Day 8 Monday

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We all got up early and made breakfast in the kitchen of our hostel before our big day. It was the French girl (her boyfriend had a dentist appt.) and the Candian couple and me. Our plan was to hike up to the Casa de Arbol (Tree house). We started off on the trail toward the Bella Vista (a cross and viewpoint that overlooked the city) which was close to 1.25 hours to get up there. We took some pictures of the City and surrounding country side before starting the next leg of the hike up to the casa de arbol. The next leg was another 2-2.5 hours and was not easy by any means as we were treking straight up a mountain on some little trail. We walked and talked laughing and having a good old time stopping occaisionally to rest our legs.



We ran into another Canadian couple by chance and eventually some Americans and all joined forces. Upon arrival the view was breath taking. The valcano in the backround, a slew of farms on the mountain side (very cool how they farm on the very, very steep hillsides all around as the soil was very nutritious because of the valcano), and the 2 story tree house which sat on the edge of the cliffside. The tree house has 2 swings attached to it where you could swing out into the abyss (no safety regulations or harness), just a simple plank style swing set that probably broke every safety violation in the States. I recomend looking the casa de arbol online to get a better understanding. We hung out on this beautiful cliff top for a couple hours eating lunch and soaking in the sun, probably in the mid 70s that day.



We decided to look into getting a cab back as we wanted do more in town. The cab wanted $15 dollars for the 4 of us which was way too much in our opinion so we just starting walking back down. About 1 minute later we flagged down a pickup truck and hitchhiking for a free ride down about 2-3 kilometers out of town and walked the rest of the way back in. Getting back to the hostel at around 3 we changed our clothes and off to the next adventure: Puenting



We walkted to a bridge on the edge of town with a small river canyon below. Payed $20 each and went for it. Puenting is like a big swing jump simular to bungee jumping. They harness you in (they have no insurance and are not even business but were pretty professional. You walk up a little step latter to a tiny platform attatched to the handrail of the bridge. 1, 2, 3 and you jump out as far as you can down the canyon. The rope eventually catches and you engaged in a giant swing motion under the bridge. It was a rush least to say. They eventually lower you down and some random guy throws a rope at you and pulls you in. It was a fantastic way to finish the day.

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