Today, we were at breakfast at 6.30am for our 7.15 pick up by SkyAdventures. This was for our Tram-ride high up into the rainforest. This is also the highest and longest zip line ride in Costa Rica (and one of the best places in the world to zip line).
It was way too scary for me as I really don’t like heights. The Tram ride was enough for me as cable cars are enough out of my comfort zone (got this from Dad) but Tim did all 7 zip line runs. Not that you have a choice after starting the 2nd though! Apparently about 20 people a day do the little practice run - see the length and height of the 2nd and come back down on the Tram. I won’t let it bother me that 5 year olds were doing it...
The longest cable is 760 meters and is suspended 300 metres above the forest canopy.
On completion, we headed back to our hotel for more dips in the thermal springs, a swim in the pool, a few beers and nachos for lunch! The weather is amazing today. Costa Rica gets a lot of rain - and even though the wet season doesn’t commence until next month...the dry season gets plenty of rain too. Apparently the volcano is only visible for 60 days annually - so we’ve now seen it 2 out of 2 days!
After lunch and swim, it was time for our afternoon activity. We were picked up and taken to where an ATV tour departs from. Whilst fun at times, this was particularly tedious for Tim who would have liked to go faster. We did get to go to the river which was very nice! But wow - the dust! We were totally covered in dust and dirt by the end.
The tour included dinner and we were then driven back to our resort. We went straight to the hot springs for a relax and drinks - the one with the swim up bar has several spa sections lit up in different colours - it looks gorgeous at night. It felt so amazing after all that dirt!
As we’d eaten dinner at 5pm, we relaxed in our room for a while, and had the complimentary bottle of champagne we received on check in. We were then a little hungry so went to the restaurant for apple pie and more beverages!
Our next day commenced more leisurely with an 8.45am pick up for white water rafting. There is no sign of that volcano this morning but the weather can be so unpredictable who knows what will happen! At any rate, we will be wet anyway so it doesn’t really matter.
Well....the weather cleared up and was amazing. Another day of volcano views! There were 10 boats with this company today (plus another 3 companies on the water with a heap of boats each) so it was pretty busy. But, the company we booked with were fantastic - really fun guides. It was a decent drive to the river and on the way we stopped at a supermarket in Santa Clara for water etc.
This was an interesting supermarket. Similar to an IGA with lots of recognizable food options eg Kraft cheese slices, Dorritoes etc - but...also large speakers out the front playing loud disco music, a lottery booth, a cafe within, a pharmacy, and a nail salon next to the refrigerators. It really did have everything you could need!
On we went to the river with a safety debrief.
It was great fun! We had 2 hours on the river with some challenging rapids (we were teamed with a family of 4 from Miami) and it was very wet! We did also see two sloths hanging from the trees. At the end, there were showers to change into dry clothes and then it was time to drive back to La Fortuna for lunch. It was a yummy lunch with great salads, fried banana and chicken/vegetables curry with rice.
Back to our resort after all that activity (I’m probably going to able a bit bruised after today) and another dip in the hot springs and a couple of beers.
We decided to head into town for dinner and selected what is known to be the best restaurant in town. It was soooo good. Great service (it was crowded so thankfully we had made a reservation). My roast chicken had been roasted in gravy in banana leaf and was probably the best roast chicken I’ve ever tasted. Tim had rib eye steak and he rated it very highly! The whole experience was very good and whilst pricey for Costa Rican standards, it was about $100 AUD for our entree, meals, wine and beers.
We returned to our resort to pay our bill as we have a 6.00am departure in the morning!
Ps. We have been waiting for our white water rafting photos to arrive via email so will include a couple in a later update!
2025-02-17