We did a zipline tour in Mexico a few years back, so we kind of knew what to expect, though we also knew every one is different. But this one blew the one in Mexico away! First, it started with a 30 minute horseback ride to the top of the mountain. It also had more cables, plus two rappelling lines, and a suspension bridge. To top that off, we took a break in the middle where we could swim in a pool at the base of one of the 11 waterfalls we crossed. I personally took full advantage of this - it was a great way to cool off! Plus, it's cool to say you swam in a waterfall. But the ziplining, itself, was great - it was over twenty cables long, so it was an all day thing, followed by a lunch provided by the adventure company that we did the tour with. And it wasn't just a box lunch of something... it was a full on meal. Again, another awesome meal! Did I mention Eric LOVES plantains and they're served with almost every meal??We took it easy that night. The ziplining actually wore us out pretty good, but it was absolutely perfect! It turned out that we missed a drenching downpour at the hotel - we barely had a drizzle at the very end of our canopy tour up in the mountains. So it was a good day to be away from the hotel.
But we finally we able to watch a sunset at the hotel, and it was a beautiful one! It seems like the sun disappeared in seconds once it started going down. But the colors were amazing every night. We actually ate dinner at the hotel's buffet that night, as well. They definitely had the food pegged!I guess as we looked around, they were still cooking for the majority of nationals that were there - it wasn't quite 'season' yet for tourism, as the wet season was just coming to an end. But I was honestly surprised at how many non-international tourists were there. We really only saw 'tourists' on our excursions!On Tuesday, we did our own excursion again, this time a little further south to one of the national parks - Manuel Antonio National Park. This was THE park to go to for wildlife per all the tourbooks. At least along the west coast. It was about a 2 hour drive, so we tried to get as early of a start as we could, which was still later than we wanted. But we also made an additional stop along the way... when we went to Jaco, we noticed a crowd parking next to a bridge and walking to the middle of it, looking down.
It wasn't just a rare instance - it was constant. They even had a policeman at one end to help control traffic. So we were curious. We stopped on our way to Manuel Antonio Park, and not to surprising, it was crocodiles that were intriguing everyone. Not just a few... probably about 20 of them! Just sitting on some high areas in the river, sunning themselves. Eric and I couldn't, for the life of us, figure out what f=drew them to the bridge. The only thing we could figure was they were soothed by the sound of the traffic. There were other sandbars further out with none at all, so unless they get fed by locals, who knows?After that worthwhile stop, we got back on the road for the remainder of out drive. We passed through a Black African Palm Oil Ranch, which we didn't actually know it was that until later in the week. Just row and rows and acres and acres of obviously planted palm trees with some sort of harvesting facility in the middle. Then we finally made it to the little town, Quepos, just outside of the park entrance and headed up the winding road that ended at the park.
We thought about hiring a guide for just a moment, but then decided to go at it on our own, which turned out to be a good call. There were so many that DID have tour guides that all you had to do was stop when you saw a group of people stopped and someone, usually the guide, would point out the animal they were looking at. Along the main path there were a few monkeys and quite a few sloths. At least on the way in. On the way out we saw, of all things, a deer. And some other animal we're still trying to figure out... guess that's where a guide would've come in handy. I think the highlight (besides the monkeys on the beach) were the Toucans we saw on the way out! A guide was stopped with some people and pointed it out. He said seeing them is always a rarity... and we saw two as we left! A very pretty bird!Regardless, Eric and I thought the best part was the beaches at the end of the trail - one on either side of the peninsula the park was on.
Yet and FOURTH type of beach. This one was comprised of the soft, white sane that everyone has come to expect. No rocks, no seaweed, just a beautiful beach in a cove with no commercial development to be seen. I wanted to stay here for awhile... a LONG while! We both agreed that if we make it back to Costa Rica, these beaches, alone, are worth spending a day at. Unfortunately, they kick you out of the park just before sunset. We took some pictures at the beach outside of the park, first, and then drove a bit and then watched the sunset at the top of the mountain between Quepos and the park and watched it form an open air restaurant with a cargo plane in it. Another beautiful sunset...
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