WEDNESDAY
I'm on a boat on my way to Arenal. Happy Thanksgiving!!! It's rainy & misty so I can't see much - I'll take advantage and write about yesterday.
I woke up to some heavy rain and was worried - but I was in a cloud forest, so actually the weather was really great. The sun came out for bits, then it would rain a little, and the whole day was like that - pretty warm too compared to the night before. I was worried I'd be ziplining completely soaked and freezing!!
I had some relax time early in the morning. My hotel had 7 rooms and was on the side of a mountain. I took a little hiking trail and saw some parrots, some cool trees & just enjoyed nature. The sun came out completely & I sat and read in the sun for like an hour. 100% pure relaxation!!
Then they picked me up and I went to Selvatura Park. I started off with the canopy tour (ziplining). Oh my gosh!!!!!! It was SO AMAZING!!!!!! I don't even know how to describe it. It was like being a monkey and swinging through the cloud forest sometimes, but on the two big long ones ( the last one was 1 km long!!) it looked like what you would see from a helicopeter, cause you're above all the trees. It was so exhilirating and FUN!!! It was scary to do the first one cause you don't know what to expect but it was easy and just ffffffun, but always a little scary cause you're up so high!!!!! There were 13 cables total. I couldn't really capture it on vid or camera to where I'll be able to really show you what I did. And then at the end, they had a Tarzan swing, where you drop from a high platform and swing out. I was so scared jumping off the platform. But once you do the initial scary jump, it was really fun to just swing back and forth!!! Another cool thing was that between platforms sometimes you got to hike through the cloud forest & walk on hanging bridges with water under you and the most lush, gorgeous trees I've ever seen. It's like vegetation on steroids, so gorgeous!!!
I can't wait to do it again someday!!!!!
Then I had pre-purchased the hanging bridges walk which is an hour and a half walk through the cloud forest and when there's a stream or between mountains, these big hanging bridges that connect the mountains together. They are up high, but not as high as the zip cables!! And the bridges are wobbly when you walk over them!! So I had that - but they also had a reptile exhibit and a butterfly garden I wanted to see and I kind of didn't have time to do it ALL but you know me ... So I asked the girl where I buy tickets if there was any way and she soooo hooked me up!!! The butterflies and reptile exhibits were both guided tours, so she got a guy who did the butterfly tour w/ the next group and then he took me solo to the reptiles and I got a quicky reptile fix (hee hee) and then had 1 hour for the bridges walk! Oh! And she gave me a discount for purchasing both on top of it!!!
The butterfly garden took my breath away! I've never been to one but there were the prettiest, most colorful butterflies all around!!! What made me even happier was that I'd seen so many of them at Manuel Antonio just flying by!! My favorites were the blue ones called morphos - I litterally was dodging morphos in the garden!!! They also had a caccoon case where they walk around and when they find a cocoon they pick it up and pin it there and you can watch the butterflies at all stages of coming out of their cocoons!! So I loved it. Then the guide took me to see the snakes, lizzards and frogs.
I had an hour to do the hanging bridges, so I walked super fast (I also didn't bring a watch on this trip so I was all trying to judge my time on my own) I loved it!! What a cool hike through the cloud forest!!
I got out JUST as the shuttle was leaving to take me back to the hotel where I had 30 min before my next tour. I was exhausted cause the zipline was pure adrenaline & it makes you weak when the high is over. Hahaha!!! And the hike all fast - yeah! I was tired. And now I was gonna go on another 2 hour hike!!!
Well, the night walk turned out to be another highlight!!! It was raining, and we got flashlights and hit the cloud forest, in the dark, in the rain. AWESOME!!!!! We walked around and saw a tarantula, snakes on a tree, a bird sleeping, a bat eating a guava (that was my favorite one!!!), a rare frog & some other insects, including a cockroach-eek!!! We saw an ant colony as big as a doghouse!! And just walking on the path all quietly was really awesome!!!!
So then, in all my excitement, I had only had breakfast that morning and a granola bar for lunch - I was starving!!!!! Adrenaline makes me hungry too!!! All the people I met on the canopy were super friendly & they recommended this restaurant called Morphos, so I got dropped off there after my night walk & finally had a typical Costa Rican dish: casado con bistec ;) with salsa (the stuff I'm addicted to!) casado has rice, black beans, fried banana, a salad & your choice of meat. With a fruit smoothie thing that was soooo yummy. The restaurant was so pretty - all butterfly decorations and the walls looked like a garden by a waterfall!!
So that is why I couldn't do another thing, I was soooo tired and so satisfied and fully happy!!!! I got dropped off at the hotel and there was lightening, so I watched for a little & crashed out!!!!
Every minute I'm in Costa Rica I understand what PURA VIDA is allllll about!!!!
