Day 2: Canopy Tour + Spa

Gavin and I work up to a beautiful view and warm weather. We ate breakfast at the hotel’s breakfast buffet (omelet, mini sausages – so good! – papaya and pineapple, and a bunch of other things, including a yogurt drink similar to the Indian drink.)

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Afterward, we went back to our room for a bit and did some stomach crunches and sit-ups. Then we met up in front of the hotel for our tour bus pickup for a canopy tour, with another couple on vacation: Brian and Kim.

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At the last part of the canopy tour (or zip-lining), we had to rappel down a cliff. It was slippery and the first time Gavin had done anything like that before. Needless to say, he was glad when he finally reached the ground. We hiked back to the bus and were on our way back to the hotel.

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Later on, Gavin was feeling even more adventuresome and so we went for a spa treatment of a couple’s massage and we each had a facial (tropical scrub and clay mask, respectively.) Super relaxing. We were given a refreshing strawberry mixed drink (non-alcoholic) when it was all done.

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We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the pool and talking about how lovely our trip was so far and how excited we were for the white-water rafting tomorrow we had signed up for tomorrow.

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We watched the sunset over the volcano and then headed into town for dinner. We stopped at this restaurant called Pollo Frito El Coloso.

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The arroz con pollo that we each ordered was out of this world.

Day 1: The Long and Winding Road

On Sunday, December 2, we landed in Costa Rica, at San Jose International Airport (SJO.)

Our first stop was the rental car place, called Thrifty. Once we had our car, and a very helpful GPS (Gavin’s idea), we were on our way for the long drive to our first accommodations in La Fortuna, a hotel – or village made up of separate rooms- called Montaña de Fuego (Fire Mountain.)

There were also lots of hitchhikers along the side of the roads. We saw a sloth and two goats. That was the fun part.

Since it took nearly three hours to get our car, it was getting dark by the time we left. (We were on Costa Rica time now. It is not nearly as fast-paced as NYC.)

The road we had to take right before getting into La Fortuna – the twisty, winding road that snaked around the mountains – was unreal. The fog was so low that we could only see about a foot in front of the car (four wheel drive- THANK JESUS.) There were nearly twenty different bridges to cross and speed-racer natives zipping at us occasionally on this very, very narrow road with steep ditches and cliffs on the side. We were definitely scared, to say the least.

Finally we arrived at the hotel and checked in. The room we were in had a direct view of Volcán Arenal. It was dark and covered in clouds but, honestly, we were just happy to be alive at that point.