We were awake early again today. There is some construction going on nearby and they bring the trucks in early before the park opens. I heard way too many trucks outside my window at 4:00 am today. The owner of the hotel, Mike seems rather annoyed by the situation but there really isn't anything that can be done about it.
Today was the day Dan and the kids have been waiting for, zip lining day! You might remember that last summer we did a short single line zip on top of the Jungfrau. I knew that today was going to be the real deal and much bigger than what we did last summer. Originally I'd planned to zip line during the second part of our trip at Arenal but when I started scheduling things I decided it would work better during our time at Manuel Antonio. Last week I did some quick research on the zip lining companies in the area. On TripAdvisor I came across very favorable reviews of a new zip line company called El Santuario. Their lines opened in November 2012, and all the reviews I read said they were very safety conscious. I decided to trust the reviews and book it. I saved $5 a person by booking online. We paid $70 per person and that included transportation, zip lining, and lunch. I thought the price was very fair.
I booked the early morning tour because it is the rainy season and morning seems to be dryer than later in the day. The van was scheduled to pick us up at 7 am. We checked downstairs last night about breakfast, Mike assured us that even though they don't have the hot food out until 7:45 that there the continental breakfast items would be out before we left.
My dad and the kids headed downstairs to get some breakfast around 6:30. Dan and I took some time to make sure we had everything we needed packed in a backpack. You don't really need to take much with you when you go zip lining, we just took bug spray, sun screen, some $ for a tip, and Dan took his phone and a pouch to secure it. We all headed out front at a few minutes before 7 am to meet the driver, once we got out there we saw all the trucks that we had heard at 4:00 am. The street was a mess, it made me wonder how the driver was going to get down to the hotel. Mike suggested we walk and wait on the other side of the trucks. We did that but then came back to the hotel once one of the trucks moved out of the way. The driver picked us up a few minutes after 7:00 and we were on our way. We stopped at a few more places to pick up some of the guides and other people on our tour. The guides were very friendly and chatty. We learned that today is a holiday in Costa Rica, today they celebrate Guanacaste Day. Gunacaste day is a holiday that celebrates the annexation of Guanacaste from Nicaragua in 1824. The guides were wearing small ribbons the color of the Costa Rican flag in celebration.
The ride to the forest took about 30-40 minutes. Once we arrived they had us sign the waivers and they served fruit and coffee. They had restrooms so we decided it would be a good time to use those, better now than when we were soaring over the rainforest! The sinks outside the bathrooms were really cool!
Look at the cool sink!
My handsome boy ready to go! After the bathroom break we all got dressed in our harnesses and safey gear. The guides were really good about checking and double checking things. They warned us that if anything needed adjusting, we needed to ask them rather than try to adjust things ourselves. After everyone had their gear on we all got back in the van and headed out to the first stop. We had a safety briefing first. One of the guides showed us what to do and what not to do! One of the fabulous things about El Santuario is that they have a non breaking system. You don't have to do any breaking, they have this donut type thing on the line that slows you down before you get to the platform. I was thrilled to know that I wouldn't have to try to stop before I got to a platform. At El Santuario all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride, honestly it is just that easy!
Ready to zip!
Happy kids ready to fly through the airWe headed up the stairs to the first platform. The guides were all very safety conscious, basically you are clipped in to a safety wire at all times when you are climbing or on a platform. I had warned Ali that since she only weighs 50 pounds she would probably have to ride with a guide, she wasn't too thrilled about it but she wanted to go so she agreed. Well I was very surprised when we got to the first line and they sent her alone! She was thrilled and she did great, I honestly never worried that she'd be in danger, I just wasn't sure if she'd weigh enough to make it across on her own. We all (even my dad) made it across the first line with big smiles!
We spent the next couple of hours climbing towers, crossing hanging bridges, and zipping on the 11 lines. Everyone had so much fun! The zipping was the easy part, the climbing stairs and crossing the bridges had me huffing and puffing a bit. I think the humidity was part of it too. It was totally worth it though! Line #7 is the longest in Central America at 1200 meters long, 1200 meters is about 3/4 of a mile. Both kids had to go with a guide on that line, I don't think either of them weighed enough to make it across on their own. It was crazy, in the middle of that line you couldn't see the platform you were going towards or the one you'd left from. The last line is the fastest line they have, it was super fun! My kids both had a blast, by line #4 the guides were showing them how to ride upside down with no hands!
Once we were done with the course we headed back to the start point to have a delicious home cooked lunch! The food was excellent! Everyone was served a plate of chicken, rice, beans, salad, and fried plantains. I asked for mine without chicken and it was no problem at all! I'm pretty sure neither Dan or I had a scrap of food left on our plate at the end of the meal! At lunch we chatted with a young woman who was on the tour alone. My dad learned that she was visiting from Ireland. My dad's parents were Irish immigrants and we've been back to visit relatives in Ireland many times over the years. My dad seemed happy to chat with her and she was very sweet! She is a teacher too so we shared some school stories!
After lunch we headed back to town. We were the first pick up and the last drop off, we got back to the hotel around 12:45. It was a great morning. My mom who had opted not to join us told us about her morning, she did a little bit of shopping at the shops by the beach.
Can you guess what the kids wanted to do when we got back? Why yes of course, they wanted to go to the pool. After we rested for about 30 minutes, Dan took them down to the pool. I headed down a bit later to chat with Dan about the house we have for sale back home. Guess what? You can chat with your realtor even when you are on vacation! My parents joined us a bit later because the ladies wanted to clean our room.
After about 20 minutes a little girl came and joined the kids in the pool, they were happy to have a friend to swim with. She told Connor that she was on a swim team too, so they had some races. While we were chatting Dan noticed something in one of the trees, then all of a sudden we spotted Squirrel Monkeys. There was a group of 8-10 of them jumping around the trees by the pool. They were adorable, they are so much fun to watch! The girls brother joined in the fun too when the monkeys arrived, the four kids ended up swimming for well over an hour!
Our visitor at the pool
Kids in the pool watching the Squirrel MonkeysTonight we had our first taste of the Costa Rican "rainy season." A huge thunderstorm came through while we were at dinner by the beach. It was fun to watch and the waves were huge. We had great pizza and gelato and watched the storm. Coming back to the hotel in the rain was a bit of an adventure, luckily we'd grabbed 3 umbrellas on our way out. The hotel has a bunch of umbrellas for guests to use right near the gate. We made it back in one piece and had a quiet night in the room to end our great day!
The deer was by the pool on the way to dinner
Watching the rain and the waves at dinner
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment