Monday, March 9, 2009

Weekend trip to Volcan Arenal

Our first weekend excursion was to Volcan Arenal, Costa Rica. In order to travel in sufficient time, we needed to wake up at 4:45 AM... not fun!

We traveled in two huge busses on our trips. On the way to Volcan Arenal, we stopped at a big indoor marketplace which had many hand-crafted gifts. I bought a walking stick for my dad (he collects them) and a Costa Rican wooden handmade serving platter for my mom. I also found some cute handmade earrings for friends.

Our stop for breakfast was fun. I had a really yummy omelette. Many people had their pancakes, which were also delicioso.

After finally settling in at the hotel, we hiked up the mountain to see the volcano. The hike was in the pouring rain, of course, because that's all it does in Costa Rica (so it seems), but we got to see some neat plant life and a couple of spider monkeys up high in the trees. Once we got to the top of the volcano, we all took pictures.

Dana and me at the top of the Volcano!

THEN we went to the Baldi hot springs. This was one of my favorite places we visited in all of Costa Rica - it was like one big waterpark with a bunch of swimup pools! The pools have hot water flowing through them from the volcano - it was so neat. The drinks were all crazy expensive ($10 each), but they were very good. My favorite was a banana drink with a coffee liquor called "The Crazy Monkey."


our group loving Baldi Springs!

There were even waterslides!! My friend had an waterproof camera, so we got a lot of pictures of the fun that night. After we had our fill of swimming, our group had a great buffet of chicken, pasta, and salad.

all us girls with our drinks at the swim-up bar!

That night, we went to the discoteca. It was really fun to show off our dance class skills in salsa and merengue, and we had fun watching some of the locals and other tourists dancing the night away around us.

discotecas have great dancing!

The next morning, we got to go ZIP-LINING!!! Zip-lining in Volcan Arenal was one of my favorite special activities by far. We each paid $60 to zip across 10 lines. After an information session, we rode up to the top of the mountain, put on harnesses, and were off.

I LOVED zip-lining!

It surprised me how much technique is involved in zip-lining. It is really important to keep your brake pad (in your one hand) on the cable, your other hand pulling down on the metal clamp attaching you to the cable, and your feet high up in the air. Otherwise, you will get stuck in the middle of the line, and one of the workers will have to come and fetch you. I thought this was so fun - I was only one of three people who got all the way across every line without getting stuck!


It began to rain on our LAST line. After standing in the pouring rain for half an hour, we were told we could no longer ride horses to the waterfall. This was disappointing, but I had a LOT of fun zip-lining and would most definitely do it again!

3 comments:

  1. OMG SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAD A BLAST IM SOOOO JEALOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. I am really enjoying your stories and photos. Tks for sharing.

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