Canopy Tour

Ok, so when we decided to come to Costa Rica, one thing that immediately came to my mind was the zip line thing that seems to be a "must do" for tourists here. Neither Isaac nor I was too terribly interested in yelling "pura vida" at the top of our lungs whilst crashing through the forest on a sketchy cable with a dozen other Americanos. When we asked at the front desk of El Silencio what we should do for our day in Arenal though, the answer from Diego (we think he might be the owner) was "Canopy Tour". Without a doubt, he said this was the best thing to do in Arenal. When I suggested that maybe we weren't interested he actually looked a little hurt. After much discussion--there are so many things to do around here-- we decided to take his advice and booked a canopy tour with horseback riding.


Well ladies and gentlemen...we had a blast! First of all, there were 8 people on the tour including ourselves. Four were Ticos (folks from Costa Rica) and the other two were remarkably another couple from Flagstaff! The Ticos were hilarious. They really know how to have fun. There was much whooping and hollering. There wasn't much viewing of wildlife--although apparently others saw a toucan ( I seemed to have missed that one), but I have to say that we had a good time. Sadly, the rain scared Isaac into not bringing his camera. We did buy the CD of pictures from one of our guides, but as our netbook doesn't have a CD-Rom, we can't share them just yet. After about 10 ziplines varying in length from 130m to 980m we went to a little native Maleku thingy-ma-bob. I can't really say a village because it wasn't really a village. It was just a life sized model of a village. After visiting the maleku we hopped on our horses for the craziest trail ride I've ever been on!

The mud was thick and the rocks were quite slippery. I basically gave up trying to guide my horse knowing that she probably knew better than I the best way to get through it all. One of the guides was behind us whooping and swatting at the horses so much that they were trotting much of the time. At one point, my horse found her way on the wrong side of a large log and actually jumped over it. I've never jumped on a trail horse before! We even cantered some--also quite unusual. The whole time these riderless horses were also being rounded and driven by a very vociferous dog. It was quite an adventure! Luckily, we did manage to get a picture of me on the horse--note how well I can use my hands while staying warm!


After the excitement of the morning, we took a mellow stroll through the butterfly and frog sanctuaries on the same property. Isaac caught a few shots of the creatures.



For the evening's activities we decided to visit Baldi Hot Springs for a dip and some dinner. Many of our friends and couchsurfing contacts recommended Baldi as an inexpensive alternative to Tabacon. It is a short walk from our hotel so we booked a "tour" (everything is a tour here--even though we had no guide and walked ourselves).

Baldi is a series of hotsprings ranging in temperature from 156 degrees Fahrenheit to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. There are swim-up bars and water slides and when we arrived, there were lots and lots of people and children. It wasn't exactly what either Isaac nor I had in mind and we found ourselves longing for the serenity of the little hot spring pool at our hotel (neighboring AC unit and all). When we first arrived at the front desk we asked about dinner. The woman told us we could purchase dinner for $9 each. Well dinner was the Costa Rican equivalent of Golden Corral. Ok it wasn't that bad (or that big) but it wasn't good either. It was a buffet in which the attendant told me, "no hay carne" in the Gallo Pinto, but what he meant to say was, "no hay MUCHO carne".

After dinner we were determined to get our money's worth at the hot springs so we went back up the trail. They were much quieter this time and all in all much more pleasant. We had read that the water slides were dangerous and Trip Advisor has some tails of hospital visits, but Isaac managed to try them all without a scratch. I tried all but the most dangerous one and since I didn't drown or come out bleeding, I would say they are fairly safe as well. I felt that the temperatures posted outside the pools were somewhat exaggerated and the feeling was of being caught in a Putt Putt Golf water hazard, but I can see the appeal....in the off season.