Zipline, Volcano, Bungee, and Snorkeling


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Published: July 11th 2008
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FYI - We have added more pictures to the gallery.

On Sunday, July 6, we took an early morning bus to Monteverde/Santa Elena. Before lunch we walked through a beautiful orchid garden and in the afternoon we enjoyed a canopy tour with Selvatura Adventures. The canopy tour was a zipline consisting of 18 platforms, 3km of cables, and a Tarzan-swing in primary rainforest. It was a little scary at first because we were so high up in the trees, but it was so much fun and the view was wonderful! That evening we visited the frog pond and got to see plenty of colorful frogs. Luckily we didn't see any of tarantulas that are so common in Monteverde!

On Monday, July 7, we took a unique route to La Fortuna. We started out in a van for 1.5 hours, next we rode horses along Lake Arenal for almost 3 hours, then we took a 10 minute boat ride across the lake, and finally we took another 15 minute van ride to our hostel, Arenal Backpackers Resort. Riding the horses was wonderful, we had a great time. We had a great view of Arenal Volcano and the Lake as well. Also in our group were 4 fun Irish guys, and another couple from Hawaii. In the afternoon, we were picked up to do a hike along the base of the volcano. We got to see a lot of unique plants, as well as more howler monkeys, spider monkeys, lizards, variety of birds, and toucans from a distance. After the hike, we drove to the observation point. Arenal Volcano is Costa Rica's most active volcano, producing ash columns, explosions, and red streamers of molten rock almost daily since 1968. We did get to see some red streamers along the side as it was getting dark. Quite amazing. The second part of the volcano tour is a couple hours at the natural hot springs. Baldi Hot Springs was very relaxing with cool pools and a variety of hot pools (ranging from 93 F to 152 F). Our favorite was the 116 F pool.

On Tuesday, July 8, we spent an hour at Arenal Bungee in La Fortuna. Stephen and I both did the Big Swing together, then we each took a turn doing the Rocket Launcher, and last Stephen did the Bungee jump touching the water. The Big Swing was fun and the Rocket Launcher was scary. I enjoyed it, but liked Skydiving (last summer in Arizona) much better. Stephen liked the rocket launcher better than the Bungee jump, but also still liked Skydiving better. We caught a bus to San Jose in the afternoon, then had a disaster with the taxi guy once we arrived in the city. He apparently misunderstood me, drove way out of the way, then didn't know the place we actually wanted to go. It was frustrating, great way to end our time in Costa Rica. 😊

On Wednesday, July 9, we left the hostel at 4:30am to get to the airport early for our flight to Belize. A British girl also needed to get to the airport early, so we shared a taxi with her. We loaded our stuff in the trunk, and us girls sat in the back. The taxi apparently had no shocks because the whole way there the tires were rubbing the wheel wells, creating a burning smell. We were just hoping to get to the airport without blowing a tire or anything else going wrong. We flew to Belize with a connection in El Salvador. Once arriving in Belize City, we took a small airplane out to Ambergris Caye. It was only a 15 minute flight out to the island and it was absolutely gorgeous blue water. We relaxed for the afternoon and participated in "The Chicken Drop" at The Pier Lounge at 6pm. The Chicken Drop is the longest running outdoor game in Guinness Book of World Records. We bought 10 squares for $10 BZ ($5 US). There are 100 squares on the board and whichever one the chicken poops on wins. If you win, you have to clean up the poop (it's tradition) and you get $100 BZ ($50 US). It was a lot of fun. If you watch Travel Channel, you may have seen it on there before. That is where I heard about it. Anyhow, Ambergris Caye is a fun island. Not a lot of vehicles, most people move around on bikes or golf carts. It is a great place for scuba diving and snorkeling. The 2nd largest barrier reef is only 1-1.5 miles offshore.

On Thursday, July 10, we went snorkeling with Lil Alfonse (also saw him on the Travel Channel). It was so colorful and absolutely gorgeous. Alfonse points out the fish/creatures, then comes up and tells you what it is and what to look for. Here are just some that I can remember that we saw: Green Sea Turtle, Blue Tang fish, eel, octopus, nurse sharks, sting rays, Rainbow Parrot fish, angel fish, lots of coral, sea anemones, lots of others...but unfortunately can't remember their names. We got to hold the nurse sharks and even a huge sting ray. These are his buddies, he goes there everyday and feeds them. The nurse shark has a very rough skin, like sandpaper and the sting ray is quite smooth. He has a great website with beautiful underwater pictures if you want to check it out (unfortunately we didn't get any underwater pictures): http://ambergriscaye.com/alfonso
In the evening we rented bikes for a couple hours and explored the island a little more.

Today is Friday, July 11, we took a 1.5 hour ferry this morning from the island to Belize City. We took a walk to the Fort George area where the cruise ships come in. No cruise ships are in today, so everything is deserted. There is a huge area that is only open on those particular days. There is a huge difference between the area we walked through and the area that is specific to the tourists from the ships.

Tomorrow we do a Cave Tubing and ATV tour for our last day in Belize. Next we head to Guatemala.

Thanks for joining in our adventure....Love, DeAnna and Stephen

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15th July 2008

how cool!
hola tio Steve y tia D thanks for sending me a postcard! my first international mail, very cool. i hope you have a good time in guatemala. me gusta mucho la pictura de bungee jumping. y tambien pienso que las picturas de los orchids estan muy bonita. i can't wait to meet you in person! love, eleanor
17th July 2008

sounds like fun
We've enjoyed reading the entries that you are posting along your way. We leave for Egypt tomorrow so we'll have to catch up on the rest of the entries when we return. We'll try to take lots of pictures and post them as well so that you can see the other side of the world = ). Continue to enjoy your journey!

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