We awoke to the sounds of nature. I love that sound! After we showered and got ready for our day, we walked around the grounds where we are staying. Last night after the near monsoon rain... We thought we heard a waterfall so we were on a mission to find it. We did find where the waterfall would have been but realized what we heard was the runoff from the rain and wasn't an actual waterfall. We are right on the edge of a very steep ravine so not a ton of area to walk and explore but we only had a half hour before breakfast anyway so of course... I requested Spencer be my model for a couple quick photos.
We sat down to a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, fresh mozzarella cheese and toast along with some of the best OJ I've tasted. Yummy! Spencers been talking about it all day and he's not even an egg person.
After breakfast we were off to do some shopping in Fortuna. As the decent mom I consider myself to be, I couldn't let Spencer go all the way through day 3 still wearing the same clothes. Lucky for me... He's a boy and a tshirt and a pair of swim trunks made him happy!! Besides... We needed a change of clothes for our activity of the day... Canyoning aka: Waterfall Rappelling.
After we found some new clothes, we attempted to go to the bank. Let me tell you... That bank will never be robbed. It was almost like walking through the machine at the airport, except a door actually closed you in before the other side would open. It was crazy. And you had to take a number like you do when you return something at Walmart. Needless to say... The wait was too long and we didn't want to waste any more of our time so we left and got ice cream instead. It may have been the best ice cream I've ever tasted. Yum!
A couple more hours to kill brought us to a waterfall that you can swim at the base of. On our way there, we pulled over to check out a bridge and the small river under it. We saw the coolest thing. Spencer said it was crazy. We saw an ant colony. It was seriously was straight out of the movie A Bugs Life. These little tiny creatures were carrying things much larger then themselves. And there were thousands of them all walking in a line. It was quite incredible to watch. These photos aren't great and don't do it justice... I wish we would have had more time to try to perfect one!
Not much further down the road, we found the waterfall and certainly got our workout in. I almost wish we would have counted the stairs up and down. It was quite a workout but I didn't have the attention span to count that much! Here is what we found when we reached the bottom:
And I had a strawberry, pineapple and passion fruit smoothie. Delicious and refreshing!! But now it's time to leave so we can get back to our hotel and get ready for the real excitement of the day!!
We were picked up about 10 minutes late which made us nervous given our luck so far. Right when we started talking about that, they showed up! We then commented on how perhaps our luck is turning around and today is the day it all changes.
We had about a 20 minute drive and it was only us and one couple from France. They were very nice! We talked about how long we were all staying and our flights. Ironically... They had lost luggage as well. But they had gotten theirs back after one day. We are on day 3!
Anyway... We arrive and they get us all of our gear and we get back in a truck for another 5 minute drive. Right when we get there... It started raining. Victor, our main guide, says "welcome to the rainforest". We really didn't care as we were going to be getting wet anyway!
A quick picture to start our journey...
After our safety instructions, we start hiking to the first waterfall. It wasn't just a walk in the park... More a walk in uneven rocks at varying degrees of difficulty.
The first waterfall was short, about 40 feet, but a little difficult just because we were getting our grips on how to maneuver.
Between each waterfall... We had to hike to the next through the water and crevasses in the mountains. Absolutely amazing to be in the midst of this amazing nature!
The second waterfall was super short, about 15 feet, but it was very narrow. Before we got to the next waterfall, we had a different sort of adventure. There was a water hole in the midst of our hike. In order to continue through.... The only was was to jump in this waterhole. It also was not vey large. We were told to jump straight down and to keep our elbows tucked in. It was narrow. Maybe 4 feet. And maybe 6 feet long. But the water was 7 feet deep.
Let me pause and point out that I thought I would get cold. This whole experience was so refreshing! The waterhole being the most.
The third waterfall was big. I didn't like looking over the edge. It was about 120 feet. It was spooky for me to stand on the edge getting ready to rappel, but once in motion... So much fun!!!
As we were walking to the next waterfall... One of the guides was laying down across the river. He said he was tired and needed a nap. We just giggled and continued on. A short time after, one of the other guides told us to sit down and got us all situated. We thought this was simply a photo opp, which it was... With a twist.
Here is before:
So... The guide we passed was laying down to create a damn. As soon as he stood up... We got soaked! This too, was amazingly refreshing!! What a blast!!
The last was around 250-280 feet. Let's just say it was tall!!! This was the most fun though.... After the first 12 feet repelling... We got to let go of the rope and essentially zip line the rest of the way down.
At one point in our hike... the sun came out and it was just amazing!
After the fun adventure was over.... They sat us down to the most amazing meal! It was chiken and potatoes. So delicous and flavorful. Along with a small salad, there was a generous portion of rice, beans and some vegetable concoction and the last thing on the plate, I believe was fried plantain. Delicious. This whole experience was amazing. Simply amazing and epic.
Once back at the hotel, I decided to call on Spencers bag again. For some reason I couldn't get through on their phone so I decided to just use mine and deal with the cost that would come along with it as I was getting nervous the bag would come after we leave here tomorrow. Just incase anyone wants to know... You need to dial a + before the number. And to do so... You need to hold down the 0 until it turns into a +. There you go... I just saved you 20 minutes trying to figure that out! Or maybe I'm the only slow one. Hehe. I got a very nice lady who told me the bag was en route. Although, I believe they told Roxie that yesterday. Here's hoping!! As we finish up our night, we decided to go play in the hot spring pool again. Not the same with out the monsoon rain, but tonight was very peaceful. Spencer decided to wear his new outfit so I made him let me take a pic before jumping in!
Notice the volcano in the background is playing hide and seek with cloud cover. We were not able to find it at all today. Glad we saw it yesterday!
We spent the rest of the night in the pool... Found more ants at our place that were working very hard... Played another game of war (pretty sure Spencer somehow riggs the cards!)
We decide to call it a night around 9:15 and head back to the room. A bit later we have a knock on the door. It was a beautiful sound. The luggage is here!!! Day 3 at 9:35 pm, and Spencer finally has his clothes!! I would say our earlier prediction that things were turning around came true... Spencer is so excited to have cloths, he hugged his suitcase and already picked out his outfit for tomorrow!!
Sweet dreams from Costa Rica!
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