Advertisement
Hotel Interamericanos
The view from our bedroom window. Today was another early morning. We decided to go canyoning this morning with Kylie and Kristie so we needed to head out by 8:45. We were awakened at 7 am by the birds & the farmers market that had magically sprung up overnight. It was quite a sight, tons and tons of fresh fruit, jewelry, cloth, etc. I was tempted, but where would I put it? My bag is beyond stuffed already!
We got up & cleaned up the room as we planned to check out of the hotel in the a.m. but they let us put our backpacks in storage while we canyoned. We’d come back and get them, head to the bus station (estacion del autobus) and grab the next bus to Paraiso to end up in Oriso. I had another of Luis’ fantasticos desayunos and all the girls joined me this time. Same basic fare, but still super good. The other hotel manager’s son, Declan, continued to entertain (and mildly irritate) us with his antics. This morning was better b/c he was in a good, playful mood. Plus, he gave us all besitos (little kisses) before we left. Sweet way to start the day.
The guides
Hotel Interamericanos
Palm trees & a farmers market. Me gusta mucha! were on-time (rather than on "Tico Time" like the guys yesterday!) and we weren’t ready even though we’d been up for several hours…stupid Americans! 😉 Anywho, we rushed around stashing stuff and went out to another van. Less comfortable and had some kind of short where the vehicle didn’t know the door wasn’t closed so it ding donged constantly. Luckily, this was a much shorter trip than yesterday!
Going canyoning (and, oh how I love to use that word as a verb!) basically means following the river, according to our guide. Therefore, we followed the water and used various means to transport ourselves. Namely, waterfall repelling, zip lining, walking and crossing a fairly alarming slatted rope bridge over a gorge (our “surprise” excursion the guide was pleased to announce).
It was an awesome morning. While I have repelled, I have never done so in water…and ouch! Rope burn. Seriously, though, it was a little scary and very jerky b/c of the wet rope, but such a fun way to navigate: water crashing down on your head, feet looking for the rock, arms trying to regulate speed, guides upside and downside yelling support and directions. Quite the experience, I
Torrialba
Restroom at the Canyon...she's repelling! :) must say. We repelled down four different waterfalls.
After the first waterfall, we got to zip line. Again, I have done zip lines at Boy Scout camp (while working - COPE was for everyone, after all), but never across the top of a jungle…even a small one like Torrialba’s. Today’s zip lining entailed hooking our harness to a cable stretched across the tops of the trees, pushing off from the platform and holding on for dear life. In my case, it also meant trying to correct my direction, b/c I don’t seem to stay face forward. I went into three of the four zip lines backwards or sideways…man, I thought my bulk would help with speed & direction, but turns out no. 😉
We were out for several hours and once again wrapped up with a yummy lunch in an open air restaurant while looking at the slideshow our “paparazzi” took of us while we were traveling. We happily bought 2 cds of pictures for $40, splitting it four ways so only $10 each. Don’t have a cd drive w/me, but those pics will eventually be posted…I’ve never looked so action figure in my life! ^_^
After
Andre, one of our guias
His shirt says: "Ninjas and Pirates agree: Cowboys Suck!" Love it. that it was back to the hotel to pay. Stopped to get ice cream again…and why not? Then we walked to the bus station…so hot & sweaty after that…we finally have a sunny day & we’re travelling! We arrived at 2pm and our bus was leaving at 2:15, so it was perfecto. We got to Orosi and made our way to the hotel after about an hour on the bus.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.094s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0651s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb