This was probably one of our most active days of the entire trip, with activities beginning at around 8AM and not finishing until 11 that night.
Once again, it began with a delicious, but early breakfast, which we finished in-time for our early morning pickup to get us to our 8AM hike through the rain forest. There were an abundance of hanging bridges there, as well. Again, our guide was really cool and our group was fairly small. There was a family of three women (a mother and her two college-aged daughters), two other girls (probably in college) and a third girl from Germany. The hike was kind of long and there were a lot of inclines and declines. Our guide took us the opposite direction that a lot of the other groups were going (its a circular route). This reduced the amount of other groups we had to deal with along the way and made the hike slightly easier. He had recently injured his foot playing soccer and wanted to take it a little easy.
After finishing here, we dropped off the two college girls but kept everyone else and went on our hike down to see the La Fortuna waterfall. It is about 500 steps down, on a pretty steep decline. Once you get there, though, you get to swim in the absolutely ice cold water, just beneath the waterfall. The German girl had absolutely no issues with it and jumped right in. My girlfriend and the mother of the other two girls made their way in pretty easily. Then one of the daughters went in, which left only the other daughter and me. It was during all of this that I learned that this (Colombian) family was from Miami. So, we all bonded, learned what they did for a living, where they worked, etc. The mother was a teacher and the two daughters were in college. One of them worked at a restaurant I know. Eventually, I got in but the last daughter was having a rough time. Finally, I convinced her to come in with the logic, how often are you going to get to do this. Bam, she was in.
Once we got out and managed to get our shoes on - fortunately, we had brought a couple extra towels and we shared them with the others so that they could dry off and get their feet back into their shoes. Then there was the difficult and strenuous hike back up the mountain. During all of this we also learned that the German girl worked for a company in Germany that was going to begin offering tours to Costa Rica for older/retired people. So, she was trying to try out all the activities to determine which ones were appropriate for that age group. We all seemed to feel this was not one of them.
We, eventually, made it to the top and then they dropped us off for lunch and we were told we would have a different tour guide for the second half of our trip. We were all sort of disappointed by this because our guide had so far been great, but whatever. Our lunch ended up being at the same restaurant we had gone to dinner at the night before. Again, it was absolutely fantastic and it included dessert, which was the awesome ice cream with hunks of brownie in it. The entire meal was quite good and the vegetables were just as fresh as the fruit.
Refueled and rested, we did a little souvenir shopping, but the rain had started and it was pouring by the time we got onto our tour bus, heading towards the Volcano hike. Along the way, we picked up a group of about three or four Cubans from Miami. It was hilarious. So, everyone was speaking some form of Spanish. The guide wasn't sure he wanted to do the hike because of the rain and asked us if we really wanted to go, but we were all insistent that we just had to go hiking. So, we got out and began the hike. The first five to ten minutes were miserable and wet but then the sky inexplicably cleared and we were able to continue our hike. It was really cool.
The day we landed, the volcano had begun to be more active and there was a lot more lava coming out than normal. So much so that they had closed off part of the path which takes you right to where the lava rocks are from the last large eruption. However, the Cubans being shrewed negotiators convinced the guide to let us go up unaccompanied and we got to stand on the lava rocks. It was staggering how far the rocks had been blown out of the volcano, and a little disturbing that it could easily happen again and this time hit us. Fortunately, the guide came up and stopped us from going too far and we headed back to the bus.
Next stop, hot springs. We went to the Tabacon hot springs and it was really pretty. The springs there all sort of flow through these man-made gardens, with rocks and such there that you can sit on as the water rushes past you, or there are pools that you can wade through and a waterfall that you can stand behind. The water is around 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) and it was just what we needed after such a strenuous day of hiking - it was about 6PM when we got there. Dinner was at 8 and then we were scheduled to go home. Our guide, however, took us all back to the volcano to try and get some night lava shots, but it was fogged over and we ended back at home, at around 11PM. What a day.
Once again, it began with a delicious, but early breakfast, which we finished in-time for our early morning pickup to get us to our 8AM hike through the rain forest. There were an abundance of hanging bridges there, as well. Again, our guide was really cool and our group was fairly small. There was a family of three women (a mother and her two college-aged daughters), two other girls (probably in college) and a third girl from Germany. The hike was kind of long and there were a lot of inclines and declines. Our guide took us the opposite direction that a lot of the other groups were going (its a circular route). This reduced the amount of other groups we had to deal with along the way and made the hike slightly easier. He had recently injured his foot playing soccer and wanted to take it a little easy.
After finishing here, we dropped off the two college girls but kept everyone else and went on our hike down to see the La Fortuna waterfall. It is about 500 steps down, on a pretty steep decline. Once you get there, though, you get to swim in the absolutely ice cold water, just beneath the waterfall. The German girl had absolutely no issues with it and jumped right in. My girlfriend and the mother of the other two girls made their way in pretty easily. Then one of the daughters went in, which left only the other daughter and me. It was during all of this that I learned that this (Colombian) family was from Miami. So, we all bonded, learned what they did for a living, where they worked, etc. The mother was a teacher and the two daughters were in college. One of them worked at a restaurant I know. Eventually, I got in but the last daughter was having a rough time. Finally, I convinced her to come in with the logic, how often are you going to get to do this. Bam, she was in.
Once we got out and managed to get our shoes on - fortunately, we had brought a couple extra towels and we shared them with the others so that they could dry off and get their feet back into their shoes. Then there was the difficult and strenuous hike back up the mountain. During all of this we also learned that the German girl worked for a company in Germany that was going to begin offering tours to Costa Rica for older/retired people. So, she was trying to try out all the activities to determine which ones were appropriate for that age group. We all seemed to feel this was not one of them.
We, eventually, made it to the top and then they dropped us off for lunch and we were told we would have a different tour guide for the second half of our trip. We were all sort of disappointed by this because our guide had so far been great, but whatever. Our lunch ended up being at the same restaurant we had gone to dinner at the night before. Again, it was absolutely fantastic and it included dessert, which was the awesome ice cream with hunks of brownie in it. The entire meal was quite good and the vegetables were just as fresh as the fruit.
Refueled and rested, we did a little souvenir shopping, but the rain had started and it was pouring by the time we got onto our tour bus, heading towards the Volcano hike. Along the way, we picked up a group of about three or four Cubans from Miami. It was hilarious. So, everyone was speaking some form of Spanish. The guide wasn't sure he wanted to do the hike because of the rain and asked us if we really wanted to go, but we were all insistent that we just had to go hiking. So, we got out and began the hike. The first five to ten minutes were miserable and wet but then the sky inexplicably cleared and we were able to continue our hike. It was really cool.
The day we landed, the volcano had begun to be more active and there was a lot more lava coming out than normal. So much so that they had closed off part of the path which takes you right to where the lava rocks are from the last large eruption. However, the Cubans being shrewed negotiators convinced the guide to let us go up unaccompanied and we got to stand on the lava rocks. It was staggering how far the rocks had been blown out of the volcano, and a little disturbing that it could easily happen again and this time hit us. Fortunately, the guide came up and stopped us from going too far and we headed back to the bus.
Next stop, hot springs. We went to the Tabacon hot springs and it was really pretty. The springs there all sort of flow through these man-made gardens, with rocks and such there that you can sit on as the water rushes past you, or there are pools that you can wade through and a waterfall that you can stand behind. The water is around 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) and it was just what we needed after such a strenuous day of hiking - it was about 6PM when we got there. Dinner was at 8 and then we were scheduled to go home. Our guide, however, took us all back to the volcano to try and get some night lava shots, but it was fogged over and we ended back at home, at around 11PM. What a day.
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