Picture 1-Ziplining
Picture 2-Rafting
Picture 3-Natural Hotsprings in La Fortuna
Picture 4-Hanging Brinde to Volcanoe Arenal View Point
Picture 5-Baldi Hot Springs
As we have already mentioned travel is a slow and a some-what steady game in Costa Rica, so it was not a surprise that after a early morning rise and a cup of coffee at the soda (small restaurant), that the bus ride to La Faturna that we thought would only take 2-3 hours ended up being 6. At least we were in seats this time. During the half-way mark we stopped at a bus station for a breakfast break and met up with Matt the Colorado traveller we sat on stools with on the way to San Jose. He was with his mother whom he had picked up in San Jose and had been touring around with for a couple days now... travelling is fun running into familiar people all over the country or countries. As we arrived in La Fortuna it was raining and for some reason the would not give us a ride to the hostel “Gringo Pete’s” as it was too close, so we ended up getting soaked during the walk and decided very quickly that we were going to one of the many hot springs in the area. Since La Fortuna sits at the base of the active Volcan Arenal there is abundant veins of molten rock that heat streams in the area. We decided to go to Baldi Hot Springs and Spa which sounds fancy and it was ... there were too many pools, lazy lagoons, and waterfalls to count, but there had to be at least 15 distinct areas. This hotel essentially diverted a river of hot springs water into all these naturally looking built pools with sitting areas, lounge chairs, tiled walls and floors, concrete waterfalls, swim up bars and water slides all surrounded by beautifully landscaped vegetation that makes you feel like you are in a jungle that is all connected by walkways. Not only did we relax in the hot water, we slipped on super expensive beers and ate at the buffet supper. But the highlight of this oasis adventure was the water slides... they only had three of them and one was super slow but the other two had all of us along with a gang of other gringos laughing our assess off. These slides were the fastest any of us had ever ridden and there was no option of not flying out of the chute and hitting the water, tumbling head over hears or ass over tea kettle. Jason literally managed to burn a portion of the water slide tube onto his swim shorts leaving a few blue plastic burn holes... classic. We ended up leaving the paradise springs at 9:30 PM as being crazy we had organized a 3 AM hike into the forest to see the nocturnal creatures of the night and to get a close up view of the lava from Volcano Arenal, followed with hotsprings, ziplining, lunch and finally white water rafting.
Well 3 AM came way too soon and it seemed that as soon as we went sleep we were getting up but we had a full full full day of fun planned. The walk through the forest was relatively unimpressive... our guide did not spot any significant wild life except the bird that almost took my head off. We ended the hike at an opening that was going to give us a fantastic view... but we had the inkling already that we would see nothing but clouds... the sky would not open for us. We then hiked back to the van and went to a free hot springs which was a small river of hot water that flowed under a bridge which was very picturesque and the water was so soothing. We then were quickly dropped off at our hostel where we changed and were picked up by another tour company that was taking us up the hills to their zip line course. Zip lining consists of being put into a harness with a hook attached to your waste that is then connected to wire cables that are strung in the air from tree to tree or post to post through the jungle. The staff called our hooks our Lamborghini’s. Well for me being scared of heights this was going to be very interesting. The zip lining park contained 14 wires that criss-crossed across this valley from the forest floor up to the platforms built around massive trees to actual soaring towers... it was a lot of fun. Ther was a misty rain coming down so this added to your speed and as well kept everyone cool and having fun. The longest of the zip lines was 750 meters long... yes three quarters of a kilometre long... that took almost a full 2 minutes flying through the air hundreds of meters above the forest floor. We also did a hanging bridge, tarzan swing and were lucky enough to see a group of white faced monkey’s swinging through the trees we were also soaring through. What a trip. Included in our package tour was lunch at an Israeli vegetarian restaurant where everyone had tacos and I had the falafel plate. It was hands down the best food that we had on our trip or possibly ever... fresh and super tasty.
