Canyoning

Today we all got up bright and early to start our exciting day of canyoning and hiking to the Arenal volcano! We first had a delicious breakfast our hotel provided for us which was fruit, eggs, pancakes, etc... Priscilla then directed us to the bus that would be driving us to the canyoning site. The drive was about 30 minutes. Once we arrived at the site we got into our proper gear and listened to the safety instructions. After listening to our guide’s instruction we hiked two minutes to the first rappel down which was 120 ft. We were not the only group who went canyoning; another ISA group went which made it 60 people total. The wait for the first rappel felt like the anticipation of the drop of a roller coaster. Most of the girls were pretty nervous once they saw how far down it was; however, once we were securely fastened into the ropes the real adventure begun! After the first rappel we were pumped for the other 4 rappels that waited for us. We all got soaked while we rappelled straight down a waterfall. It was an amazing experience! Our first drop was the highest while the second one was half of the first and the third was about 90 ft and the last was only about 50 ft. After completing all four rappels we hiked for about 20 minutes uphill to the trucks waiting to take up back to the site for lunch which we had rice and chicken.

Once we all returned to our hotel we had three hours to relax and hangout until our next excursion to the volcano. Despite our three hour break, we were all still exhausted for our next excursion. However, we went with the best attitude possible! On the way to the site we stopped twice to see a sloth and a toucan.

Sarah was most excited because she loves sloths and she really wanted to see one before we left! After about a 20 min drive we finally started our hike. On the way, we encountered a leaf that closed when touched as a defense mechanism. Also, we saw a snake that scurried across the path and not to mention a bunch of spiders! Once we reached the top of the lava fields the view was beautiful! We saw a lake and got a better view of the volcano with smoke coming out. Overall both experiences were great and I can’t wait to see what Manuel Antonio had to offer!