Thoughts on Life, Liberty and Hybrid Marketing
Posts tagged Arenal
Day 7 of TweetFest: Costa Rica Style
Sep 16th
I woke up this morning a little disoriented and wondered for a moment where I was. I guess all of this traveling around the gorgeous sites of Costa Rica and living in different resorts had left my mind a little foggy.
As if to comfort me with a sight of a familiar face, Arenal quietly grumbled to get my attention. I peaked outside the sliding glass door that led to our balcony and there was Arenal, holding court over another gorgeous Costa Rica day.
To our surprise, she was sending her white waves of smoke and steam from both of her peaks. This was an incredibly rare development. It was speculated by the Tico folk that this double smoke stack affect may indicate that Arenal was planning on changing the path of her lava once again.
How cool that we not only were able to gain so many amazing views of Her Majestic presence during our visit, but to also witness her rare signs of change? We were truly lucky folks, indeed.
I placed a towel on the cool tile floor and commenced to greeting the day with a bit of stretching.
And oh, how my muscles welcomed this therapy! Yesterday brimmed with so many physical adventures and my body held up pretty good, even if it protested a little this morning. Nothing some yoga wouldn’t quiet.
Today was to be our “tourist shopping” day. After yesterday the group agreed that a relaxing day at the Baldi resort and a sprinkling of shopping would hit the spot nicely, thank you very much 
After a scrumptious buffet breakfast, Lee and I spent some time on our balcony simply sharing a few moments with Arenal. Knowing that our time here in Costa Rica was coming to an end the following morning, we attempted to soak up as many moments as humanly possible.
The adventures that we were lucky enough to experience have been phenomenal; the white water rafting, horseback rides through the jungle, hiking to a magnificent waterfall, wading in the rivers at the base of Arenal herself, enjoying two natural hot spring resorts, zip lining like mad men through the open air miles above the tree tops, private fire works in paradise, a magical boat ride on Lake Arenal, exploring the beauty of Rancho Margot, scenic montages at every turn, 3 fabulous resorts, great food and most excellent company.
But these quiet minutes are true gold.
These are more like the moments that we would share in our daily lives,
if we lived here in bountiful Costa Rica.
I could definitely get used to this lifestyle.
Soon it was time to get everyone to La Fortuna to check out some local wares. The TweetFesters had the privilege of touring the city at their own pace and discovering each unique shop on their time.
Lee and I joined Nico and May for some speed shopping to check out the local merchandise offerings, but then we were to pick up some food for our TweetFest Bar-B-Que back at Palo Verde.
I was so excited to be returning to our original home away from home, Palo Verde.
I wondered if Larry the Lizard would come out to say hello?
But we weren’t off to town just yet. First we needed to visit Nico’s partner Gene.
I had previously written about Gene’s gorgeous home and I was thrilled to be paying him another visit.
On the dirt road that lead to Gene’s casa, we stopped to visit a small family of horses in a lot on the side of the road. This paddock was beside a piece of land that Nico owned, so we knew that it was alright to visit with these gorgeous creatures.
There were about 8 adults and two young fawns, ranging in a multitude of common markings and colors. And they were pretty calm. I had a feeling that they might even let us pet them a little, if they were coaxed with the right temptation.
I decided to pull some fresh greens from my side of the fence and try my tempting scheme to draw them in closer. To my delight, they appeared to be open to the idea. I know, kind of a girlie moment, but whatever. It made me happy.
I was pleased to see that a smaller mare was making her way towards me. She gratefully took the treat from my hands and whinnied her approval. She even gently nuzzled towards me as a show of gratitude. I was digging this!
We were soon joined by one of the youngest, who also welcomed my treat. I guess the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.
Soon the entire heard had made their way over to us. We spent about 30 minutes feeding them handfuls of grass and sneaking in a stroke of their nose whenever possible.
Then we were off to Gene’s Place.
After a brief meeting to discuss business and banking structure with the experts who have actually been living the Costa Rican lifestyle, we were off again.
Before climbing back into Nico’s car, he grabbed two large handfuls of passion fruit from a small tree in the front of Gene’s property.
We were going to stop and feed the fruit to the horses.