Pura vida,
Jeannie :) aka Jane (cause ofthe Tarzan swing!)
I woke up to some heavy rain and was worried - but I was in a cloud forest, so actually the weather was really great. The sun came out for bits, then it would rain a little, and the whole day was like that - pretty warm too compared to the night before. I was worried I'd be ziplining completely soaked and freezing!!
I had some relax time early in the morning. My hotel had 7 rooms and was on the side of a mountain. I took a little hiking trail and saw some parrots, some cool trees & just enjoyed nature. The sun came out completely & I sat and read in the sun for like an hour. 100% pure relaxation!!
Then they picked me up and I went to Selvatura Park. I started off with the canopy tour (ziplining). Oh my gosh!!!!!! It was SO AMAZING!!!!!! I don't even know how to describe it. It was like being a monkey and swinging through the cloud forest sometimes, but on the two big long ones ( the last one was 1 km long!!) it looked like what you would see from a helicopeter, cause you're above all the trees. It was so exhilirating and FUN!!! It was scary to do the first one cause you don't know what to expect but it was easy and just ffffffun, but always a little scary cause you're up so high!!!!! There were 13 cables total. I couldn't really capture it on vid or camera to where I'll be able to really show you what I did. And then at the end, they had a Tarzan swing, where you drop from a high platform and swing out. I was so scared jumping off the platform. But once you do the initial scary jump, it was really fun to just swing back and forth!!! Another cool thing was that between platforms sometimes you got to hike through the cloud forest & walk on hanging bridges with water under you and the most lush, gorgeous trees I've ever seen. It's like vegetation on steroids, so gorgeous!!!
I can't wait to do it again someday!!!!!
Then I had pre-purchased the hanging bridges walk which is an hour and a half walk through the cloud forest and when there's a stream or between mountains, these big hanging bridges that connect the mountains together. They are up high, but not as high as the zip cables!! And the bridges are wobbly when you walk over them!! So I had that - but they also had a reptile exhibit and a butterfly garden I wanted to see and I kind of didn't have time to do it ALL but you know me ... So I asked the girl where I buy tickets if there was any way and she soooo hooked me up!!! The butterflies and reptile exhibits were both guided tours, so she got a guy who did the butterfly tour w/ the next group and then he took me solo to the reptiles and I got a quicky reptile fix (hee hee) and then had 1 hour for the bridges walk! Oh! And she gave me a discount for purchasing both on top of it!!!
The butterfly garden took my breath away! I've never been to one but there were the prettiest, most colorful butterflies all around!!! What made me even happier was that I'd seen so many of them at Manuel Antonio just flying by!! My favorites were the blue ones called morphos - I litterally was dodging morphos in the garden!!! They also had a caccoon case where they walk around and when they find a cocoon they pick it up and pin it there and you can watch the butterflies at all stages of coming out of their cocoons!! So I loved it. Then the guide took me to see the snakes, lizzards and frogs.
I had an hour to do the hanging bridges, so I walked super fast (I also didn't bring a watch on this trip so I was all trying to judge my time on my own) I loved it!! What a cool hike through the cloud forest!!
I got out JUST as the shuttle was leaving to take me back to the hotel where I had 30 min before my next tour. I was exhausted cause the zipline was pure adrenaline & it makes you weak when the high is over. Hahaha!!! And the hike all fast - yeah! I was tired. And now I was gonna go on another 2 hour hike!!!
Well, the night walk turned out to be another highlight!!! It was raining, and we got flashlights and hit the cloud forest, in the dark, in the rain. AWESOME!!!!! We walked around and saw a tarantula, snakes on a tree, a bird sleeping, a bat eating a guava (that was my favorite one!!!), a rare frog & some other insects, including a cockroach-eek!!! We saw an ant colony as big as a doghouse!! And just walking on the path all quietly was really awesome!!!!
So then, in all my excitement, I had only had breakfast that morning and a granola bar for lunch - I was starving!!!!! Adrenaline makes me hungry too!!! All the people I met on the canopy were super friendly & they recommended this restaurant called Morphos, so I got dropped off there after my night walk & finally had a typical Costa Rican dish: casado con bistec ;) with salsa (the stuff I'm addicted to!) casado has rice, black beans, fried banana, a salad & your choice of meat. With a fruit smoothie thing that was soooo yummy. The restaurant was so pretty - all butterfly decorations and the walls looked like a garden by a waterfall!!
So that is why I couldn't do another thing, I was soooo tired and so satisfied and fully happy!!!! I got dropped off at the hotel and there was lightening, so I watched for a little & crashed out!!!!
Every minute I'm in Costa Rica I understand what PURA VIDA is allllll about!!!!
Pura vida,
Jeannie :) aka Jane (cause ofthe Tarzan swing!)
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