A Zippin' and a Hikin'

Lake Arenal
Arenal Volcano
Iguana
Ready to zip line!

June 27 Sarapiquí de Puerto Viejo to la Fortuna…A Zippin´and a Hikin´

After an early wake up at the Ara Ambigua Lodge, we headed back toward the river, got harnessed, strapped, and helmeted in, to zip our way through the forest! My Mom opted out of the optional excursion for fear of jarring her back, and hung back with another gal who chose not to participate as well. We convinced Mary to do it, although she deathly feared for her life, and I was fearing for hers as well after two lines, simply by looking at the ¨Oh Shxx¨look on her face, and coming to a stop at the end of line two only to have her asking the worker hooking her up to the line for a ¨sacerdote¨or priest. Although she was joking, she wasn´t really! For about an hour, we flew over the top of the forest, overlooking the green vegetation, and at times, dodging trees that got just a little too close, and then on the last line, over the river where the photographer captured us for some great shots. The higlight of the trip was one of my students making friends with a worker, and getting his phone number, and taking a picture with him….his Tico charm got her! Most proudly was I, that she was speaking with Mr. Antonio in Spanish as well. Little did I know, when I asked about a cute bracelet she was wearing later on at lunch, I found out that Antonio had come to the bus as we were pulling out, and asked for her to roll the window down so he could give her a bracelet….ah….young love!

From Sarapiquí, we loaded up the bus again with Rogel at the wheel to head toward La Fortuna. A pit stop at ¨The Green Iguana¨ where we saw upwards of thiry iguanas roaming the riverbead around a little gift shop, and around the porch, preceeded our arrival into La Fortuna. Pulling into the town, we were in amazement at the size of Arenal Volcano, an active volcano, and thankful that we had arrived after seeing it for so long in the distance. After lunch, and a quick nap, we took off for a hike to get a better view of the volcano, and to a lookout where we could see Lake Arenal, an engineered lake that provides electricity to 60% of the country of Costa Rica. The hike took about a half an hour in, and a half an hour out, plus time for photo ops at the ¨mirador.¨ Tired, and with naps on the mind before dinner, Margel, surprised us by saying we were going to stop for an hour in the town of La Fortuna. A cute little town, that is one of the most turistic in the country, we only perused the shops around the central plaza, which of course was located in front of the Catholic Church. A thunder shower, and pouring down rain put an end to our time in the town, although we had all learned early that we must always carry a rain coat with us! Pasta, salad, and garlic bread rounded out the evening, as did many laughs with Brian, a tour guide from Maryland, Mary, my Mom, and I.