The little girl inside of me began to giggle and smile furiously.
This time when we stopped, the horses came right up to us. They were thrilled to find the surprise sweetness that Nico had snagged from Gene’s tree.
And I was delighted to offer it to them.
But soon it was time to head to town for our shopping experience and barbeque supply run.
We arrived at Nico’s pad about mid day. We had to stop and let the pups out for a quick walk before we could hit the local venues.
Romeo and Concique were as cute as ever and I was very happy to get a chance to visit with them again. After all it had been at least 3 days since my last puppy fix.
The other Tweetfesters had taken a cab into town from the resort and we spied them from Nico’s window. I hollered like the country girl that I am, but they didn’t hear me.
Oh well, they were apparently deeply immersed in their shopping adventure and were not about to be distracted from a strange woman yelling from inside one of the brightly colored second story buildings.
And who could blame them. I would not have answered either.
We took the pups across the street to the beautiful park we visited on our first day in Costa Rica. It felt like coming home.
I had to laugh out loud when I saw how Nico walked them to the park. Actually it appeared that Concique was in charge of this field trip as he literally walked Romeo across the street, thanks to Nico tethering them to one another.
Arenal was amazing today. She slowly oozed heavy smoke from both of her peaks. The smoke was being driven downward across her scarred face. Nico explained that after a good rain, the atmosphere was such that it would push the smoke down around her midsection instead of allowing it to escape to the heavens.
Personally, it felt very eerie to watch this phenomenal. The smoke appeared to be commanded by some supernatural force. Very strange.
I was grateful to switch my attention to Romeo and Concique. Romeo had climbed ontop of the park’s lovely pool as if to claim it for his own.
Concique obediently stayed close by until Nico encouraged him to engage in some good old fashioned horsing around.
After a few more minutes of play, Nico took the boys back up to their pad so we could continue on with today’s to do’s.
We heard a voice holler over to us from across the street. To our suprise it was Juan, the owner of Rancho Margot trying to get our attention. We waved back and had to smile at the unexpected chance to spend some more time with him. He soon joined us at the park.
We expressed our gratitude for his hospitality the previous day and offered to do what we could to support his dream of a self sufficient, environmentally balanced resort.
Juan had been a consistently gracious person and this encounter absolutely reinforced his character.
Soon we were on our way to check out the local craftsmanship at the quaint stores that lined the streets of La Fortuna. There were thousands of samples of varying Costa Rican crafted wares.
Many items were made with the environment in front of mind. For example, the journals and notebooks offered here were made out of coffee or other local plants instead of tree pulp.
There were jars, plates, vases, toys and home decorations carved from the bark or downed wood of the indigenous trees or even from bamboo. Not from living trees. I found it astonishing that so much could be used and harvested from what nature was willing to offer, without taking away from the local ecological balance.
This country showed it’s true intentions of environment friendly activities and lifestyle in the most unexpected of places.
We walked to many of the stores, taking in all the hand made wares and skillfully crafted jewelry. What a fun shopping day this had turned out to be!
Then it was time to gather our supplies for the evening’s VIP TweetFest bar-b-q at Palo Verde.
Let’s see….cerveza – check; hamburger – check; turkey dogs – check; cheese and buns – check; salad fixins – check: soda for the kids – check.
As we were wrapping up our grocery gathering, Nico pointed out a brand of products that appeared to be very common place here: BioLand.
This company offers a wide range of products that they profess to produce in an environmentally friendly fashion. I thought it pretty cool that the people of Costa Rica support such a company and actually attempt to live in harmony with nature and her many inhabitants.
Now I want to be honest with you here and admit that I haven’t always been the most environmentally conscious person. I mean, I don’t litter and I tread lightly when camping and other outdoor activities…
But I never made it a point to be aware on a daily level. I guess I always thought it was a hassle to live in an environmentally friendly way. After all, if it was so easy to do – why weren’t more folks in the good old USA doint it?
After seeing how the Tico folk lived in a much more harmonious way with their surroundings, I couldn’t logically deduce why more weren’t at least making a very small effort to do the same.
I guess my eyes have been opened up to much more than just the beauty of Costa Rica.
