After a road trip from Atenas, a little town we stayed in for a night, we arrived at the Costa Verde Hotel. It is a regular hotel, with a couple of pools, a big hotel building, and a couple smaller cabins, but the twist is that there are two airplanes that you can stay in. The one that we booked, the 727, was an entire plane, with two rooms at either side, two bathrooms, a deck opposite the entrance, a small kitchen, and a little living room. It was more or less like a hotel room, except longer and rounded, but the bathroom in one room had the cockpit that you could climb into, with pilot seats, and the other side’s bathroom had a view of the tail holes were the propellers and engines used to reside. It was a nice place, and the room Daisy and I stayed in reminded us both of the Titanic. The property was also nice, it had several pools, restaurants near it, and a host of animals including black toucans with big yellow beaks and green eyes, and tiny squirrel monkeys that we spotted. I throughly enjoyed our stay!
Tag Archives: Featured
Horsebacking in Arenal
Waking up early again! I swear we wake up early almost every day. This time I’m quite excited about our activity- We are riding horses to a waterfall (Next to a volcano Anyways, a shuttle bus pickes Mom, Xander, Sal, and Me up at our hotel, and drives us to a farm type. We check-in , then we go find our horses. We see our potential horses, and a our guide gives us helmets, and then gives me a big brown one. It’s the biggest one there, and I am doubtful. I find out that her name is “Meriposa” which means butterfly.
When we are all on our horses, we start off towards the waterfall. The ride is quite uneventful, but our horses very competitive so whenever another horse starts trotting, the rest trot to. Meriposa and I were in the lead most of the time, and Mom’s horse, Chowbella, was very aggressive. Chowbella bit Sal’s horse, which made it rear up a bit. Also, whenever we go on a bridge they started running. It is very odd.
After about thirty minutes, we come across a small gated in area. We dismount, and our guide led our horses in the gated area. We then proceeded to walk down a hill and change into our bathing suits, after enjoying a view of a far off waterfall. As we walked down another hill, it became much steeper, and there were stairs. After about a ten minute walk down steep steep stairs, we came across a river. We have to cross the river to see the other waterfall, so Xander and I started to wade across. It is numbingly cold. It was so so freezing. But we have to wade if we wanted to see the waterfall, so Xander and I hobbled across the river, then Mom, then Sal.
We walk up some stairs, then I see the waterfall. It is a majestic mix of light blue, white foam, and teal. It is crashing down very hard, and looks very deadly. Xander, Mom, And I walk out on some rocks near the waterfall as Sal takes some pictures. I enjoyed it for a while, until I decide to go swim. Bad choice. I spend about a half an hour doing this; Trying to step on fish, Throwing rocks at Xander and fish, and not swimming. To cold. We then have to walk back up the steep stairs, and by the time I have gotten to the top, I am super tired. We then all changed back into our clothes, then got back on the horses.
The ride back is still pretty uneventful. It consists off trotting, and possibly even cantering. Overall, the entire horseback experience I love. I have ridden horses before, but I have always been scared of trotting. This helped me enjoy trotting more. At the end, I am sad to go, yet also glad, since I am so tired.
La Arribada of Turtles
Yesterday, our favorite taxi driver from Monteverde drove us four hours away to a coastal town called Ostional so we could witness the monthly arribada of Olive Ridley turtles. We had been following the Ostional Guides’ Facebook page to find out when exactly this would start and arranged with the taxi driver to take us the day after it began. (Let’s just spend a second to appreciate that fact – a normal, everyday taxi driver that drove us to our favorite taco joints and bakeries for the weeks we were in Monteverde also readily agreed to drive us to a town four hours away. This is a common thing here and it is so. great. Personalized shuttle service, basically.)
Zipline!
Mum woke Xander and I up at 6:15. We had breakfast, then walked up the long hill to get to a nearby hotel, because that’s were the van would pick us up. The van then got us, and took a few more stops until about an hour later he dropped us all off. A man called out some words in Spanish, then some in English. We then spilt into groups. English speaking, and Spanish speaking. The English speaking man pointed to reception. While mum signed in, Xander and I sat down. I looked over and saw a cute ginger cat sitting on a sofa in the reception area. Xander and I pet it, and then it went on Xander’s lap. Xander pet it for a little, then gave the cat to me. It started to climb up my back, but then fell on my lap . I pet it some more, then we got to go put our gear on.
