adventures in costa rica: arenal adventures

this weekend took us to north

ern costa rica, to the town of la fortuna---home of volcan arenal. it's difficult and somewhat frustrating visiting here because it is so "hit or miss" seeing the volcano. i traveled there with 5 friends from maximo nivel---kristy & adam (who i was working with), deanna (their other housemate), and newly arrived brother and sister, cameron and madi. luckily, when we arrived saturday afternoon it was really clear and sunny so we could see the volcano. of course by 4pm, it completely clouded over and then was cloudy and/or raining the rest of our stay so we missed out on seeing the volcano up close or going on the night tour, trying

to catch a glimpse of the lava.

but the weather didn't stop us from a good time! saturday afternoon we went on a canopy tour of the rainforest! these canopy tours are kind of a big hype in costa rica and they have them all over so it's one of those "must do things" while you're here. reality didn't really set in as to what exactly this whole "canopy tour" consisted of until we arrived at the starting point. here is where we were equipped with helmets, harnesses, ropes and clips that would eventually attach us to these cable lines that we would zip across the trees on. so then my nerves set in a bit! it took me a few cables to get the hang of it and get comfortable flying through the sky but after a few times twisting sideways, stopping short of the next platform, and going so fast that i almost knocked the guy catching us in the face, i figured it out and had a blast! it was such an amazing feeling being on those cables, flying high above the ground, racing through the trees. the tour lasted about 2 hours, including about 10 ziplines---and then the big finish....a repelling wall! i was so scared and really did not want to do it, once i saw

that it was basically me, tied into a rope and then having to shimmy myself down, kicking my feet off the rock "wall" as i go. oh, and to start--you basically have to free fall backwards to get off the platform and get your feet against the rocks. AH! i was shaking the entire time, so scared that i refused to look down, holding on to the rope so tightly that i gave myself a rope burn! needless to say, i was VERY happy once my feet hit the ground! :) our tour ended with a horseback ride back to the start, which was a lot of fun with 6 of us... the horses all wanted to race to be the leader of the pack so it made for a fun little 15 minute ride!

the rest of the time in fortuna, we spent lounging at arenal backpackers, which was the hostel we stayed at....considered one of the few "5 start hostels in costa rica". it was really nice---really clean, a beautiful pool, yummy little restaurant. we enjoyed it! sunday morning, we spent some time wandering around the little town, in and out of souvenir shops, until it was time to board our bus back to san jose. despite the bad weather, we managed to make the most of it and have a fun weekend at arenal!