Theme: Central American Adventure Tour Country: Costa Rica Languages: Spanish Unit of Currency: Costa Rican colon Locations: La Fortuna, Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas, San Jose, San Ramon, & Tortuguero Year: 2013 Bucket list: Witnessing green sea turtles nesting
Video: Superman – 60mph, 1 mile, & 315 ft above the ground
Part 1:
Part 2:
DO: HIKE VOLCAN ARENAL
La Fortuna:
- Hiking Volcan Arenal
- Floating down stream on a safari river cruise with a small wooden canoe – torrential downpour with the victory of Costa Rican coffee
- White water rafting expedition with Class IV and V rapids
DO: WATCH OUT FOR PIT VIPERS
Manuel Antonio:
- Exploring the wildlife, including sloths that reside in the park
DO: FLY LIKE SUPERMAN
San Ramon:
- Jumping on the chance to fly like superman!
- Abseiling into a waterfall and swinging like Tarzan
DO: WITNESS GREEN SEA TURTLES NESTING
Tortuguero:
- Discovering a green sea turtle nesting site off of Costa Rica’s coast
Costa Rica Overview:
1) Trekking a volcano and hiking within Costa Rica’s jungle definitely pushed my personal limitations on so different levels. Needless to say, the 2 volcano hike was absolutely a challenge! The steep trails and mud stick holes formulated this 8 hour hike to be one of most difficult treks that I have completed in Central America. End result: Signature jumpin’ photograph with Volcán Arenal, hot springs, and new friendships created! grin emoticon
2) Canoeing down a river in a torrential downpour was crazy, and cold! For some reason, I had this silly idea that it would STOP raining, but did it? Of course not, after 4 hours of paddling through one of Costa Rica’s most habitable rivers in the rain, it made me realize how much rain Costa Rica gets every year. The lightning over the river was pretty cool, though quite close! I know that I am in the rainy season, but seriously, I could have used a little bit of sunshine!
3) Cruising on a jungle river looking for monkeys! I felt that I was on a proper safari, minus the safari hat! A peaceful river within Tortuguero was an incredible way to view the wildlife that reside here. Amongst loads of Howler and Spider monkeys, I saw a croc, several species of birds, lizards (favorite one: Jesus Christ lizard <actually runs on water!>), freshwater crabs, etc. This experience has geared me up to take on a river cruise on the Amazon!
