THE ADVENTURE TRIP

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RINCON de la VIEJA

ADVENTURE PARK



On day three we took a day off from diving and we went to a wonderful adventure park, Rincon de la Vieja. We booked it after a day of diving, and the whole group was excited about the activities in store for us. Sarina had arranged for two cars in Costa Rica so Shane drove us all in one of our vans.



We started the day with the zip line. I had a little trouble at first, coming to a halt several yards from the platform, requiring some acrobatics to reach the other side, but eventually I got the hang of it. We crossed canyons carved by the, can you believe the name, Colorado River? This river was not nearly so grand, but still the view was spectacular. Just before the fifth crossing, there was a little glitch. The guide had already attached Sarina’s cousin’s harness to the cable. The he realized he hadn’t sent the other staff member to the opposite side to catch the “zippers” and help them onto the platform. Eddie quickly unhooked Sandy and reached over to secure the other man. Released abruptly, Sandy stepped back… and off the platform. It was only about six to eight inches high, but she fell backward hard, and landed on her wrist. Since this was her right hand, which she used to guide herself on the zip line, she had to wait until the rest of us crossed. Then she and the guide crossed together, the guide controlling her speed. We took her to the dining hall, where ice and a brace gave Sandy some relief from the pain. A member of the staff decided to take her to the hospital to have her wrist examined, just be sure it wasn’t broken. She graciously encouraged the rest of us to continue with the program without her.

After the zip lines, there was rappelling which I could have done, but you had to climb back up a rock face and after some consideration I decided, wisely enough, to forgo this part of the fun. Even some of those in our party who were in shape were badly winded after the climb.

Next was horse-back riding. Each of us was mounted on a sturdy steed. And turned loose…for a forty- five minute trail ride. There were no instructions…so different from America. Luckily most of us had some experience with horses. Still, my horse and Shane’s horse were unhappy with each other. His horse bucked and kicked at mine, striking my horse three times with both back legs, and narrowly missing my leg. After that I watched Shane carefully and managed to keep some distance between us. It was a relief to come to the river where we abandoned the horses, exchanging them for inner tubes or blow up kayaks. I had reserved a kayak, but someone ahead of us had changed his mind and taken my kayak, leaving me to go down the river in a tube. I was fine with this.

It was an experience. No theme park thrill ride…the river was treacherous and the guides had a difficult job steering us safely down rapids and waterfalls. There were two guides and they sometimes went down a little way ahead of us and grabbed overhead ropes with one hand. Then we went down, one at a time. While standing on the rocks, the guide grabbed my extended hand and thrust me around big boulders and on down the river, where I grabbed additional overhead ropes. We proceeded like this, one at a time, through the rapids and over small waterfalls. My inner tube dumped me when I went over a two foot water fall. Most of the other tubers met a similar fate.

In the still parts of the river where the water moved lazily through lush overhanging trees the guides would link us together with our feet and swimming hard, they pulled us along. Without the additional speed we might still be on the river, idly gliding to the next white water. At one point there was a hanging rope ladder secured to an enormous towering rock. Eddie, one of our guides, and I climbed up the ladder and I jumped off into a deep pool. The water felt wonderful and I loved the thrill, but my jump was awkward, not at all like Eddie’s more graceful high dive.

After the river trip we all met up at the restaurant. A staff member found us and gave us an update on Sandy. She had indeed broken her wrist and it was being cast.

Now we took some stairs down to the river where another staff member nicknamed Picasso painted us with volcanic mud, using an eight inch paint brush. We lay on the big warm rocks for about ten minutes while the mud dried. Then we hopped into the river to wash off, or we could rinse off under river water showers. Once we were clean we lolled in the four stone lined hot spring pools of varying temperatures. The whole hot spring area beside the river was beautifully landscaped with exotic plants and trees and we enjoyed relaxing in the water.

Finally we went to the restaurant where we were served an excellent local meal, including beverages and sweet rice pudding for dessert. The day was a bargain…five hours of fun and lunch for eighty five dollars each.

The staff told us Sandy was ready to be picked up, and where to meet her driver and translator. We made the transfer. Sandy was such a trouper. Having her wrist set, without any medication was a truly painful experience. We traded stories of the day’s adventures as we drove back to Coco Beach.

What an adventure trip!





ENTURE PAR

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Photos

THE COLORADO RIVER
Beautiful scenery for the zip trip.

SANDY AND SHANE
Shortly before the untimely accident.

WOUNDED
The staff was quite concerned.

RAPELLING
Shane on the way down.

OUR AMAZONA
Spanish for horsewoman. Suzanne owns and runs a horse boarding facility.

THE KAYAK
Suzanne with her guide down the river.

OUR GUIDE AND TUBES
Eddie had it all under control.

PICASSO
Getting the finishing touches on my volcanic mud bath.

PICTURESQUE POOLS
Beautifully landscaped, right on the river bank are a series of hot spring pools.

RESTFUL RESPITE
Time to relax before lunch.