Day 2 of TweetFest: Costa Rica Style
Last updated: Saturday, August 30, 2008
I awoke this morning to the beautiful song of a stange bird outside of our cabana window. Sun beckoning me to join her outside with the songs of all of the morning creatures… so I did.
Taking a towel out poolside, I began my daily stretch. A slow rumble from overhead as Arenal erupted to great the morning, sending a towering spiral of grey smoke towards the early sun.
I love my life.
My morning stretch is always invigorating, but awaking my body in this serene place is beyond words.
I could do this every morning. One day I will do this every morning.
After my one on one time with Arenal, I go to wake the rest of the family.
Sitting on the cabanna porch eating our breakfast of dinner leftovers and water, we spy on a small group of little brown monkeys. Apparently they were after their morning snack on the outreaching branches of our neighbor grandfather tree.
We could hear them laughing back and forth.
Butterfiles of astounding color, dragon flys as big as birds and plants beyond description.
A green lizard kept us company all morning on one of the larger plants to the left of our porch. It was mesmerizing to watch it shift positions, body color changing as different parts came closer to the tree…reaching out its long neck to catch his next nibble. We named him Larry.
Larry doesn’t talk much and appears to be in no big hurry to get anywhere. After all…Larry is a Tico
Both of our kids are digging this serene adventure. You would think that they have never seen nature before. Of course, nothing they have ever seen state side could compare to Costa Rica.
I think we have created two future professional wildlife photographers.
After our slow morning, Nico picks us up for next adventure.
Today we ride horses through the rain forest.
We arrive at the stables a little after 1 in the afternoon. Rain is just pouring on us. Do you think we care?
Not even a little.
The stable hands select our perfect steads and help us mount. Mine is named Macarana.
Now these horses are NOT like the dude ranch horses that you might find stateside. These horses are well feed and well maintained. A little reverred even.
And Macaran is no exception. She is a white and grey speckled beauty. Strong and completely grounded beneath me as I sit upon her high saddle.
I rubbed her neck and spoke softly to her. “Please take it easy on me, Girl. We can have a great ride, just try not to get too close to the ravine.” Macarana whinnied, as if to tell me she’d take good care of me.
We started out in a drizzling rain trotting through her own grazing lands. We saw at least 3 new born colts with their Mama’s and at least 2 dozen of other family steads.
We were also joined by the stable dog, Tequila.
Tequila was a small black and brown pointer type pup and she took great care of her family of horses. Her job was to go out ahead of the group and scare away any snakes that could harm her friends.
The noble and gallent Tequila.
The rain continued to fall (duh, rainforest!). But I didn’t even notice. The views were outstanding. Trees as old as our homeland stood reaching towards Arenal the Volcano like worshippers at Sunday prayer.
Toucans adorned the tree tops, monkeys chatting away beyond our vision.
Macarana apparently liked to be the “lead dog” as we galloped to the front of the pack. As if in response to our original bargain, Macarana did not go too fast. She went just fast enough so I wouldn’t bounce right off of her back. Macarana took good care of me.
We made our way through the winding jungle to our next stop. There was an outpost where we were to tie up our horses - so we could travel the next leg on foot.
Just beyond this outpost was a trail of stone steps leading down the mountain. The trail descended well past our view.
Without hesitation we took the trail.
It must have been 500 steps down, winding around grandfather trees and vegetation that I have never seen before. Birds of all colors cooed and sung to us as we descended.
Descending further and further down…
Then we could here it. The sounds of rushing and slamming water.
You could smell the water in the air, even so far above the valley floor.
We were on our way to visit a waterfall.
Words cannot describe the site of her. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of water crashing down over hundreds of feet of sheer nothingness every second.
Joining the pool beneath her in a crash of life and vibrancy. Throwing cool mist about her in a 100 feet in every direction.
You could feel the rejuvinating powers of this massive ionic field pulsing around you. The air was cleaner here and it instantly healed you as you took in each breathe.
Simply put, it was amazing.
We found out in a short time that you needed that boost from natures truest cleansing field to even start thinking about the journey back up the mountain.
What felt like 500 steps coming down felt like 1500 going back up. What can I say? Only that I was so flipping happy for the rustic bench that had been strategically placed half way up the stair case to allow me a short break to work up the energy to continue my climb out of the heart of the jungle.
Even without the bench, I would have had to stop and take a breather. But, man - so worth it to be in the magical circle of that amazing waterfall. I would so do it again.
Then it was back to Macarana to begin our journey home to the stables.
At this point, the rain had dissipated. And the world that this cleansing bath left us was amazing.
The toucans were out in numbers, singing what I could only guess was a song of thanks for the refreshing and cleansing bath that nature just provided.
A double rainbow towered above us,
Along the path, we stopped many times to take in one spectacular view after another. On one such stop, Tequila (the stable dog) took off into a row of bannana trees.
An unseen bird was calling to her. “Where ya going? Pretty Bird” was all we heard.
Too cool to hear these mimicked calls coming out of a raw forest. And for us to have heard it…this hidden bird must have been HUGE!
And Tequila enjoyed chasing after this voice from the trees. But is was soon back to her duties, as the horses were tiring and could apparently smell their home.
The entire family of horses started to gallop as we neared their stable. And who could blame them?
A long day of carrying us on their back, enduring our stops along the way to take in their home land.
But the day was almost over.
We entered the stables and slowly dismounted. I whispered my gratitude into Macarana’s ear. She nudged me with her head and whinned her understanding.
Then it was back to our rooms for a quick shower and another ride to dinner.
Chicken, fresh salsa, rice, cervasa…how can you go wrong?
So another day in paradise winds down. I can only wonder what tomorrow will bring?
Pura Vida, my friends. Until tomorrow…