A man helped me gear up. I got gloves, a harness, a helmet, and a metel thing. We waited in line on some stairs. I thought it was going to lead to another check-in, but it led to our first zip line. I was nervous, because you had to break yourself. I didn’t break. I ended up slamming into the man, but he caught me. He then hooked me up to the next one, and I was off. I braked to early this time. It was fine, and another man hooked me up to a rope next to a classic storybook wood bridge dangling over the forest floor. It was quite high up, and very shaky. Xander had been waiting for Mom and I, but she was a little far behind. Suddenly, I saw mom zip closer to the platform that connected to the bridge. She braked, and the man hooked her up to the bridge. Xander and I then started walking. Mom was a little slower then us, for reasons unknown. ( There were men at the end of each zipline, who unhooked you, then hooked you up to a different zipline.)
They hooked Xander up to another long one, and sent Xander off. Then it was my turn to whizz through the trees. It was the first long and high one, and we ended up at another zilpline. This one was two in one. I thought the second one was optional, but if I said no, we would all have to turn back. The first one I was attached to something then had the option to be lowered down slow, fast or medium. I chose slow, and then at the end I switched to fast. Really gets the adrenaline pumping. Then I climbed back up to a very high platform, and watched Xander fly across a very tall valley. This was the first hardcore zipline. It was probably 350ft in the air, and about one minute long. They hooked me up, and sent me off. It was so windy! It also was kinda rainy. I could barley see, but I could tell it was incredibly breathtaking.
A golfcart came over at the platform at the other side of the zip line. Xander, Mom, And I got in, and it drove up the steep hill, then we got out and walked up the hill a little more. We came to a little service tent, and got some water. This was a special zipline, where you got a harness that allowed you to fly like Superman. We watched them hook up a man with a said harness. Xander and I went towards it, thinking it was Xander’s turn, but the worker said that we were to light, and we couldn’t Superman. They ended up hooking Xander and I together and asking us to hold each other’s rope. They told us to lean back, and pushed us off the platform. We whizzed through the trees together, over the same valley, but much higher. They stopped us on the other platform, and hooked us up to another one. It was slanting down, and we did the same setup for it. It took us to a platform, where they took off the metal contraption that hooked us to the zipline wires, and gave it to us.
We then walked down to a thing called the “Tarzan Swing”, where we waited in line, and we hooked ourselves up one by one on a white rope. The white rope was connected to a high rickety bridge. Xander went first, and then it was my turn. I whatched Xander walk off a 40ft tall platform, and swing up an down, and IMMEDIATELY PANICKED. I just full on chickened out. I figured I would get another chance when Sal (My Moms Friend) came. I was just doing that to justify my chickening. I then whatched my mother plumet to her demise. That’s what sealed the “I’m not doing that” deal. I do not regret it.
Sadly, that was the end of our zipping parade. I waited a few minutes before seeing Mom and Xander come up, and then we started walking towards the exit. I stripped of my sweaty and wet gear, then tried to pet the same ginger cat, just to be rejected. The cat was very hyper. We clambered onto the shuttle, and went back to our little house.
Zip lining
Today we went zip lining, and it was amazing! Continue reading Zip lining
The Coatmundi
The coatmundi is an animal that we see a lot in Costa Rica, that is a medium sized mammal that looks like an anteater-raccoon mix. They are about three feet long, weigh from 10-15 pounds fully grown, and they can live about seven years in the wild, but fourteen in captivity. They are omnivores, their diet consists of eggs, fruits, inbertibaes, and even small birds and animals. The coatmundi is one of the more famous Costa Rican animals, and we saw them a lot in our backyard in Monteverde.
How to Do a 7-hour Road Trip in 12 Hours Flat
The mission today was to get from Drake Bay – far, far south down the Pacific coast – to Monteverde, a tiny enclave in the mountains of central Costa Rica. Continue reading How to Do a 7-hour Road Trip in 12 Hours Flat
Night walk
When we where in Drake Bay, one night I went on a night hike. Continue reading Night walk
My First Snorkel
We went snorkeling today. It was so beautiful and amazing! Continue reading My First Snorkel
Pigeons and Panaderias
Today we woke up and walked to a panadería, which is a bakery. Continue reading Pigeons and Panaderias