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Travel log, third day, arenal forests
Mar. 10th, 2007 10:22 amMar 1, 2007 - 11:05pm
Today, day 2 of what ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elvendoll and I celebrate as our anniversary, was a full, busy, great day. It started out early with breakfast at our B&B - during which a toucan graced us with its precense, happily eating a melon not far from the table we were having breakfast at. The owners said it was only the second time in 7 years they had seen a toucan come to the farm. The first having been a week earlier.
From there we jumped in our truck and took off to the skytram. This was beautiful, fun and exciting! We first took a long trip up into the forest on a cable car, a few dozens of meters in the air. It was a small group, too. Normally the place sells out their tours packing nearly 20 people in a group, but on this day it was just elvendoll and I, our two guides, and two people from Holland. As we were approaching the top of the tram ride we were able to hear Arenal grumbling in the distance. It sounded like a cross between thunder and an earthquake. A sound like thunder, but that distinctly came from the ground, not the sky. Unfortunately, even as the day was beginning to clear the volcano was still cloud-clad.
Coming down was a different experiance altogether. We were harnessed up and tossed down ziplines! Eight of them in all, some as high as 200 meters, and at least two of them longer than 600 meters. We supposedly reached speeds of somewhere between 30-60kph! It was, in a word, phenomenal. Of course, I have pictures - a full gallery of them here (and also on flickr here).
I wish there were enough words to fully describe the experience. (I also wish I had thought to bring the small camera that takes movies, and actually record one of the runs. Next time!). There was a freedom and comfort to being out in the middle of one of these ziplines, dozens of meters above the treetops, just floating in the air. While waiting at a zipline station for everyone to finish so we could go to the next one you could hear what almost sounded like the ziplines singing, as someone came, well, zipping down the line.
From there it was back in the truck, over to a hanging bridges tour of a different part of the forest, after a quick cafeteria lunch (mmm, with one of the best burgers i've had, ever). This was a 2+ mile walk/hike over a dozen metal and hanging bridges and the trails between. We saw a number of birds, a multiude of plants, and a little frog called the blue jean dart frog! So cute. This thing was maybe the size of my thumb - and very, very shy. There are more pictures from the forest here and here.
After the tour we came back to the hotel where we ended up taking an accidental nap. When we woke up, it was raining heavily outside. A blinding, almost solid kind of rain. We decided that going to a hot springs place sounded like the best of ideas! So we drove over to Eco Thermales. This place had an unmarked gate, and I had to get out of the truck in the rain to buzz in to see if it were possible to, late in the evening, come in to use the hot springs for a bit. Luckily the rain had kept many people away so there was, in fact, room for us! (They only allowed 100 visitors at a time). It was a nice, relaxing experience. Nothing like being out in an open hot spring in the pouring rain.
Finally, we brought our night to a close by having a great dinner involving flaming plates at a local restaurant and then sweet, sweet, sleep.
( more photos behind the cut )
Today, day 2 of what elvendoll and I celebrate as our anniversary, was a full, busy, great day. It started out early with breakfast at our B&B - during which a toucan graced us with its precense, happily eating a melon not far from the table we were having breakfast at. The owners said it was only the second time in 7 years they had seen a toucan come to the farm. The first having been a week earlier. 
From there we jumped in our truck and took off to the skytram. This was beautiful, fun and exciting! We first took a long trip up into the forest on a cable car, a few dozens of meters in the air. It was a small group, too. Normally the place sells out their tours packing nearly 20 people in a group, but on this day it was just elvendoll and I, our two guides, and two people from Holland. As we were approaching the top of the tram ride we were able to hear Arenal grumbling in the distance. It sounded like a cross between thunder and an earthquake. A sound like thunder, but that distinctly came from the ground, not the sky. Unfortunately, even as the day was beginning to clear the volcano was still cloud-clad.
Coming down was a different experiance altogether. We were harnessed up and tossed down ziplines! Eight of them in all, some as high as 200 meters, and at least two of them longer than 600 meters. We supposedly reached speeds of somewhere between 30-60kph! It was, in a word, phenomenal. Of course, I have pictures - a full gallery of them here (and also on flickr here).I wish there were enough words to fully describe the experience. (I also wish I had thought to bring the small camera that takes movies, and actually record one of the runs. Next time!). There was a freedom and comfort to being out in the middle of one of these ziplines, dozens of meters above the treetops, just floating in the air. While waiting at a zipline station for everyone to finish so we could go to the next one you could hear what almost sounded like the ziplines singing, as someone came, well, zipping down the line.
From there it was back in the truck, over to a hanging bridges tour of a different part of the forest, after a quick cafeteria lunch (mmm, with one of the best burgers i've had, ever). This was a 2+ mile walk/hike over a dozen metal and hanging bridges and the trails between. We saw a number of birds, a multiude of plants, and a little frog called the blue jean dart frog! So cute. This thing was maybe the size of my thumb - and very, very shy. There are more pictures from the forest here and here.After the tour we came back to the hotel where we ended up taking an accidental nap. When we woke up, it was raining heavily outside. A blinding, almost solid kind of rain. We decided that going to a hot springs place sounded like the best of ideas! So we drove over to Eco Thermales. This place had an unmarked gate, and I had to get out of the truck in the rain to buzz in to see if it were possible to, late in the evening, come in to use the hot springs for a bit. Luckily the rain had kept many people away so there was, in fact, room for us! (They only allowed 100 visitors at a time). It was a nice, relaxing experience. Nothing like being out in an open hot spring in the pouring rain.
Finally, we brought our night to a close by having a great dinner involving flaming plates at a local restaurant and then sweet, sweet, sleep.
( more photos behind the cut )
