Day 5 of Tweetfest: Costa Rica Style
Last updated: Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Ahhhh….I awoke refreshed yet again. I gotta say, these active days truly make you feel like you have earned your night’s sleep and ensures that your body really shuts down to recoup during those blessed well earned sleeping hours.
To my pleasure, Arenal sent her morning greetings as I rose from my warm bed. She doesn’t even seem to mind that we changed our dwelling just a little to her east.
After I woke the rest of the family, we headed over to El Selencio’s incredibly inviting dining area.
I walked in and despite the very roomy seating options, I immediately felt as though I were walking into a family kitchen. Rustic but inviting tables lined both sides of the eatery. Large windows on all walls ensured a gorgeous view of this beautiful escape.
We ordered our meal and sat back with a cup of genuine Costa Rica coffee. This stuff put Juan Valdez to shame and is just the right medicine to get us energized for our big day.
Today is Day 1 of TweetFest Adventures.
But before our adventure begins, we dig into our loaded plates of amazingly fresh fruit, of which the mango hints of coffee as you devour it. Our made to order omelets are overflowing with peppers, onions, mushrooms, heart of palm and ham.
Let me just say that the food in this country puts anything you can buy in the states to shame. I have NEVER tasted fruits and vegetables with so much flavor in all of my life (and I’m a farm girl who used to eat food straight out of my Dad’s garden and fields).
As we ate our bountiful meal, I notice a stoutly bush just to the outside of our eatery windows. This bush is about 4 feet high and doesn’t have much to speak of in ways of vegetation. But, man oh man - it didn’t need it.
All of the gorgeous birds that we admired just the day before were adorning this bush. There were dozens swooping in to take their turn at this rustic perch.
Lee pointed out to me that the staff had evidently placed fruit on this tree to attract the birds. And boy did it work!
Apparently our fine feathered beauties enjoyed the local fresh fruit as much as we did. And we enjoyed their spectacular flurry of dining as well.
Soon our latest feast was done and it was time to load up for our adventure.
Today we went white water rafting.
Now, as many of you know, Lee loves the water. He would rather be out on a boat than pretty much anywhere else, if truth be told. BUT, what many of you may not know is that Lee can’t swim.
He knows HOW to swim…heck, he even taught both of our kids how to conquer this skill. There is just something in him that doesn’t allow him to pull it off. Even lessons lead by one beautiful instructor didn’t do the trick. I guess he was destined to sink or wear a life vest for the rest of his days.
Today Lee was about to realize one of his life’s “to do’s” by
See, it has always been a wish of Lee’s to go shooting down a cool river, paddling through each obstacle with confidence and skill. To raise his paddle in the air as a show of victory for taking on that category 4 drop that had overturned so many previous attempts.
Sink or swim…Lee was in!
We all loaded up in the TweetFest van and headed to the beckoning challenge.
As we wound through the paved and gravel roads of this paradise, we caught glimpses of the river. Bubbling and white with power, rolling over the ever changing rocky bottom that Arenal provides after each days rains.
I glanced over at Lee and he looked excited. I’ll be honest and admit that I expected to see a little nerves showing through his usual cool demeanor.
Not even a hint of discomfort showed on his handsome face.
We pulled up to a road side shack brimming with fresh local fruits, drinks and other local options. And most importantly, bathrooms. This was our last stop before we commit to hours raging down this gorgeous river and I for one didn’t want to have to stop to tinkle in the jungle.
We were joined by our head guide, Danny, earlier in the journey. It was at this road side stop that Danny revealed his abundant knowledge of the local bounty.
He walked me over to a tree on the opposite side of the road and pulled a fruit from a gorgeously green tree. The fruit was the size of a man’s hand in length and was about 6 inches round.
Danny pulled off the outer shell of the fruit and explained that this was Cocoa fruit. I will admit that the thought of sampling raw cocoa sounded pretty damn good to me.
That was until I saw the fruit. The fruit consisted of rows upon rows of little white pieces stuck to each other with some unknown compound. This white was the fruit and encased in each piece was a cocoa seed.
Danny offered me a sample and I cringed when I pulled the single piece from the hive of cocoa. It was white, slimy to the touch and sticky.
Imagine what you might think of how an eyeball feels as it is pulled from the socket, like in an old scary movie as the bad guy slowly tortures his captive. That sound that you are hearing right now in your head is the sound I heard as I plucked my bite from the fruit.
The pulling deed being done, I courageously plopped the peice into my mouth. It felt slimy, but as I sort of sucked on the fruit, my mouth was filled with wonderous sweetness.
It was amazing and I was very happily surprised.
I don’t know that I would dine on a plate of this strange fruit, but I certainly would taste it again and encourage you to as well. So weird…but so good.
As if this cocoa fruit wasn’t weird enough, May (Nico’s girlfriend) offers me a new fruit.
This one is about the size of a golf ball, but is red and orange. It has what appears to be a prickly covering that makes me think of the hair on a character out of Fraggle Rock, but it isn’t hard or stiff. It is instead soft and flexible to the touch.
May shows me how to break open this soft outside covering to reveal a fruit on the inside. I am totally not surprised to find that this fruit is also white, sticky and a little squishy. Again, just as I would envision an eye ball. Bluck!
But, after the delectable surprise of the cocoa fruit, I decided to be adventurous and plop this fruit casually into my mouth. This time the taste is both sweet and tart. It made me think of what a grape and a granny smith apple combination fruit would taste like.
Delicious (and still incredibly weird)
Soon it was time to load back up and approach our final leg of this van trip to the entry point for the river rafting.
Danny provided us with an incredibly detailed 20 minute
So much information and my heart is racing as I felt the pressure of actually beginning to take on this challenge.
