On New Year's Day, we departed the Costa Rica Yacht Club to head inland for a visit to the Arenal Volcano and a Zipline Canopy Tour. We traveled with our friend Wayne from S/V Learnativity, his daughter Lia, her fiance Brian, and the two puppies Ruby and Piglet. With 7 of us plus two small dogs, we were quite the group! Luckily, we were able to secure an appropriate rental car in the form of a Chrysler minivan. I say luckily as this is the high season for tourism, and apparently, rental cars (of any sort) are very rare to come by!
We departed Puntarenas and circumnavigated Lake Arenal on our way to the canopy tour. During this trip we saw the landscape shift from temperate pastureland to steep mountainsides abraded by constant wind.
Waterfalls, streams, and rivers constantly passed by as we traversed what seemed like 100 single lane bridges. A constant light rain and foggy haze accompanied us as we drove on.
Navigating was a real adventure. First, we didn't have a map. Second, most small roads have no signs, so I am not sure a map would have helped. Amazingly, Kelly and Wayne were able to guide us halfway across the country to our destination. Best of all, we arrived on time!
When we arrived at the zipline tour, the weather had not cleared. A constant drenching mist was falling, and low, gray clouds obscured our view of the volcano and the lake. We saw people arriving back from the tour covered with grease but wearing ear to ear grins. So, we went inside and geared up for our adventure. We were each wrapped in a rain jacket and strapped into about 20lbs of safety gear. Finally we were capped off with a helmet and sent on our way!
We started off on the tour by taking a tram ride up the mountainside. We were riding in something resembling a large ski gondola. As we ascended through the canopy, our guide helped to detail the plants we were passing by. Sharp-eyed Nicholas spotted a green vine snake on a tree as he tried to grab the leaves outside of the car! Seeing the canopy from the treetop level, instead of from the ground really gives you a completely different perspective. The ride up was fantastic, and I was sorry that it was so short.
At the top (top of the tram ride, NOT the summit of the mountain), we each tried some short zipline cables to "get the hang of it". These training cables aren't very steep (you don't go fast) and are only 20 or 25 meters long so the rides are pretty short. Most of all, these cables are only about 30 - 50 feet above the ground. Nicholas was having second thoughts about the tour, and asked to go back down on the gondola. Even so, he bravely volunteered to be first down the first ine! After Nicholas's test rides, he was willing to "try it".
After the test rides, we gathered at the first launch platform, looking down our first "real" thrillride. Standing on that platform, we were greeted by a cable that extends out and down... into the mist and clouds. We couldn't see our "destination", but we could see that we were way, way above the treetops!
I stepped up onto the "launch platform" and was clipped onto the cable. Then one of the guides double-checked my equipment. Finally, I was given the OK symbol, and off I went!
The first part of the cable is the steepest, so I shot down rapidly building speed as I "flew" out over the forest canopy. What a rush! After the first cable, Nicholas had removed all doubt that this was a FUN activity!
Each cable is different. They build in speed and length throughout with some being remarkably high while others let you zoom just above the treetops. The final cable actually takes you THROUGH the trees, an amazing experience! Alexander got a very special ride on the last cable, as he was "taken" down in a tandem ride with a guide while he rode facing backwards! The guide was nice enough to shoot a video of Alexander's ride which we have posted on YouTube:
We ended up at the conclusion of the ride wet from the rain, and covered with dirt and grease from the cable. Nobody cared about mess. A great time was had by all. Nicholas was asking (repeatedly) to do more zipline tours. What happened to my timid, nervous son?
After the tour, the staff provided us with moist towels to clean up. While in the midst of battling the grease and grime (surprisingly, not very difficult!), we were called out to see the Arenal volcano erupting at sunset! The view from the tour facility is flawless, and we could see the hot lava cascading down the mountainside in red bursts of fire. I took photos, but my pictures just don't do this sight justice. Darkness fell as we watched lava flow cascade down the hillside, an amazing time nobody will forget.
Once clean, we drove a short distance through La Fortuna to our hotel the Finca Luna Nueva Lodge.
After our arrival, we were served dinner made from items grown on the farm accompanied by Chilean wine. We stayed (all 7 of us) in a wonderful, 3-room, private bungalow lined with local, oil-finished wood. A soak in the solar-heated hot tub under the stars wrapped up a wonderful first day of 2009.
The next morning, we awoke just before dawn to the sounds of the howler monkeys and more birds than I knew were possible (especially a massive flock of Montezuma oropendola). We joined Wayne on the "front porch" for sunrise coffee service as we watched the birds shift from tree to tree.
At 8 a.m., we were served a delicious Tico-style meal, again sourced from (yummy) things produced right there on the finca. After breakfast, the jefe Steven lead us on a tour of the finca (farm) and some of the surrounding rain forest. While we walked, we learned about many of the different types of plants that grow here. During our tour, we saw two sloths in the canopy, one eating and the other apparently sleeping (being slothful?). We tried many different native and exotic plants and fruits, as well as fresh green peppercorns (where black pepper comes from) straight from the vine and anatto the original lipstick and now the most common dye used in coloring butter.
Departing the finca, we headed to the international airport where we dropped off Lia, Brian, and Piglet (their papillon) at the airport for their flight back to Los Angeles. Before returning to the CYRC, we stopped at Price Smart and a few other stores to grab supplies.
This was certainly a whirlwind tour, but a fantastic trip with great friends! We're really glad to have been able to go together and share the experiences with friends like Wayne and his family.
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