Jaco (part 2)

This will be my last Costa Rica post!  What an amazing adventure.  This trip has truly changed both of our lives. It has inspired us to make an effort to travel and see the world, to continue to be adventurous and to learn new things together. We can't wait until the boys are old enough to explore the world with us.  Nolan's request? An active volcano!  Apparently dormant volcanoes just aren't the real deal.

Thank you again Joani and Bob for taking us to such a beautiful part of the world.

This is our last evening in Jaco to celebrate Stacy and Brandon's wedding.  It was a perfect way to end our trip.







 At the Miami airport- Their flights to Chicago were delayed  and our connecting flight to Dallas was cancelled.  Although we were all frustrated, we were glad to see each other again!

Jaco (part 1)

Toucans! Click to enlarge the picture.  There are two.

Villa Caletas Resort

We had a beautiful room with a hot tub on the balcony.  It was an amazing view!

The night before Stacy and Brandon's wedding

The Guys



The Girls



The day of the wedding we swam at the beach and pool.



They told us that it was not recommended to swim at the beach, but we did anyway.

Infinity Pool




 
Next up....the wedding!

Monteverde (part 2)

Poco A Poco (Little By Little) hotel in Monteverde.  Monteverde is known for the cloud forest.

The Tree House- Closest to American food that we had on this trip. We were all a bit tired of rice and beans at every meal!

Don Juan chocolate and coffe tour.

Bumpy ride, but we were used to that!

Ari working hard at separating the outer layer of the coffee beans.

Extracting sugar water from the sugar cane.

Cloud Forest Bridge Tour

I opted to do this with Joani, Bob, Skip and Kathy.

Everyone else went ziplining again in the cloud forest.  They did 15 cables, 18 platforms and a tarzan swing.  We could hear them zipping past as we walked along the bridges.



After we all finished our tours, we got on the bus and headed to Jaco for Stacy and Brandon's wedding.



Monteverde Waterfall Rappel- Deric

Rincon de la Vieja Waterfall Jump-Deric

Monteverde Waterfall Rappel-Gina

Monteverde (part 1)

This was our second waterfall excursion.

This time it was just Deric and I with two guides.

We did 6 waterfalls this time around.

These were much more challenging than in Arenal which we didn't realize until we saw the first waterfall!

The guide had rappelled in Arenal and warned us that this one was more about technique.  This got me a little worried!

He was right.  Jumping wasn't really an option.  You had to move down these at a much slower pace and really watch your footing. In this picture, I am trying to keep my feet out of the water when possible.  I couldn't see through the water and was afraid about blindly placing my foot. 

We were soaked on each and every one. 

At the end of this one I didn't have anymore rope.  My guide told me to jump.  I was pretty scared.  When I jumped in the water, it was up to my stomach.  The unkown was the scariest part for me.

Deric and I both had the time of our lives!

Arenal (part 2)

This will probably be my favorite post.  This was my first opportunity to waterfall rappell.  It was an experience of a lifetime and Costa Rica will certainly not be the last time I do this. I absolutely loved it and don't think there could have been a better place to do this for the first time. 

Heading to the waterfalls.  It was a very bumpy ride.  By now, we were used to bumpy rides!

All geared up, not knowing what to expect.  Kathy was the only experienced rappeller.

I was so scared at first.  You have to jump off backwards.  The first waterfall was 165 ft. 

As soon as I started I loved it.  Compared to the other waterfalls that we would do later on the trip, these were pretty flat and allowed for more jumping. 

Deric went after me.  I went first, because I was pretty scared initially.

On the first fall, we really didn't get that wet.  Although this was the largest fall we would rappell from, it was one of the easier ones.  Later we would do some that would be directly in the water, making it more difficult to see.

Kathy went next!  Rapelling is different than ziplining in that you have the control.  You choose how fast you go and when you will jump and stop. 

Sara didn't love this, but you couldn't tell.  I watched her from the bottom on the first one and she was really good at it. 

Sara almost at the bottom.

Skip

Deric on the next one.

This one was smaller, but rockier, wetter and a little more slippery.

Sara jumping

Me jumping

I was so surprised at how much I loved this.  Deric and I loved it so much that we did it again in Monteverde.  It was much harder there, so I'm glad that we did it in Arenal first.

We did a total of 4 on this excursion.

I loved this so much!

The next morning we took a bus ride to a boat which was followed by another bus ride to get to Monteverde.  There are not many paved roads in Costa Rica.  Bus rides were difficult as many times they were 1, 2 or even 3 hours.  It was all worth it though, knowing that we were on our way to another adventure.