Jose gave us a little bit of the history of the area as we drove along (ride was about 3 hours total). Arenal is the volcano and it erupted in 1968, killing 83 people and destroying the town of Arenal. There is a new town called Nuevo Arenal and a man made lake which was built over the remains of the old town. But when the water is low, you can sometimes see the remains of the old town. The town closest to where we are going is called Fortuna. Its name was changed after the volcanic eruption as it had the good luck or not being destroyed. Jose also looked for birds to show us...macaws and the like...as well as sloths. We haven't seen sloths except maybe in zoos. No luck on this ride.
I should mention when Jose handed us our updated itinerary, our names were slightly wrong. It had us as Elizabeth Davis and Dianne Freed - our middle names. We decided it could be our vacation alter egos. But that didn't last too long as we went back to our normal names out of habit. It has been confusing the hell out of anyone picking is up though, to expect an Eliabeth and Dianne and get a Moira and Cindy.
Our hotel is Nayara Springs and Resort and it is beautiful. While it is one of the few in the area without its own hot springs, it more than makes up for it in other ways. The decor and attention to detail is amazing. There are 4 beautiful restaurants, 2 pools, a spa, a yoga room and ponds. As it is in the jungle, it is very green and beautifully vegetated. It rains a lot and we are here during th beginning of the rainy season. The hotel keeps these big saffron umbrellas outside every entrance. If you get stuck in a downpour, you just pick it up and go to your next destination. We are in the "older" part of the resort the first night but moving after that to the Springs area as they call it, which is a little fancier. I am not sure at first how fancy it can get as our room now is gorgeous. Bigger than either of our apartments although isn't unusual. Outdoor shower. Nice porch. Huge bathroom with two sinks. Sitting area with fresh fruit.
The manager invited us for a welcome drink at the sushi bar the first night. Lest you think we are special, everyone gets invited. They served us wine and a couple pieces of very good sushi. The manager wasn't there but an American guy named Jonathan came over and introduced himself. We are a little sketchy on the details but it sounds like his family owns or runs the hotel. He is married (his wife was there with him), does graduate work at Penn, but checks in on the family properties in the summer. Or something like that. This is probably a good time to mention that it appears our hotel is a big couples/honeymoon destination and we are the only non-couple here. Where are Lallande and Stephanie to complete our foursome when we need them?
For our first night, we decided to have dinner at Nostalgia, which is the wine and tapas bar. It has one of those contraptions where you get a card and can choose different wines and different size pours of wine. It is like a soda dispenser for wine. Which is fun. There was only one other couple in the bar with us. The woman was a travel agent and mentioned she had sent people here so finally decided to come. We asked her the best trip she had ever taken and she was recently in Tanzania. But the more we talked to her the more we realized we had visited so many more places than her. She was from some southern state like Tennessee or Kentucky. Not that it is relevant in any way. Just sharing.
As usually happened, our first day started early. We were met at 7:30 by our first tour guide, Tom. For a Spanish speaking country, there are actually a lot of English sounding names. Tom was taking us to the Hanging Bridges which are in Mistic Park. They are a series of, well, mostly hanging bridges over water and canyons. Given her fear of heights, Moira thought she would be scared swinging so slightly in the air, but she did well. Tom was another good guy, talking to us about
history, the birds, snakes, etc. he found his favorite bird for us, the motmot. Still no sloths though.
The walk was supposed to take about three hours. We were the first people in the park and wrapped it up in two hours. It wasn't speed bridges but we were efficient. It rained a little while we were in their but it was so hooded by trees it didn't bother us. But when we got back to the hotel and we're waiting for our new room to me ready, it poured torrentially. We just sat in the lobby and watched and listened to it.
Before lunch, we moved to our new room which was actually a villa. I didn't think it could be better an our last one but it was not only bigger inside but it also had a personal plunge pool outside. Amazing. It had a view of the volcano...but that is only visible when it isn't rainy and misty, which it surely was today. Jonathan was there when we went to switch rooms and then at lunch. I think he is following us now.
Our afternoon activity was another one designed to scare the bejesus out of Moira - canyon zip lining. While it wasn't arranged as a private tour, we were the only ones going. There were two guides, whose names I can't remember. They were very good about harnessing us in. The first guide would go ahead of us, then the main guide would send us along our way. It was raining somewhat steadily which made it all the more quick. And it was so much fun. Even Moira wasn't scared. We would literally zip from landing to landing. After Moira went ahead of me on the second or third run, the guide asked me if I wanted to be crazy. I said yes and the next thing I knew I was going tandem with him, but with me riding upside down. It was fun. He eventually did the same thing with Moira and then let both of us be Superman with him as well. The ride finished with a little talk from a native Costa Rican Indian. The key things I remember from that are their native language is very fast, Mora means eagle, and they end things by saying Capi Capi.
