Eyelash viper!
Hanging bridge number one
Me with the Arenal Volcano in the background!
After being
gone for more than twelve hours yesterday, out hiking around a volcano,
trekking across hanging bridges, and swimming beside a waterfall, I was simply
too exhausted yesterday to make this post… but what a day it was! Definitely
one of my favorites since being in Costa Rica! At about 7:45 yesterday morning,
I was picked up in the lobby of the La Choza Inn Hostel by Manuel, the man that
would be my tour guide for the rest of the day. While in the car, he ran over
the schedule for the day with me- first, the hanging bridges tour, which would
be him leading me along a path right in the middle of the Costa Rican
rainforest, pointing out some things as we passed them, and crossing six long
hanging bridges. After that we would come back into town and pick up two more
people from another hostel; I was the only person that day to have booked the
mega tour, so it was just me and the tour guide for the hanging bridges tour!
When we’d picked up the others, we would hike to the Arenal Waterfall, where we
could swim if we wanted to. Then we’d have lunch at the restaurant there near
the waterfall. After that we’d do the big volcano hike, followed by the hot
springs, and finally end with dinner. Sounded like a very full day of fun and
adventures in the jungle!
It was about
a half hour drive from my hostel to the start of the hanging bridges tour.
After just admiring the great view of the volcano from the trailhead for a few
minutes, I followed Manuel into the rainforest. Just a few minutes into the
tour, we saw our first wild animal, and it was one I was most excited about
seeing here in Costa Rica. Sitting on some leaves at just about eye level just
off the path, perfectly camouflaged, was an eyelash viper! I was so hoping that
I’d be able to see one of these here in Costa Rica, and just a few minutes into
the tour, it happened! I spent a few minutes admiring it and taking some
pictures while Manuel focused his binoculars on it to give me an up close view.
Eventually, we moved on. In total the hanging bridges tour took about two
hours, during which we saw a sloth, several beautiful birds, and a lot of
different plants, as well as some very cool bugs. Manuel told me that this
country is 27 percent forest, and what an insane forest it is! Costa Rica is
only about the size of West Virginia, but it contains five percent of the
world’s biodiversity- quite a feat! Being there in the jungle was really unlike
anything else I’ve ever experienced. That place really is a living, moving,
breathing organism.
After the
hike we returned to the van, drove back into town and picked up Nicolette and
Zach, a couple from San Diego that were backpacking here together. Once we’d
collected them from their hostel, we went to begin our hike to the waterfall.
Hike probably isn’t the best word for it- getting to the waterfall basically
just involves going down a bunch of stairs. A bunch, meaning over 500!
Eventually, with legs turned to jello, we made it to the bottom. We spent a
little while admiring the waterfall from the bank, but Zach and I especially
wanted to get in the water, so we climbed over the big rocks leading up to the
water and jumped in. The water was absolutely frigid! The spray from the
waterfall felt good against our faces, and that cold water was a good way to
wake us up! We swam around for about as long as we could stand the cold, then
got out, dried off with our trusty microfiber towels, and headed back up the
500+ stairs to the restaurant at the top. By the time we got up there, we were
all ready for some food!
After a
delicious lunch consisting of a berry smoothie, grilled fish, plantains (no
Costa Rican meal is complete without one of those), rice and some ice cream to
finish it off, we returned to the van yet again to drive to the beginning of
the volcano hike. I could write for hours about all the Manuel told us about
and all we saw on that hike, but I don’t want to make this blog post too long,
so I’ll try to keep it brief. Along the hike we got beautiful views of the
famous Arenal Volcano and the area around it. Manuel told us about the big
eruption back in July 1968 that completely wiped out two communities and killed
87 people. A scientist that had done a lot of research on volcanoes and had
apparently predicted the imminent eruption a few days before it happened. He’d
let the government know, but the government had never actually warned the
communities at the bottom of the volcano. By the time people knew what was
happening, it was too late. Of those two communities, only two people survived
the eruption!
At the end
of that long hike, it was hot spring time! Turns out that since I’d booked a
slightly different tour than Nicolette and Zach, I was going to a different set
of hot springs. Manuel checked me in and they gave me a wristband that included
entrance and dinner. Relaxing in that fresh, hot water with the volcano in the
background was the perfect way to end a long, busy day! At about eight, after
about an hour in the hot springs and a nice dinner, I was picked up by the tour
company and brought back to my hostel, where I basically just showered and
passed out.
Today, after
checking out of my hostel and about another five hours sitting on a bus, I got
back to the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Center at about 5:30. I’d only been gone
two days, but walking in and setting my bag back down on my bed felt so nice! I
didn’t think I would miss the place over those two days, but I did.
This blog
post is already more than long enough, so I’ll end it here. This post’s food
for thought is one of my new favorite quotes: “Don’t let the tamed ones tell
you how to live.”- Jenny Ox
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