After lunch we got a ride to the head of the river to start our river rafting leg of the day! With all the adrenaline pumping we had all forgotten we had been up since 3am. Jason, Tanya and Shannon had never done river rafting and I had only done it once on the Ottawa River years ago and that was in a bigger raft ...this one was a small boat that fit the four of us and our trusty captain. Jason and I took the front and Shan and Tanya in the middle our guide in the back. With about 10 minutes of survival tips to ensure we knew how to take directions, steer the raft, take refuge inside the raft, pull someone back into the raft, we were off and running down the river. Within the first 10 seconds a wash blasted over the bow and drenched all of us and it was game on. What were we in for during this journey... they said this river San Carlos was class 2 or 3 but with the recent rain was running at least a 3-4 (5 or 6 you need certification to run). Fun stuff. The Rio San Carlos was having it’s way with us... I was more intent in coming over the swells and throwing my weight forward in attempts to drench Shannon behind me with a wave of water. Tanya at one point, as we all turned towards her in horror almost was thrown from the raft only to be hauled back in at the last moment by our captain and Shannon. Then there was a rock that we literally were pushed but the current on top of. We sat perched on the rock for a minute, stuck with massive rapids surrounding the boat while our captain assessed the damage and devised a plan to get us off the rock and back into the rapids. Our captain laughed “this is no problem, but this situation does not happen often”. We all very slowly shifted our weight and managed to slide without incident back into the rapids (another guide with a different company gave our captain props for getting us out of that situation as it was surely a cap sized situation). Later there was another rock that we were pushed up on top of but this time the swell of the water was coming over the raft and was quickly filling up the boat... we all had to get out on the downstream side of the rock and pull the raft out from under the blanket of rushing water. All the time sailing or coasting down the river we laughed... what an electric day, as Jason had put it. After a quick swim while we waited for our ride we were then in a van back to La Fortuna. At this point in the day the gas in our tanks was running out but there was still enough left for a bunch of beers and supper back in La Fortuna where we had a clear view of Volcan Arenal, which was a bonus.
Well 3 AM came way too soon and it seemed that as soon as we went sleep we were getting up but we had a full full full day of fun planned. The walk through the forest was relatively unimpressive... our guide did not spot any significant wild life except the bird that almost took my head off. We ended the hike at an opening that was going to give us a fantastic view... but we had the inkling already that we would see nothing but clouds... the sky would not open for us. We then hiked back to the van and went to a free hot springs which was a small river of hot water that flowed under a bridge which was very picturesque and the water was so soothing. We then were quickly dropped off at our hostel where we changed and were picked up by another tour company that was taking us up the hills to their zip line course. Zip lining consists of being put into a harness with a hook attached to your waste that is then connected to wire cables that are strung in the air from tree to tree or post to post through the jungle. The staff called our hooks our Lamborghini’s. Well for me being scared of heights this was going to be very interesting. The zip lining park contained 14 wires that criss-crossed across this valley from the forest floor up to the platforms built around massive trees to actual soaring towers... it was a lot of fun. Ther was a misty rain coming down so this added to your speed and as well kept everyone cool and having fun. The longest of the zip lines was 750 meters long... yes three quarters of a kilometre long... that took almost a full 2 minutes flying through the air hundreds of meters above the forest floor. We also did a hanging bridge, tarzan swing and were lucky enough to see a group of white faced monkey’s swinging through the trees we were also soaring through. What a trip. Included in our package tour was lunch at an Israeli vegetarian restaurant where everyone had tacos and I had the falafel plate. It was hands down the best food that we had on our trip or possibly ever... fresh and super tasty.
After lunch we got a ride to the head of the river to start our river rafting leg of the day! With all the adrenaline pumping we had all forgotten we had been up since 3am. Jason, Tanya and Shannon had never done river rafting and I had only done it once on the Ottawa River years ago and that was in a bigger raft ...this one was a small boat that fit the four of us and our trusty captain. Jason and I took the front and Shan and Tanya in the middle our guide in the back. With about 10 minutes of survival tips to ensure we knew how to take directions, steer the raft, take refuge inside the raft, pull someone back into the raft, we were off and running down the river. Within the first 10 seconds a wash blasted over the bow and drenched all of us and it was game on. What were we in for during this journey... they said this river San Carlos was class 2 or 3 but with the recent rain was running at least a 3-4 (5 or 6 you need certification to run). Fun stuff. The Rio San Carlos was having it’s way with us... I was more intent in coming over the swells and throwing my weight forward in attempts to drench Shannon behind me with a wave of water. Tanya at one point, as we all turned towards her in horror almost was thrown from the raft only to be hauled back in at the last moment by our captain and Shannon. Then there was a rock that we literally were pushed but the current on top of. We sat perched on the rock for a minute, stuck with massive rapids surrounding the boat while our captain assessed the damage and devised a plan to get us off the rock and back into the rapids. Our captain laughed “this is no problem, but this situation does not happen often”. We all very slowly shifted our weight and managed to slide without incident back into the rapids (another guide with a different company gave our captain props for getting us out of that situation as it was surely a cap sized situation). Later there was another rock that we were pushed up on top of but this time the swell of the water was coming over the raft and was quickly filling up the boat... we all had to get out on the downstream side of the rock and pull the raft out from under the blanket of rushing water. All the time sailing or coasting down the river we laughed... what an electric day, as Jason had put it. After a quick swim while we waited for our ride we were then in a van back to La Fortuna. At this point in the day the gas in our tanks was running out but there was still enough left for a bunch of beers and supper back in La Fortuna where we had a clear view of Volcan Arenal, which was a bonus.
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