OK, enough ranting…onto the Bar-B-Q.
We took our trunk full of supplies, gathered up May and the puppies and headed to Palo Verde.
The other TweetFesters understood the evening’s agenda and were heading to Palo Verde as well.
Man, oh man, it was so nice to be back to our first stop on this incredible journey. We congregated right outside of our original rooms, found the grill behind the pool and began working on dinner.
The other TweetFesters began to arrive and soon the party was on. We had all your normal barbecuing fair as well as cerveza, concique and Ruuuuummmmmm!
Add a little great hits from the 80′s music and the party had officially started.
Many TweetFesters decided to slip into their swimming suits and enjoy the festivities from the underwater stools offered in the warm waters on the poolside of the bar. Others choose to “supervise” Lee’s cooking skills and I decided to simply hover around and enjoy it all.
It was an incredible night of camaraderie, story telling, sharing of ourselves and even business talks. Hands down my favorite evening of the trip.
Then it was time to head back to the Baldi resort. Poor Nico had to shuttle us back in waves, as he had the only vehicle since our chariot had not accompanied us this evening.
Some folks decided to hit the hot springs one last time before our reluctant departure the next day. Lee and I decided to sit and spend some more quiet time with Arenal. I felt that we had to explain to her that we were leaving. What a sad, sentimental talk we shared…
The next morning brought our departure from this wondrous land. I won’t share much of our sorrowful two hour drive back to the airport, or our departing visit to the coffee shop on top of the mountain. Or even mention that our prancing pony came out to bid us a fine farewell.
The jovial spirit of the previous evening had left the group and we were left to quietly try to take in as many last minute views as was possible by our over filled minds.
I had enjoyed my visit to this new world. I welcomed the adventure and I have grown while embraced in her bountiful bosom.
I will never forget this virgin trek to Costa Rica. Even when I return, I know that I won’t experience the same magic as I did as I was exposed to a new and wondrous world for the first time.
As we made that last turn to leave Arenal behind, she bellowed to us. I felt a stirring in my core as I understood that she was bidding us farewell.
One last magical moment as we left her court.
I had to wonder to myself, do the inspiring moments ever end in a place such as Costa Rica?
I can’t imagine that she ever runs out of layers of wonders to share or sights for you to bare witness to.
To see such things, every second of every day in this country changes you. I know that sounds all wishy washy – and I don’t care.
To witness the world in such unspoiled glory and to understand how we are supposed to live in harmony on this planet, opens your eyes to new possibilities.
Simply put, it changes you.
After all… once you experience the wonders, once you witness her glory, once you see with your own eyes the way our world can be, once you embrace this transformation – it can never be undone.
So are you ready? Come on, now…don’t be afraid. I promise you will not be alone. Come on in Fella’s, the water’s fine
Welcome to your transformation.
Pura Vida!
Day 6 of TweetFest: Costa Rica Style: Part 1
Sep 14th
6 AM…Arenal was quiet this morning and I knew that I was up WAY too early. After writing about yesterday’s rafting adventures and most deserved evening at the Tabacon hot springs, Lee and I were driven to the floor of our cabin by the sounds of what our military background assured us was gun fire.
After peaking out the window to check on the kids’ cabin, Lee discovered that our gun fight was actually our neighboring resort giving a magnificent fireworks display.
So we gathered ourselves out of our defensive positions and joined our TweetFesters on the porch to watch the illuminating spectacle.
Now I have been to many a fireworks show, but let me tell you…we were so close to the festivities that glowing sparks of all colors rained upon the roofs of our cute little cabins.
The smell of gun powder was like a blanket that had been laid upon us,
a blanket that suffocated all of the other glorious fragrances of El Selecio’s gardens.
The display seemed to last for hours as we careened our tired necks up towards the kaleidoscope sky.
And not to be out done, the very second that our private fireworks display was over, Arenal started one of her own.
Glowing embers cascaded down her grooved sides as white smoke illuminated the sky line and a warm red glow burned from her belly.
In the first annual Fireworks Dance Off, Arenal reigns queen.
And that is much the reason that 6 AM seemed to come so early this morning. Arenal held us hypnotized until the wee hours of the morning.