As we somehow lost a day in Arenal, we no longer had a hot springs experience on our itinerary. The good news is that it is easy to visit one. We went right after zip lining, to a place called Tabacon that is the only place where the actual springs are intact. They built the resort around it. We realized pretty quickly it was too crowded at the main pool where the bar was so we walked up the paths to the smaller pools. That was the right move. There were lots of nice pools with waterfalls that weren't crowded. The hot springs water was divine and it practically gave a massage on your back and head. It also felt good to be In the warm water as the cold rain fell. No pictures because we didn't want to get our phones wet. Also because we were in bathing suits which is a view not suitable in our minds for others to be forced to see.
Our great, long day ended with dinner at the sushi restaurant which was delicious and also had a wine dispenser. But when I say long day I think we were back in our villa by 9. Wild and crazy vacationers...that is us.
Sunday was what we were referring to as our wet day - waterfall rappelling and white water rafting. After the drenching rain, the sun was peaking out and there were patches of blue sky. We got to see the top of the volcano, after only seeing clouds the previous days. I think Tom told us that only 25% of people actually see the top due to the weather in the rainforest. We did not see lava.
After our private tours, we were now on a group tour. A van picked us up at the hotel. There were about 6 others from the hotel doing it as well, but only the rappelling part. They were all couples. Shocking. The lead guide was Alan (see what I mean about English sounding names). The van took us through town, down a dirt road, where we boarded our "limo" which was almost like a big open bus. Other people were on there waiting. I think we had 18 in total. When we arrived at the start, they fitted us for harnesses and helmets and gave us gloves. We had a short walk in the woods until we came to the first canopy. We got our instructions - left hand tight, right hand lets rope out, assume a sitting position, keep your knees bent - and it was time to go. The first one was tandem and Moira and I somehow ended up first. It was also the tallest and right next to the waterfall. Of course, we hadn't looked down so had no real idea what we were in for. We just pushed off backwards and went. Moira got the motion more quickly than I did. But soon we were both pushing out and dropping. I was actually next to the waterfall and swung in there a couple of times. Meaning I got soaked. It was amazing.
We did 5 drops in total, two of which were in waterfalls. Moira had no fear of heights while doing it. The hardest part was actually climbing up the rocks after the first rappelling. There were these iron hooks to put your feet up and pull up but it wasn't easy. I will say the guides were great about safety. They made sure we were all hooked in all the time. There were guides at the top and at the bottom who helped everyone. It was so much fun and I can safely say we would both do it again.
From there, we were given a snack and loaded into another van to head to white water raft. There were about 17 of us for that, and a number of guides, most of who met us there. The head guy on the van, Mauricio, gave us all the instructions. We would be going on class 2 and 3 rapids, or as I called them stage 2 and 3. There were some larger groups of friends so at the river when they divided us up, we were with a couple from Mexico, one lone guy (who we think may have been getting training) and our guide, Fabio. Fabio was the best. He liked us, particularly Moira, and he made it a ton of fun. We were in the front as we had both done this before, even though it was years ago. The beginning part of the trip was the class 3 so we got soaked. It wasn't cold though. None of us fell out although I did end up stuck in the middle of the raft at one point. In one area, where the waters for calm, they encouraged all of us to just get in, lay down feet first and let the current carry us. It was very relaxing. We had a fruit stop, where the guides cut up pineapple and watermelon for us. It was probably the best pineapple we ever had. Fabio showed Moira how to get the best juice by squeezing the skin. After that, we moves further back in the boat and let the couple from Mexico take over the front. Fabio had the guy do bull riding where he sat on the very front of the raft and tried not to fall off. He didn't. No one fell off our raft. We were the best. The joke was if you fell off and they couldn't get you that you would float to Nicarauga.
After about two hours, we came to the end. We changed into dry clothes and headed or a local farmhouse restaurant for lunch. On the way we had a Costa Rica kicks beer , Imperial , for the road. Lunch of chicken , rice , beans and salad was delicious. We haven't had a bad meal here. But the interesting part was that this farm harvests coffee which they brewed up a special way for us. It may have been the best I have ever had, as far a hot coffee goes. The owner then did a demonstration of how they grind the sugarcane and gave us a taste of that. And it all ended with a shot of moonshine (shout out to our friends down south). Fabio was pouring and he filled Moira's shot glass to the top. She drank it all in one shot though. Impressive.
I should mention that the trip had two guys in kayaks who were in the lead and the back in case they were needed. One guy was also the paparazzi as they called him and he took pictures at various places. We bought a set but can't download them yet. So just imagine us both sprayed with water, working hard to paddle, and you will get a good mental image.
The day was not over yet. We had reserved the wine pairing dinner at Nostalgia. Which was amazing and not too expensive considering. We got the Mediterraneo. A big meal after an active day. I even ate the dessert which had plantains and liked it. You can't really avoid the banana here.
Oh and it never rained!
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