Now, I know I told you that Brazil was my favorite, but Costa Rica might just have passed it up. We’ll see.
We ported on a pier in the city of Puntarenas. Our lone ship on the pier stood bravely against the rain it had to endure in the country.
The first day, I wandered around the port city and got all my shopping done. This included my secret santa and white elephant on the ship as well as gifts for family and friends back home. The humidity was quite terrible in Puntarenas and I was happy to leave for Monteverde the next morning. At 9am the next day, the gang piled into a minivan with our incredibly nice driver. He continued to tell us what he knew about the city and what the best things to do were. Our drive there took about two hours; the first hour being normal highways, but the second, a bumpy winding rode up a steep mountain. We hopped along a narrow dirt rode that rested on the side of a mountain where each turn made me feel like we might just fall off. Not to mention the fact that our driver whipped as fast as he could around these corners despite the fact it was steep and it was raining. Even so, I enjoyed it because the views on our ride were absolutely incredible. We finally made it alive to our hotel, Don Taco which was an incredibly cute family owned hotel with about five dogs running around all the time. The style of the hotel reminded me of a log cabin and gave it a sort of homey feel. The weather in Monteverde was also PERFECT. There was absolutely no humidity, some rain, but after the rain, the sun creeped out of the clouds and a nice wind cooled us. Not to mention the amount of rainbows I saw was astounding, but we’ll talk more about that later. This city is more like a mountain village with lots of steep hills and cute restaurants that you could always walk to. The same day we got there, we had some lunch, then went on the Cloud Forest Walk, which included a easy hike through the many suspension bridges the Costa Rica forest had to offer. It was still raining so we all bought nice rain jackets from the souvenir store and trudged through the mud and over the misty bridges of the Cloud Forest. You could say our first day in Monteverde was a perfect, relaxing day. Our second day, was the absolute opposite.
So a few weeks ago, I signed up with my group of friends to participate in an Extreme Sport Adventure in Costa Rica that included zip lining, tarzan swinging, bungee jumping, and sky swinging. And I gotta say, that was one of the best decisions I made on this trip. Day two began with zip lining over the hills and valleys in Monteverde where we were able to zip past two rainbows that were results of the previous rain storm. We swung through the trees before it was time to jump off the cable car that was suspended from a cable that stretched across the mountains. I wasn’t really scared to jump off, I was more anxious and excited. The only time I got scared was right after my feet left the cable car and I was face down, plummeting into trees. Once I felt the cord tug me up I couldn't help but smile. It was one of the most fun and exhilarating experiences of my life. The same goes for sky swinging, where I sat on the edge of the cable car and they move the car backwards causing you to fall straight down until the rope tugs and you swing under the cable car. My guide who dropped me decided it would be fun to tell me my helmet was loose (when it wasn’t) right before I dropped off the edge. Listen closely in the video and you can hear it. The amount of adrenaline in my body that day was insane, and now I’m craving more (anyone care to join me in sky diving?).
The next day we went repelling (or canyoning) down six waterfalls. Four guides took us down these beautiful waterfalls where we had to push against the walls with our feet and lower ourselves to the bottom. It was a lot harder than I had anticipated, and I definitely hit the wall a few times and got soaked by the waterfall. But it was so fun and our guides were hilarious.
The rest of our trip included lots of burritos, coffee milkshakes (so good), and quesadillas. It really was the perfect country to end in.
Next destination, home.
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