Boat Ride to Monteverde

The tour group was transported on a short bus ride to a boat where we needed to go across in order to pick up another bus to head to Monteverde.  The view was awesome, and there were alot of people on the boat. We met some really great people going across.

Deserted house on the hill

Once we arrived to the other side we were picked up by a van and had another 2 hour drive to Monteverde.  It seemed very quick, the roads were quite rocky, but the view was enjoyable and you could see the Arenal Volcano from a distance.

Desafio Zip Lining In La Fortuna

Once I was picked up at the Hotel, I met a very nice family from Washington D.C. who were in Costa Rica on vacation.  The kids had never been ziplining before, but they were not scared at all.  The driver took us through a road that wasn't that far from my hotel.  We went to a destination that was in the middle of the forest.  When we arrived we got all geared up for ziplining, the instructor explained all the instructions and safety tips, told us how many obstacles there would be and how long the ziplines were.

Gettin all geared up

Me and the instructor

After we got all geared up we all sat on the back of a pickup truck and the driver drove us to our zipline destination.

We had a bit of a hike on our way to the first zipline.  On the way to the first obstacle we saw wild turkeys running.  It was awesome.  I attempted to take pictures of them, but they got scared and ran off.

Our first obstacle was fairly short and slower paced.  As we went through each obstacle the zipline got longer and faster.

What a great day in the forest ziplining.  I am so glad I got the chance to check this activity out.  The company that provided this activity, also provided the canyoning/waterfall repelling as well.  The owner and managers did an excellent job training their staff and making sure that the activity is safe and secure for people to use.  If you decide to travel to Costa Rica, make sure you consider using Desafio Tours as a company.

Waterfall Repelling

For those of you out there who have never done this before, don't psych yourselves out.  Just go with it, don't have high or low expectations.  My opinion is that if you watch the video it will just scare you, so just go and do the activity.  I was very anxious to get through the first repel.  Unfortunately, I chose to be second to last in line to do the repel.  Bad idea if you are trying to get through the first obstacle.  I wasn't scared at all surprisingly.  You have to hike through rocks and water through each canyon to repel.  I expected to go through waterfalls but we did not do that.  All of the instructors were very nice and informative.  The company used for this activity is called Desafio Tours check them out. They are great!!

Ahh Back To Civilization in La Fortuna

We arrived in La Fortuna to a nice hotel right in town.  There were lots of little souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, etc.  We had the rest of the day to ourselves to do what we liked.  We stopped over to the Desafio Activities office to discuss options for everyone to do different activities for while we were in La Fortuna.

Front View Of The Hotel

Hotel Lobby

Main Town of La Fortuna

Once we got to the hotel and got settled, some of the group went to a place called hot springs.  The resort had a variety of different pools that had all different temperatures in each one.  Some were very hot and had water slides, others were cooler and had water slides.  There was a bar in the middle of the hottest pool.  They served pina coladas in an actual pineapple.  They were delicious.

We stayed for a couple hours in the pool and then headed over for dinner at the included resort restaurant.  It was a buffet style dinner.  Surprise Surprise we had Costa Rican food.  Ha ha.

Main Entrance to the Front Desk

Restaurant

Bar

Would You Like Some Sugar Cane with Your Coffee?

                 On our way to La Fortuna, we stopped at a Coffee Plantation, Soap and Jewelery Store

                                                Started with a Coffee Tour at Mi Cafecito

Coffee Bean Before Its Peeled

Coffee Tree

Huge Beetle

Roasted Coffee Beans

                                                                 Bring On The Sugarcane

Sugarcane Juice Crusher

Cheers Ladies

Pieces of cut sugarcane



Never forget the beans and rice

My German eating a tasteful lunch

                                      Onto the last destination, Soap, Jewelery, and more...............

Handmade Jewelery

Different Scented Soap Display

The German Pouring Soap Molds

The expert finishing the molds