Update from Costa Rica

Buenas Dias from Costa Rica! We have had another awesome week here and can’t believe that our trip is half way over. I can feel the sympathy from here. We ended our stay at Rancho Leona by going to a discotecque type party with our hosts. The music was good but they had dancers on stage so no one else was really dancing. I didn’t want to be the dumb gringo (since we were the only gringos) out there breaking protocol so I was trying to be content chair dancing. There was a DJ and I almost had to forcefully restrain James from going up and clocking the guy because he kept interjecting a car horn in every song.
We did decide if he whipped out the jake break noise we would leave. About an hour after we got there everyone started yelling and a parade of sorts with 2 drummers, one headressed old guy and 6 scantily clad chicas came dancing in and started leading the crowd in a series of conga lines, limbo and various other dances. I couldn’t figure them all out but I had fun trying!
We left La Virgin and drove over to the Arenal Volcano. It is an active volcano and on clear nights you can see lava tumbling down the side. Alas we were not granted a clear night but we did hear the rumblings and see some of the smoke venting during the day. It was very cool to be so close. We stayed at some neat pequeno cabinas and had nice neighbors who even invited us over or happy hour. James’ highlight of the whole area was coming across a Fer De lance as we were hiking in the national park. Thankfully it was busy chasing down dinner so it just gave me a heart attack and moved on.
My adrenaline was already high because we had just come from the zipline/canopy tour. It was the highlight of my whole trip!. I had to wait 8 yrs to go and it was sooooo worth it!!! I fulfilled my lifelong dream and was able to see what it was like to be a monkey, well actually it was probably closer to a bird. We started off by taking a gondola ride up the side of the mountain, it didn’t really dawn on me until we stepped onto the platform how high up we were. There was another group getting ready to go and seeing them fly off the platform and quickly turn into a tiny dot got my heart racing. We were in a group with 6 other people and our two guides gave us some quick instructions and we did a practice zip line (it was about 10ft. off the ground and 40 ft in length). My panic started to subside a little because it was easier than it looked to hold the position they told us was muy importante. After practice it was onto the real thing and before I could chicken out I was on the cable and flying through the air screaming “Shaka“ at the top of my lungs. The guide asked James to translate. It was the most amazing feeling! We were over 700 ft in the air flying across hundreds of feet of cable. Once I opened my eyes there was an amazing view looking out on the volcano and a huge lake. I safely made it to the other platform and my hands were shaking from the rush. James came next and I got to watch our 150 lb guide trying not to look scared as James’ came hurdling toward him at about 40 mph. One guide hooked you up as you took off and the other one helped you stop on the other side. As James was being hooked up the guide told him “don’t kill my friend”. We went across 8 more cables and it only got better and better. If James would have let me I would have gone again as soon as we got done. We are definitely going to take his mom, Bill hurt his back so flying through the air is probably not a good idea.
After Arenal we took a bone jarring ride up to Monteverde to the world renown cloud rain forest. It was really beautiful and actually chilly. We didn’t see many animals in the rainforest but the foliage was amazing. There is a neat little town up there and we stayed at a nice little inn with an amazing restaurant. We also went to a serpentarium and had our own guide. James was impressing the guy with his snake knowledge and we just happened to be there when they were feeding the boas, yippee!
We picked up Bill & Mary yesterday and are spending the next few nights at this nice place in Jaco beach. We are hoping a few days of rest and rum will help Bill’s back. Who knows the zipline might actually snap it back in place.
I hope those of you in Arkansas are staying warm. Tracy I definitely think you should bring Annabelle here, she has to be 8 to do the zipline, but you don’t have to wait that long. Forrest would also love all the orchid gardens.
Sorry this is so long, the peanut gallery is giving me grief about my novel. The sad thing is I have actually left a lot out, this place is amazing!
Love, Kim