All in all…well worth the sluggish start to Day 2 of TweetFest Costa Rica style.
But see, I had the inside scoop…
Today was Nico’s birthday. And I KNEW that he had a magnificent day planned for us all. But that also meant that we would be going, going, going all day. Hence my regret at seeing 6 AM display on my laptop so quickly after just a few hours of rest.
I gathered my strength and happily rallied the TweetFest troops for breakfast. Now that I was awake, I couldn’t wait to get this day started!
Ahhhh…what a welcome morning treat. We were served another colorful array of tasty fruit to begin our day. The cool juices exploded in our mouths and urged us to take our fill. (I made a mental note to start buying more fresh fruit when we get back stateside.)
Our chariot arrived promptly at 7:30 to take the TweetFesters to our first adventure.
We were about to embark on a journey to view Costa Rica from heights that
no person outside of an aircraft should see.
We were going to soar miles above the rain forest floor, protected only by a single steel cable and some very convincing (at least looking) rappel gear.
Zip Lining: Costa Rica Style was about to begin.
Our journey to our tree top departure point was in itself breathtaking, both in the very beautiful sense as well as a fearful one.
See the local highway department that maintained the winding roads that carried our chariot to the top of the mountain didn’t feel that it was necessary to partner said roads with any sort of gaurd railing.
Well, I’ll actually take that back.
Some of these wild twists had a 6 inch concrete curb, which I would guess were only there to ensure that your vehicle flipped several times in the air as it left the paved comfort of the road.
Again, that’s just a guess – afterall, I am not an engineer.
We reached our first destination and took the group to the graciously provided overlook.
This adventure company certainly had one hell of a view.
This is the same company that Nico, Lee, the kid’s and I visited a short couple of days ago to finalize our plans. It was quite amusing to see the TweetFesters faces as they took in those views.
And then to watch that look change as they realized that this was NOT the point that we would be zip lining from.
That platform was well above us. So far above us, in fact, that it couldn’t even be seen from our current spot.
I giggled a little on the inside at their sudden discomfort.
I wasn’t being mean, but I knew that the more uncomfortable they were, the more glorious it would feel for them to take that daring first leap off of the platform to conquer their silent fear. It was gonna be a soul expanding sort of day!
Soon we were all geared up and ready to go. My lovely brother in law expressed to my beautiful sister that she kind of looked like a lumberjack in all of her gear. NOt his most complimentary moment for sure.
During this moment of amazing pick up lines, we were told that it was time to board our trams to take us to the top of the mountain. Trams probably isn’t the right word. These wire cages that hung from a series of steel cables, similar to the ones that adorn the skyline of many popular amusement parks.
But these were way cooler. The views that were unveiled as we climbed the mountain were – well, what word can you give a view that belonged in every depiction of Heaven that I could imagine from my childhood?
Heavenly sounds so trite compared to what we were witnessing. I won’t try to use words. Just know that it was so astounding that we didn’t even dare speak.
Our silence was only interrupted by the murmurs of the electric motors that were pulling us up higher and higher and higher.
The group moved onto the steel framed platform where we would begin our adventure away from the crown of the rain forest.
We were lucky enough to hear an astounding boom of encouragement from Arenal as we took photographical proof that we were all actually going through with this.
Note here that you see in the pictures that Lee is not wearing any equipment. He claimed to not be feeling well, but my thought is that he decided that he would rather take a nature walk with our Mucho Bonita guide, Maria.
And then it was time.
I want to first give credit to this adventure company for laying out the progression of zip lines as they did.
The first two lines were actually “bunny hill” lines. You know, very easy lines – kind of like the kiddy hills at your favorite ski resort.
These were very purposely placed at the beginning of the trek for two reasons:
1. To give the opportunity to get comfortable with the gear and general movement of the adventure before attempting the “real” zip lines (where fear could certainly cloud your comfort level)
2. To give any wussies a chance to quit after the “bunny hill” lines and go back to the scenic platform to wait for their friends, quietly crying on the inside both out of shame and remorse.
But no wussies in our group!
