Day 7 - January 29 - Part 1: Birthday Tropical Hike

Today I woke up with a pep in my step and a big smile for it was my day of birth. My favorite holiday of the year. :) Today was going to be a full day. Ana and me had buffet style breakfast at the Arenal Paraiso... Then we headed off for our tropical hike.

According to the map of the facilities there was a trail that lead to a river and a waterfall. Ana and I followed the signs to the trail. It had been raining on and off that day, but the trail was under trees so we were covered. I did say hike right? Well it was more like doing some canyoning. The trail was a steep decent through a narrow path full of wet rocks and trees. At first Ana and I were like "heck no this trail is too messed up to go down." Furthermore, the thought of climbing back up would have been semi-rock climbing so we turned around. I know I wanted to be extreme, but I did not want to be over the top. We ran into a group doing canopy in the same forest and the guide told us that it wasn't that bad, just 100 meters down to the river. He then told us that we could hike along the river to the main road and come back that way instead of climbing back up. With renewed confidence we headed back down the trail. It was fun. Some jumping, some scaling of rocks, and pushing through some brush, but we reached a small stream at the bottom where we could hear the roar of the river not too far off. Ana stayed behind while I scouted things out since the trail pretty much ended at the stream. I went bounding down the stream til I came out right at the river. There was no way we could hike the side of the river unless we wanted to swim up it and with all the rain it was firce looking so I headed back to report to Ana.

We decided to go upstream instead. It was a little wet, but we finally came to a wider trail so we knew we were on the right path. After a little bit on the trail we came upon an waterfall! We did not think we were going to see one so we were overjoyed. Yeah! We continued up the trail which was really a road up hill. We were somewhat on a time line since we had to check out so we jogged some of it. Whew what a work out, but well worth it with all the nature around us. We hit a main road and luckily a tour bus gave us a ride to the next main road which saved us probably 20 minutes on foot. Then we hoofed it down the main road to make it back ontime for check out. We reached the front gates at 11:57. Not bad at all. Then up to our room where I cleaned up and got ready for part 2 at the Tabacon....