Day 1:
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| photo of frog courtesy of Noa P. |
We woke up early and enjoyed a relaxed breakfast. We ate gallo pinto, a traditional Costa Rican breakfast that would become a staple of our diet for the rest of the trip. After fueling up, we went to Cerro Chato to hike the inactive volcano, overly confident that this
hike would be easy enough. It was a steep climb through the muddy rain forest with
roots coming out in every direction. Needless to say, it was very challenging. We hiked quickly and exhausted early. We
reached the top after 2 hours and met a few people on the Red Lava day tour. We continued on to a steep climb/mudslide down to the lagoon in the crater of the volcano. After at most 10 meters, we get stuck on the slippery slope and decide to follow our
new friends’ tour guide down to the lake. We dipped in the water, rinsing off some of the mud on our
bodies and ate lunch and relaxed. We quickly made lots of friends and decide that we are probably the most popular people in the tour group. We discovered that they are heading to the waterfall next, which was our next stop as
well so we decided to stick with the tour. The tour guide didn't realize that we were additions to the group and somehow started counting us in the group and we didn't stop him. We didn’t see much wildlife on the hike (except a relative of a raccoon
which was actually pretty cute and unafraid of humans) but the vegetation was
beautiful and lush.
We swam in waterfall, which was cold but refreshing and incredibly beautiful. Next, we followed the tour to a frog park and saw the coolest frog ever that
looked like a child colored it in. It had blue arms and legs with red hands and
feet, red eyes and a green back with polka dotted sides and a white underbelly.
7 colors in all.
At that point, it was getting dark and we decided to cab
back to the hotel for dinner. We tipped the tour guide and explained that we
weren’t part of his tour but enjoyed it. He was very confused and taken aback
that we weren’t actually on his tour. After recovering from the shock, he
invited us to finish the tour with the group. They were heading to a hot spring
and then returning the passengers to their respective hotels and said they would drop us off too.
The hot spring was the one that the locals frequent. They told us to leave
our clothing, shoes, wallets, and everything else on the bus and just wear a bathing
suit. We were a little weirded out by the instructions but did as they said and walked down a dark path to a stream. Some people had flashlights and head lamps and candles. Following the stream, we walked through a sketchy tunnel covered in graffiti and on the other side were tons of people all
facing the same way as if watching a movie but instead were sitting in the dark
in a hot, fast moving stream – the hot spring! We found seats with our new friends Megan and Matt and the tour
guides came around with cocktails and volcano mud to give everyone facials.
Eventually we got back on the bus and the guides passed
around the remaining vodka and people downed it right from the bottle (germs, ick). Our hotel was
super close to the hot spring and before we knew it they called our names and
we departed the best accidental tour.
Day 2:
We loaded the bus for canyoning (if you aren't familiar, that is rappelling down water fall)
and got the feeling that everyone on the bus already knew each other. Turns out
there was 2 groups on the tour besides us: A bachelor party and 2 British
families who incidentally are very Jewish.
The excursion was daring and really fun. We jumped off platforms
into streams, waterfalls and at ties just the abyss below. We did a 25 meter
controlled “free fall,” head-first into water, crossed a hanging bridge, zip-lined across the rain forest canopy, and swung between rock walls on a Tarzan
swing. Our new friends promised to send us their go-pro footage of us so stay tuned for that.
In the
afternoon, we went zip lining. We both started the activity a bit put off by
the tour: It felt like a factory with tons of people arriving to zip line and
they tried to up-sell us to buy pictures before the excursion began. However, it
wasn’t long before we completely changed our minds. The first 4 zip lines were
over 100 meters each. They were longer, faster, and higher than any other zip
lines we had done before. Apparently those were just the “practice” lines. The
next 8 zip lines continued to amaze us. We saw 2 different waterfalls, and the
vast rain forest from way up high, shooting through the wind to the next
platform. The longest zip was 1 kilometer and took about 60 seconds to cross.
It started pouring rain in the middle (welcome to Costa Rica). It was still
beautiful but it became much harder to see and pretty painful to ride since the rain hit our faces and bodies pretty hard. At one point, I
was about to jump off a platform and there was a flash of lightning and the
guide grabs me back from the edge and urgently tells me NOT to touch the metal. After a
few seconds of standing frozen on the edge of a platform, hundreds of feet
above the forest floor, he screams “go now” and pushes me into the open air
with rain pelting me in every direction. It was terrifying but exhilarating.
Oh, and we were adopted by 2 really awesome older women whom we became
great friends with throughout the afternoon. The women were part of a group of
6 women in their 60s and 70s: 3 couples who are best friends and who have
traveled together for 16 years in a row. They recently married when same sex
marriage became legal in DC. Somehow it came out that they are also pretty
Jewish and met at a Gay/Lesbian pluralistic synagogue in DC. At the end of the tour, we stopped in a Maleko hut/tourist
trap and then hopped on horses for a ride in the pouring rain to the base of
the mountain.
Back at the hotel, we were wet and freezing so we changed
into bathing suits and warmed up in the hot springs at the hotel.
Day 3:
Today, we went rafting on the Balsa River. On the way to the river, we stopped off at a fruit strand pit-stop where we met up with our
British-Israeli friends from yesterday. I bought a coconut and drank the milk
through a straw straight from the fruit! Delicioso!
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| Coconut drink in hand |
We arrived at the river and were divided up into rafts. We
were put with a family of 4, who happened to be Israeli. The guide practiced
his Hebrew by shouting his only Hebrew word (“Kadima”) in between instructions
and calls of “Pura Vida” – our signal to turn our paddle tips in to the center
of the boat in a group high-five and scream “Pura Vida!” This is the Tico
motto and literally means "pure life" but essentially means Akuna Matata. Once we got the river commands down and started chatting, the the Israelis promptly told us that
Aliza (my Hebrew name) is actually a terrible name and in fact, is the name of every
housekeeper in Israel. I guess if medicine doesn't work out, I know what else I can do.
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| Tabacon Hot Springs |
The rapids were class II and III and were a lot of fun! In
the pictures that the photographer got of us, we are looking petrified in each
one. At the end of the tour, they took us to lunch and gave us a demonstration
of how sugar cane is processed and we tasted raw sugar cane, which was
surprisingly only mildly sweet.
The bus dropped us off at the Tabacon Hot Springs, which was
possibly the most beautiful, relaxing and romantic place I have been. There was a maze of hot springs set in this exquisite and lush environment. It periodically started
pouring rain suddenly and then stopped gradually. The rain here is frequent but
it is so fast and commonplace that nobody seems affected by it at all. You just
get wet and continue what you’re doing.
After relaxing in the hot springs (which soothed our sore muscles), we headed upstairs for a
buffet dinner. It was incredible to finally have a meal that consisted of more
than rice, beans, avocado, and plantains!
The other exciting part of the day, which has nothing to do
with the trip, is that today, August 10, 2015, the Schlussel clan grew by 1!
The sweet Mr. Riley Oliver Schlussel arrived at 695 and is definitely looking
forward to meeting his big sister next week.
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| Riley Schlussel |
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