Thrillseekers Unlimited

Day 8 Wednesday 4/7/12 Feliz dia de la independencia! It was quite strange being in another country over a holiday. Especilly for me, because I'm loca about holidays. I love the fourth of July. Barbecues, beer and fireworks. It's the perfect combination for a wonderful celebration! So, we missed the barbecues and fireworks, but we still had the beer! We found a market that sells Budweiser here, in La Fortuna. Nothing says American Pride quite like a can of Bud. The real celebrations of the day, however, were the thrills we had planned for the morning. After breakfast at our hostel, with our Egyptian/British/Sudanese amigos, in Monteverde, we found ourselves on the shuttle heading for Selvatura Park for a morning of ziplining in the canopy and a walk over suspension bridges. I was a little iffy on the whole zipline thing. It was more like I knew I wanted to do it, and I knew I could do it, but was still afraid to do it. However, my travel partner informed me several times I would regret it forever if I didn't. This time, I knew he was right. And, I was a little bit excited, but not knowing what to expect is something that always sends me into a little state of frenzy. The day was nice, not too hot, not too cold. I was perfectly comfortable in long pants and long sleeves all morning. We arrived at the first platform, and I admit there were several mariposas in my stomach. There was a little boy in front of us, who was absolutely losing it. Poor kid. He was terrified, crying, and saying, "Nooo, I am scared!" The good news is, all the kids got to go with a staff person. Me? No, I had to do it solo. I could completely empathize with this kiddo. But, once you're down that first zipline it's nothing but an absolute thrill the rest of the time. It's incredible! You're literally on top of the trees, and looking down on this vast scenery of green. The park we were at had 16 cables and one Tarzan swing. I was not planning to do the Tarzan swing, but Jason, again, pointed out that I would regret it, therefore, it was not optional for me. For everyone else, yes, they can decide, but for me, no. I had to do it. We got some pretty good footage of us both on the Tarzan swing. My legs were shaking so badly when the stopped the swing that I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stand up. I guess that is what one would call an ADRENALINE RUSH! After the Tarzan swing, came the final cable, which is 1 KM long. It was windy out the day we went, so Jason and I actually got to do this cable together, which was pretty fun. It allowed us to take a pretty sweet video going over the canopy. After the ziplines, we took a walk through the canopy going over 8 suspension bridges. This, to me, was far scarier than the ziplines! Me, and my irrational fear, of bridges did not care for this walk, and it's safe to say I could easily go the rest of my life without having to do this again. We took about 1000 photos of the flora and fauna. Then, we headed back to the hostel to gather up our belongings and get ready for our pick up via the Jeep/Boat/Jeep. This seems to be a popular mode of travel that is advertised in Costa Rica. It seems to be a cheaper and more direct mode of travel. I'm not sure why it's as inexpensive as it is, but it was the most cost effective option we could find, for the time we have anyway. The trip is advertised to take 2.5 hours, which actually ended up taking about 3. We got a little slowed up by a herd of cattle that were walking towards our Jeep up in the mountains. The Jeep it turns out is like a tour shuttle, and we took this on the backroads up through the mountains on a dirt road to the lake at the base of Volcan Arenal. We saw a few small communities up in the mountains, here. I slept for about an hour of this part of the trip, but did wake long enough to see a family of Quakers, which was interesting because, we had learned on our coffee tour, that Quakers were the first to settle the area of Monteverde. Apparently, they are still around. Then, we took a boat across the lake, which allowed us some great photo opportunities of the Volcan. Once we crossed the lake, we took another "Jeep" to La Fortuna. We got dropped off in the center of the town, as we had been referred to a hotel 300 metros, past the park and the Catholic church. The directions crack me up. Of course, once we got here, none of that made any sense and ended up having to ask for more clarification from a man on the street. His name was Mario, and I couldn't listen to a single thing he had to say, because I was completely in awe of the fact that he was wearing an OSU Beavers hat. Now, I don't like the Beavs as much as the next guy, but that's still pretty cool to see a local guy in Costa Rica reppin' Oregon State. Jason for sure got a picture of that. We checked out the recommended hotel, but then I saw a sign that caught my eye for a 5 star hostel located next door. We decided to go check that out. We were able to get a pretty fair rate of $15 dollars a night, which is pricey for hostels but this place is the Club Med of hostels. There is a sweet lounge area by the reception desk, where there is Top Ten American hits music playing nearly all the time. There's also a pool, with a swim up bar, though I don't think the bar is in operation. We took a dip in the pool and brought our Budweiser with us, so for our intents and purposes it was indeed an operating swim up bar. There's air conditioning, tour deals, restaurant and bar on site, lockers, tv in the lounge area that primarily plays ESPN and actual hot water. Not, luke warm, but legitimately hot water. It's probably the first time I've felt clean since leaving Manuel Antonio on the first night. I might, MIGHT, even wash my hair again before we leave here. We are staying in a dorm style room with five other guys and one girl. Of the five guys, four of them are from texas, but only two of them know each other. The other guy is from Bozeman, Montana, and the girl is from Washington state. They all seem cool enough, though not nearly as interesting as our British amigos. We haven't spent much time hanging out with them, however. They all like to go to bed early, apparently. Everyone in our room was in bed, light's out, by 11. Since when are Jason and I the last one's up? Very weird. By the time we went to bed, everyone sound asleep, or trying to, and the bunk beds are super loud. It's impossible not to wake everyone trying to get situated on these things. I felt horrible, the people in our room probably hate us! We are planning to go to the Baldi hot springs tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us for that. Goodnight Amuuuuurrrrr'ca... Judy