a good position high in the branches. We spent most of our break taking pictures.
We piled back into the van and around 7 pm made it to our hotel, Arenal Lodge. We heard Arenal Lodge was very nice and had an excellent view of volcano and lava flow at night. One of the reasons we wanted to stay at Arenal Lodge was because our friends had gone there the previous year and were able to sit in the outdoor Jacuzzi and watch the lava come down the volcano at night. As we later learned, the path of the lava (really just hot rocks popping out of the volcano, not the molten stuff) changes every ten months or so as rocks build up on the volcano’s rim and divert the lava to different paths. We saw little of the flow during our stay. The closer you get to La Fortuna, the less chance you have of seeing the lava. In fact, La Fortuna got its name because of its good fortune to be spared when the volcano exploded in 1964 and destroyed all the towns in the opposite direction. Our guide told us that the microclimate around that area resulted in clouds over the volcano 90% of the time and there was no predicting the rain regardless of the time of year. Though we didn't see the lava flow, we enjoyed the tranquility of this lodge. It is a beautiful and peaceful place located on a hillside. Our room had two queen size beds, cable TV, coffee pot, couch, large balcony and fantastic view of the Arenal volcano. The lodge has wonderful landscaping along with a pool and 2 Jacuzzi tubs with great views of the volcano, a butterfly garden and a jungle hiking trail. They also had bird feeders which allowed us to watch tropical birds a few feet away as we ate breakfast. We booked all our tours through Arenal Lodge.
Our
first tour was Arenal Volcano and Tabacón Resort Spa & Hot Springs.
This tour began with a quick 20 minute
I
wasn't going to mention it to Rankin, but there was a canyoning tour available
and after reviewing all our tour options, of course, this was one of the tours
he chose. Our canyoning tour was with Desafio Adventure Company and was booked through Arenal
Lodge (our hotel). This tour began at 11:30
am
Unfortunately, it was time to
travel to Monteverde/Santa Elena via our Jeep-Boat-Jeep transportation where
more thrilling
The next day we booked our next tour with Selvatura. This tour began at 10:30 am, included the zip lines and hanging bridges. We geared up and after a quick orientation we spent about 2.5 hours zipping through the canopies. There was a little bit of hiking to get to each platform, but not too tough. During this tour, we used one hand to break (stop ourselves) by pulling down on the cable. The guides also had a safety line attached to the cable to slow us down too. We later talked to a couple on their honeymoon and learned the groom had slammed into a tree on the zip lines and was taken to a hospital since he was a bit wobbly on his feet ... oops. In between zip lines, we swung like Tarzan on a rope swing … we jumped off a 40 foot platform and swung through the air. It was great … definitely a “must do”. After the zip lines, we had lunch at the Selvatura Lodge waiting for rain to pass and then hiked around the 8 hanging bridges. It gave us the opportunity to slowly view this beautiful primary rainforest.
In between the zip lines, we decided to take the El Trapiche Coffee Tour since we both love coffee. We were pleasantly surprised because this was much more than just a coffee tour. It also included a demonstration of the cane sugar process and provided information on their other crops like their banana plantation. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour. Not only was the guide very knowledgeable, this is a family owned and operated business and we were able to meet the whole family. It gave this tour a personal feel which we appreciated. During our tour, the entire coffee processing procedure was demonstrated. We took a traditional ox cart ride to where the sugar cane was processed. The traditional sugar cane process with oxen was demonstrated as well as current methods (machine). We tasted the raw sugar cane and they made us candy out of sugar cane which is enjoyed by many of the local people. At the end of our tour, we were given coffee and a homemade tortilla snack.
We couldn’t get enough of the zip lines, so we went again. This time we booked our canopy ride through Sky Trek Canopy Tours. We had heard that this zip line was longer and faster, so we decided to take a look see. Our tour began at 1 pm and ended at 3 pm ... two hours of zipping. This zip line tour operates a little differently than Selvatura (mentioned above). Instead of using your gloved hand as a break (like at Selvatura), you have both hands on a bar. Breaking is done by twisting the bar which causes you to slow down. We thought this zip line was faster and longer and the day we went was foggy so we disappeared into the clouds as we went down the zip lines. However, we also thought there was more steep uphill hiking to each platform and some of the rainforest was not old growth like the Selvatura zip line. It was a great ride and well worth the hike … great fun.
Unfortunately, we were zipping through the canopies and missed the tour times for the Monteverde Cheese Factory which were at 9 am & 2 pm. We did visit the cheese factory, bought cheese and, of course, ice cream which were great. We heard this is a good tour, and we’re sorry we missed it. We strolled a couple of miles back to our hotel and enjoyed seeing the sights on the way. We stopped by small artisan shops, coffee shops, chocolate shop and caught a wonderful sunset.
While gallivanting around town, protestors for free trade were making their position known around town with peaceful demonstrations. We saw many people in town who supported the free trade, however, there were many people in the agricultural community of Costa Rica were opposed to it.
We loved our trip to Costa Rica. It's a beautiful and friendly country with so many attractions boredom would be hard to find. Our friends spent four days traveling around Costa Rica and said they wished they had more time. We spent ten days and also wished we had more time ... maybe we'll return. If you wish to continue the adventure, take a look at What's Happening to get the latest scoop. Don't forget ... keep coming back.
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