Adventures with Jenn and Alex - Jan 4-17

The day after I arrived back in San José I got to put on the Tour Guide hat once again when Jenn came in from Denver. Since we hadn’t had a chance beforehand, we took the opportunity that very day to sit down at the computer and phone and plan our activities for the next 2 weeks. Nothing like a little last minute travel agent action… I got to give here the guided tour of Heredia, downtown San José, and we even made a day trip down here to Limón for a visit to the beach and a taste of all my favorite Caribbean treats and a glance at my stomping grounds. Plus a night of salsa dancing with lots of old men (ha) and we even caught a movie and popcorn at the mall. She was practically a local by the time we welcomed Alex to the sunny tropics on Monday. The 2 of them were surely glad to be escaping the winter snowstorms and below freezing temps in Denver. From Tuesday to Thursday we relaxed poolside and visited the beach from our resort-like spot on the Pacific Coast… had to get their poor winter skin adjusted to the lovely warm rays of the tropical sun, of course. Friday and Saturday was a 2-day white water rafting experience, and experience it surely was – in the fullest sense of the word. The raft company picked us up in San Jose at 6am on Friday morning in a mini tour bus, made a few other stops around the city, then shuttled us about an hour and a half away, almost to Limón, to the company’s Operations Center. There we were fed a delicious breakfast of pinto, fruit, and made-to-order omelets and changed into our rafting gear. A short trip to the river and a short instructional and safety session later, we found ourselves in helmet and lifejackets with our stuff in dry bags and floating down the river with a couple from California and our fearless raft guide, Fabian, from Argentina. There were 2 other boats of rafters along with us, plus another boat with all the gear and food. It was an overcast day, ideal for rafting and avoiding sunburn and/or bad tan lines. After awhile we “pulled over” on the side of the river and our guides quickly became chefs as they flipped over one of the boats and began to set up our lunch smorgasboard of sandwiches (complete with sliced lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, and mayo & mustard packets) cookies, and fruit – sliced and arranged with extra points for presentation. Just as we were loading the plates and preparing to feast that rain came. And it wasn’t just a light sprinkle or even a downpour…it was a monsoon. We tried to take cover under the trees, but it really didn’t do much good. Sad as it was to see all the food getting drenched, one was left with not much more to do but laugh and try to make the most of it as our paper plates were disintegrating in our very hands. It was quite a scene as we were all so hungry that we tried to cover our plates and eat despite the rain, yet everything was just getting soaked. Of course after we packed up and were back on the boats it stopped raining and within 15 minutes or so we were enjoying some great sunshine. It would have been nice to have that at lunchtime, but at least it was warming us up and making the splashes of the rapids more enjoyable as they were now able to “cool” us off. In the early afternoon we arrived at the lodge where we would be staying. It was a gorgeous spot in the jungle, overlooking the river, and we had very nice and clean cabins with private bathrooms to call home for the night. We took a guided hike up into the jungle to a waterfall, and then made it back down to camp to find the rest of our guides and the lodge staff hard at work in the kitchen. It really was a full service experience, and with our guides providing all the services themselves. They even had a Happy Hour of Jungle Juice and chips and bean dip waiting for us. Oh so tasty. We all got to shower and change and dry out and then reunited in the open-air with a view dining room while our guides laid out quite the dinner spread of this really tasty chicken mix, rice, salad, and fruit. Delicious. That night Jenn and Alex and I were joined by Fabian and another guide, Greg, from Scotland, for an entertaining evening of cards and conversation.
Saturday morning started with another great breakfast of pinto, fruit, and some tasty banana-cinnamon pancakes. After breakfast we all got harnessed up for an adventure on the canopy tour (aka zip line) which was included as part of the whole experience. After all that fun we still got to climb on board the rafts for a few more hours of adventures down the river. There were some good rapids, amazing scenery, and fun times on the boat – and Jenn, Alex, & I all stayed in the raft even, except of course when we purposely jumped off for a swim. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the whole thing ended with another fabulous meal– lunch of chicken, salad, fresh salsa, fruit, beans, rice, veggies, and friend plantains back at the Operations Center. I think between the 3 of us we totally wiped out an entire tree’s worth of plantains. Tasty treat. We were tired but very satisfied customers by the time the shuttle bus dropped us off back in San Jose around 6 on Saturday evening.
Sunday we headed out late morning for San Jose and a 4.5 hour bus ride up to Volcan Arenal. The bus ride was definitely more of what one would likely imagine a Costa Rican bus trip would be…not the nicest or cleanest nor freshest-smelling bus, way more people than seats (I ended up standing for the first 3.5 hrs of the trip so I would be able to talk to the other girls without people standing and/or leaning over me in the aisle) and lots of stops along the way. We finally made it though, and found our way to a hotel/cabinas that had been recommended to us by one of the raft guides. We had a cute little room complete with 3 beds, mini kitchen with frig, and porch with volcano views. The only problem was the clouds never gave us the chance to see the volcano. From the time we arrived on Sunday until leaving on Tuesday afternoon we never caught even a glimpse of the volcano. So that was a bummer for the girls, but we made the most of the trip anyway, including a visit to some fabulous hot springs and dinner at a great typical restaurant that we loved so much we came back to the next night as well. On Monday morning we rented bicycles with the intention of keeping them all day and making our way around town, out to the hot springs, to the waterfall, and who knows where else. We headed for the waterfall first and were in for quite a surprise when we found ourselves riding uphill on a gravel road for 4 km with a pretty intense incline for the last half of it. After we finally arrived at the waterfall we discovered that we would have to hike down about half a mile to get to it, which of course meant that we got to climb up that mountain as well on the way back. Needless to say between spending the previous 2 days on a raft and then the entire morning on a rugged bike trail, we were ready to turn in our bikes at noon and head off to pamper ourselves at the hot springs. Which we did, and in the end it felt good to know that we truly deserved it. :) Tuesday morning we did a little shopping and enjoyed some very tasty coffee drinks at this great little café before boarding the bus and making the trek back to San José, which was a much better trip considering we all had seats and windows that actually opened. That night we had dinner at Luisa’s house, stocked the girls with supplies to bring back home at the grocery store, and finished off our evening with a very tasty Frozen Cappuccino from the local Baskin-Robbins-type chain. We had such a great time and got to do so many things and I just loved the time with my girls, so it was sad to have to say goodbye…