Adventure Day

A few days after trekking up to Monteverde and back, we decided to go on an adventure tour that Sean had looked into before they even left the states. He wanted to go horseback riding and canyoning and zip lining and Tarzan swinging, etc., etc., etc. So, we did just that. We found a great price and drove our rusty, trusty (ok, not so rusty) Rudy Bego out to Rincon de la Vieja (passing the very first hostel/Bed and Breakfast we stayed at back in January, wouldn’t you know it!) and commenced our all-day adventure.

Joanna and her Steed

First we did a horseback tour through the forest. Joanna said she had experience riding horses as a kid, but as soon as she got bucked off one day, she quit (and who can blame her). Other than Jo, none of us had much experience riding. That said, we all took it in stride, so to speak, and did rather well. Sean’s horse insisted on being first and whenever he found himself near the back, he’d race forward to lead the group. Joanna’s horse kept head
butting others if they got into her personal space.

The ride was relaxing and it was pretty clear the horses already knew where they were going, despite the guide having taught us some simple commands before we left (either that or he had some secret horsey signal he was using from the back of the group—perhaps we’ll never know). The funniest part of the short ride was the german couple that joined our group. Either they both had horses that were really unruly, compared to all of ours, or they were so-not-naturals at horseback riding. They were constantly being whipped around, horses running forward, around, under trees that smacked their perturbed riders in the face/arms/butt/you name it). They were hollering combinations of English and (I assume) German cuss words as they held on for their lives. Despite all of this, they were in good spirits when we parted with the ponies and just laughed the whole thing off. Still, it was pretty amusing.

Crystal and Joanna

Justin and his horse

(L-R) Justin, Sean, Crystal, ze Germans and Jo

After we rode we were picked up by a good ole-fashioned yellow school bus and taken to the river to go “white-water” inter tubing. Now, if any of you know my history with inter tubes and hospitals, you’d think it was a wonder that I agreed to this at all (twice I’ve inter tubed down snowy hills —twice I’ve ended up in the hospital—never again!) but the water seemed to be a different beast. Actually, it was a total blast. We were joined by about 20 others who were on a one week adventure trip around Costa Rica, and we were off. The river was amazing, perfect inter tube-sized water falls, twists, turns, slow rolling pools, fast current pools. It was almost as if the river had been built just for tubbing. But no, it was a natural phenomena that just took a little human ingenuity to took hold of and turned a profit (gotta love that). Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures (who wants to pay $20 for 40 pictures that all look exactly the same) but take it from me, it was scenic, refreshing, and tons of fun.

The next section was the one I was looking forward to most: zip lining! There were 7 zip lines in the course, as well as an optional rappel (you lower down a canyon by rope), Tarzan wing, and rock climbing wall. The first line was the longest at least 7500 meters long (in my memory at least, I think it was realistically more like 500 meters) and you could even go down it upside down. There was no way in hell I was doing that, but you know Justin did (Sean did too, as a matter of fact). I swear Justin even did a Tarzan call as he launched from the platform. Personally, I was too worried that I was going to accidentally put my hand in front of me instead of behind and “oh no, fingers go bye bye”(as the guide put it. The whole course was really a rush.

Justin says "look Ma, no hands!"

Joanna, lovely as ever

Crystal 

Sean, upside down and backward

Crystal's first time rock climbing

Joanna winning the race!

Certainly the most beautiful part was the optional canyon rappel. Not only was it exhilarating, but the canyon itself was absolutely picturesque. Exactly what you think of when you imagine Costa Rica. Beautiful vegetation, turquoise blue water, birds flitting about. It was incredible. After the repel was the Tarzan swing, which the guides took great pleasure in scaring both Joanna and myself into thinking that something had gone wrong and we were accidentally being catapulted to the canyon floor (a good 25 meters below us, as least). Then we rock climbed. I’ve never actually done this before and while it wasn’t the traditional balay-style counter balance act (they actually pulled you from up above) it was still hard work and really rewarding when you reached the top.

Justin at the top of the rappel

She chose down?!

After all that crazy adventuring, we were all incredibly grateful that the last spot on the tour was the local hot spring, complete with volcanic mud bath. We each painted our spouses in fresh, home grown mud, sat in the sun to let it dry, and washed off in the river. Afterwords we relaxed in the natural hot springs and high fived each other in celebration of our awesomeness.

Crystal mudding Justin

Joanna and Sean mudding each other

Drying in the sun

Studmuffins

Washing off in the river before heading to the hot springs

I think its safe to say that Sean was onto something with the suggestion of this adventure tour. We all agreed that it was an incredible day and well worth the money. Other than the drive up to Monteverde it might have been my favorite thing we did with Sean and Joanna all week!

A triumphant day!