I looked over to Lee and I thought that I saw a small glimpse of nerves in his eyes. But his smile soon extinguished my concern.
And then it’s time to board our rafts.
Lee, Nico, Colton, Athena and myself climb aboard our vessle with our guide. We weren’t lucky enough to get Danny as our guide or even the really beautiful Tico girl. They were assigned to the other rafts.
But our guide appeared to be very cool and laid back. This was gonna be awesome!
After a few moments of going over the guide’s last minute instructions, we were off.
That first few minutes we dove right into a stretch of really white and aggressive rapids.
Our raft dove deep into the river and bounced back up with absolutely
My whole body tingled from the adrenaline and I was grinning the widest grin possible. Riding those rapids right out of the gate like that was incredible.
In my euphoric daze, I nearly neglected making eye contact with Lee. I wanted him to look me in the eye to let me know that he was cool with all of this.
Lee smiled, but it was a bit hesitated. I think he was a little freaked out, but he cowboyed up and we headed on down the river.
We continued to snake our way down this most gorgeous of rivers, enjoying both the level 3 (holy shit) rapids and as well as some incredibly lazy and smooth moments.
I think these smooth moments really gave us something to measure our courageousness against.
I mean, if all we did was tackle the white water with no easing of momentum, we may not have had the opportunity to reflect (ever so swiftly) on what we had just accomplished.
And my beloved Lee hung in there.
level 1 = smoooth river, very easy level, no risk
So our journey on the river consisted of everything up to a level 3 for the most part.
But, as our guide shared with us, this river changed with each rain as the rushing waters brought in new debris and relocated the many boulders from Arenal’s bosom.
As if to strike this point home with startling clarity, our guide shared
We were given the opportunity to take on this challenge or to get out of the raft and walk around it.
Although we had already tackled some pretty tough spots, Lee and I decided to walk around. After all, who wants to risk an injury on Day 1?
Lee & I de-boarded our raft and made our way across a boulder filled field to the next lull in the river where we were to join back up with our comrades after they took on Level 4.
Looking around the bend in the river to witness this Level 4 drop sent chills up my spine. It was at least 10 feet tall with boiling pools of torrential water at its base.
I know that 10 feet doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider that you would be in an inflatable boat taking this plunge at a 90 degree angle into a swirling pool of rocks and white waters…
well, that 10 feet might as well be 100 for the courage that you would have to muster to take on that task.
All the other TweetFesters decided to take on that plunge!
Oh, brave TweetFesters. I was so proud.
To see the first group approach the drop off…I could sense them taking in a deep breathe and then holding it; fearing that when they released this air that a very loud girly scream would be attached.
And it was
As it should be.
But then they were down and past the out croppings of jagged rocks to the still waters where Lee and I waited. Paddles raised in a victory high five and hoots and hollers of triumph.
Then the second and third groups faced their fears to emerge unscathed on the other side. You guys rocked it!
As we reached about 2/3’s of the way through our trek we were greeted by some of the other workers from the rafting company.
These saints had piles of fresh watermelons and pineapples, all precisely cut into triangle portions.
I know I have written about the fabulous fruit of Costa Rica in previous posts (as well as over breakfast), but this substance of revitalization was the best we had enjoyed to date.
Granted, this was likely due to the adrenaline rush and the cries of our tired muscles. Regardless, we dug in as if we hadn’t eaten for days.
It was during this most welcome snack that I spied a loosed paddle floating down the river. Our guide courageously dove in to recover the equipment.
I wondered how and why this stick was making the journey without the
My questions were sooned answered as we were joined by the other rafts.
Apparently our TweetFest videographer who was traveling in a 2 man kayak was the owner of said loosed paddle.
The group shared with me that the paddle wasn’t lost on the Level 4 drop as I had suspected, but in the smaller rapids immediately following the devastating drop.
Danny explained that the kayak had taken a “not recommended” path out of the pool of raging water and had been capsized by the later surge of water.
Luckily all video equipment had been transfered to a more stable boat just moments before the capsizing.
And no one was hurt. A little wet and a little giggly, but no damage to either boat or crew.
After our wholesome snack, we re-boarded our crafts and headed down the river. This part of the trek was much smoother and allowed for some incredibly sight seeing.
We weren’t able to actually see any monkeys, but they were certainly following our course.
Their howls sounded like laughter at seeing us silly humans, decked out in red and yellow vests, paddling along their source of refreshment and bathing.
Ahhhh… the journey was amazing. But to my sadness I finally saw the end of our travels.
The rafting company’s crew was patiently waiting for us under a large bridge to gather up their equipment and greet their latest river warriors.
Taking off that helmet and jacket felt great, but I was really surprised when Lee started to talk about taking the journey again.
He had faced one of his fears and he like it!
Danny soon joined us and offered out an ice cold Imperial (Dirty Bird) beer to each of us. We greedily took our portion as we shared our thoughts and impressions with our fellow TweetFesters. What a glorious day!
The evening brought on another welcome treat as we ventured to Tabocon resort and spa for some delectable tastes of Arenal’s heated waters that cascaded to each of the many different pools and water falls.
We’ll leave this post with understanding that this trip was a much welcome treat to our tired bodies and an opportunity for some of the group to enjoy, shall we say, quiet moments in secluded pools of the hot steamy water.
Top this off with a 2 hour 5 star Mexican buffet at Tabocon and I say that we call it a day .
If this was Day 1 of TweetFest, WTH would Day 2 bring!
The TweetFesters couldn’t even imagine the thrills and chills they would soon experience on Day 2, as they quitely drifted off to a well earned rest.
But just wait, gang. It definitely keeps getting better!
Pura Vida, Baby!
