Canyoneering Costa Rica & Nature Hike

Lauren showing off her skills

It was another full day. The canyoneering adventure took up most of the morning. This is one of the best canyoneerings possible in Costa Rica. Along with the 150ft waterfalls, pools up to your chest, and four young Australian dudes you can imagine it was a great way to spend an anniversary.

After the canyoneering we made our way over to the Danaus Nature Reserve. The first thing we learned is that Danaus is not an indigenous name but it is a type of butterfly here in Costa Rica. This is because Diego was with us and he knew the answers that Tom did not know along with the ones Tom would make up when he didnt know. Diego did a great job and Lauren was even able to knock on a hollow tree.
Another highlight of the nature hike was learning that a bird the Manakin actually does a moon-walk to impress the ladies.

Hunter in a photo shoot for Outdoor Magazine

The New 5th member of the family

After the nature hike we made our way to the damn and saw a girl dancing in the back of a pick up truck. We learned about the Monteverde Cloud-forest on the other side of the lake and then made our way back to town and sat in the park and visited the church. After visiting the church we went to Las Brasalitos where we had dinner and enjoyed some of Costa Rica's finest television events. The first being the national soccer championship between Alajuela and Heredia (Alajuela won on penalty kicks) and the other being the end of the year bingo! This was a bingo like none other. I would of thought they were going to announce that they found aliens on Mars and they had come to visit us with a new type of Pozuelo cookie. But no it was just your average lottery.

Helicopter Ride with Hintenlang's!!!

Arrive, Sleep, Drive, Waterfall, Volcano, Helicopter!!!

Laura & Tom in the Helicopter

Of all the trips I have done over the last 10 years I have to say that this just might be one of the best days. The fact that the volcano was clear and we went up in a helicopter sure helped but also the 2am airport pick up and then off on the road by 9am let me know that the pace of the trip was going to be full and I picked the right trip to guide this holiday season.

The ride in the car was 3 hours of curvy mountain roads as we picked the cloud-forest route to drive through. It was the San Lorenzo Cloud-Forest. We arrived to La Fortuna around 11:30am where we got some lunch and unfortunately we did not take pictures of the food but I am almost sure that Kate will be before the end of the trip. Laura and Hunter were a little quiet in the car and during lunch. When we showed up to the waterfall hike I think it got them going. They climbed every single rock, boulder, and even noticed that at some point the rocks will fall on everyones head and it just worked out nice that it was  not yesterday.

Kate not seeing the Volcano we are about to hit

The volcano was clear almost all day and after the waterfall we went back to the Nayara Resort where Kate mentioned that she can see why people decide to stay in the rooms and rest but that was not enough for the Hintenlang's. They took a siesta of around 30 seconds and then we were off to find our next adventure. I had know idea what we were about to do was something I had never done and one of my best experiences of my life (No, I am not talking about eating Pozuelo cookies), I am talking about going up in a helicopter on clear day to see the volcano and Cerro Chato and the Arenal Lake that is on the other side of the volcano. Laura got lucky and was able to ride in the helicopter twice and even saw an amazing sunset.


After the helicopter ride we made our way to Don Rufino's where we were able to eat some steak. We even got David to try some ceviche during our meal which is raw fish cooked in lemon juice. After waiting 30 minutes for the check, seeing a line of over 20 people at the door, just your average meal in the no rush lifestyle of Latin America.