Over the past couple of years Taylor has expressed his desire to see a volcano. Being the adventurous people that we are, we chose to fly to Costa Rica, rent a car once we arrived, and tour around to the different cities in close proximity to the volcano and jungle.
San Jose
When we arrived in Costa Rica, this was our first glimpse of the country:
We spent the rest of the day exploring a little of the “city life” …
Taylor and I at Padrisimo (Mexican style food)
Taylor in front of the bamboo on our scenic route.
The next morning we awoke and drove to Arenal. The roads there are much different than ours in that they are extremely curvy, on the side of a hill, and have one-way bridges. We experienced beautiful countryside on the way.
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| One way bridge! |
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Countryside on the way to Arenal |
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| The Arenal Volcano |
Arenal was my favorite of all the places that we visited. From the moment that we arrived in the city, we were constantly on the go with excursions and having a blast. Our zip line excursion was first on the list. What a rush of adrenaline! Taylor was a little apprehensive at first since he is scared of heights, but he soon overcame that fear and was like a tree monkey sliding across those lines! One of the attractions that we quickly became fond of was the 'tarzan swing'. The guides strapped you to a rope and sent you flying back and forth out into the jungle. Love!
After our exhilarating experience with zipling through the jungle, we decided to go back to the hotel and take a dip in the pool/hot tub before dinner.
Our hotel in Arenal was on several acres that were covered with beautiful flowers. I believe it would be safe to say that even their weeds have some type of bloom in Costa Rica.
Some of the other excursions that we elected to partake in were the Hanging Bridge Tour, La Fortuna Waterfall Tour, Volcano Tour and Bali Hot Springs.
On the Hanging Bridge Tour, we saw tarantulas, howling monkeys, poisonous tree frogs, all sorts of birds and a eyelash pit viper (insert scream here). Anyone that has ever been around me for any length of time would know that I have a phobia of snakes. When our guide discovered the viper I continued to walk at a fast pace, while Adam and Taylor looked at every square inch of the thing! I do have to give Taylor big props on spotting all the poisonous tree frogs. Our guide and Taylor started a point game to see who could find the most insects/animals after that defeat.
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Entrance into the Hanging Bridge Tour |
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| Poisonous Tree Frog |
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| Tarantula in a hole. |
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| Hanging Bridge |
The La Fortuna Waterfall was very pretty, however the hike to get to and from it was designed for the VERY athletically fit. Taylor was running up and down the hill while he looked back at Adam and I huffing and puffing. Needless to say it was one of those times where you wish you were a kid again with all that energy.
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| The water was a little chilly! |
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| Sitting on top of the falling rocks.. |
After we finished the volcano tour, we headed over to Bali Hot Springs where we relaxed in the warm water and ate dinner.
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| Taylor loves to be in the water. |
Monteverde
Our road trip from Arenal to Monteverde wasn't quite what we expected. Our guide from Arenal warned us the day before that the majority of the roads traveling there were not paved, but we had no idea what we were in for! By the time we arrived, we felt like we had been on the
Scream Machine at Six Flags for a solid two hours! The roads contained non-stop pot-holes and washer-board rivets while trying to keep the SUV from running off the winding roads up the mountain.
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| This doesn't quite give justice to what we experienced! |
Once we arrived at our little cabin in Monteverde, we realized that we were definitely in the 'cloud rainforest'. It was overcast the majority of the time we were there. We did see a monkey and sloth right outside our cabin/hotel area while there. I actually spotted the sloth as I was relaxing in the cabin. I looked up from my book and right outside the window I saw the sloth climbing to its position. If you aren't aware of what a sloth is or its behavior, it is very rare to ever see them move because they will stay in one spot for a week at the time.
We booked another zip line tour while in the city and really enjoyed it. The last line that we rode was about 1/2 a mile long. Adam and I rode it together and really built up some speed. I felt like my cheeks were plastered back to my ears!
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| Our Cabin |
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| Headed to zip line... |
One of the restaurants that we went to was called the 'Tree House'. Very cool!
Our last little adventure before heading back to San Jose was to visit the hummingbird garden. Adam and I love to watch hummingbirds and were very surprised to see the size of some of the ones there.
Our trip to Costa Rica was exciting, relaxing, educational and just down right awesome. I would highly recommend going! If we go back again, I would like to see the beach side and spend some time there.
Sorry for such a long post, but it was hard to work in everything that we experienced!
I will leave you with this:
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| Big Smiles from Costa Rica! |