We all tackled these first lines like old pros. Of course, I knew that these lines weren’t even a taste of what was to come. And I wasn’t disappointed.
After the second easy line, I turned to view the first real zip line.
OMG doesn’t even cover it.
Here was a line that seemed miles long, stretching across the mountain tops to connect the first leg of our journey.
NOw, I have zip lined before – in Jamaica. My zip lining adventure in Jamaica was amazing, careening through the tree tops to reach our next perch…gaining gentle speed as you viewed the jungle from the view point of the monkeys. way cool..not scary at all.
Let’s just say this was NOT Jamaica.
Instead of gently careening through the tree tops, we were going to be flung across mile high ravines via what was being touted as one of the fastest, highest and longest zip line courses in the world.
And by seeing this view, that was easy to believe.
Being the ever brave token leader of this group (see, cause I had supposedly done this before), I kept a calm demeanor. Encouraging my fellow Tweetfesters on their bravery and exclaiming how much fun this was gonna be.
All the while, every ounce of my soul was screaming to my brain
to quietly slip away and take the tram back down to safety.
It may make sense for me to explain one of my greatest fears…falling from great heights and crashing bloodily into the ground.
Not to be mistaken for a fear of heights. I don’t mind heights at all if I feel secure.
But swinging from some simple rappelling gear miles above the jungle tree tops did not present itself as secure.
Deep breathe…..I concentrated on not letting my fear show. Fake smile plastered on my face, I turn to the kids to provide some encouragement.
Luckily they bought it.
Then it was time for the first Tweetfester to take the plunge.
I honestly can’t remember who was first, but I do remember the scream.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (excited, “I conquered my fear” kind of scream)
Breath
Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (still a little excited, started to look around – still seems very close from the platform)
Breath
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (uhm, subtle change in scream…starting to sound a little freaked out – still not half way across)
Breath
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (started to get quieter, some curse words added I think – just passed half way)
Breath
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (we could still hear the terrified screams even after they were out of site)
This continued until our guide indicated that they were ready for the next victim – err, I mean participant.
Each brave soul experienced very similar screaming experiences as our courageous first zip liner had – except for those who got half way across and couldn’t even breath. Instead their bodies decided to tense up and hold every ounce of breathe inside, I would guess for fear of it being their last.
And then finally, it was my turn. I decided to go before the kids to show them how easy it was (yea right).
OK, buckled in: check. Harness feels good and tight: check. I knew where to put my hands: check. I understood the technique for making it to the other side and how to “land”: check.
Ready…….Set……..Go!
I could take time here to illustrate my progression of scream, how it was different than explained above.
See I am a tense up and don’t make a sound type of person when really freaked out. And this experience was no exception.
I actually was doing better than I thought. First quarter of the line was actually pretty damn cool. This was kind of fun. Rock on! Woo hoo!
That was until I got about half way across and looked down.
This in itself, wasn’t so bad. But then the winds came.
Imagine the coursing wind as it forced itself around the mountain peaks and passed through the gentle green valleys.
Yes, the all powerful and very single minded wind.
That very wind decided that it would be a great time to show it’s force to the tourists. I was zipping miles above the jungle trees when the wind decided to find me.
It pushed against my right side, trying to twist my body to its will.
Pushing relentlessly, not hearing my quiet pleas to not do what it was doing.
What the wind was trying to do was the worst possible development
(short, of course of the possible plunging to your very death that we won’t talk about here).
I knew that if I twisted that I could not make it to the other side. My twisted body would slow down my momentum and I could get stuck. And that would be hell.
If you didn’t make it to the other side, you were then required to pull yourself the rest of the way across. Let’s just say that would not exactly be my idea of a great experience.
So, I forced my body into the preferred technical position to attempt to thwart the determined wind.
This position would be to lie almost on you back, hands holding you in position straight above you, grasping the handles, butt tucked up and legs brought up to your chest in a fetal position.
It was like this that I conquered my way to the first platform. Oh, the glorious platform. Thank all that is right in the world! The adrenaline coursing through my body was awesome! Woot!
Then the children came across.
Ashlee swooped onto the platform like a pro. A little white, but a pro, none the less.
Colton, however wasn’t as lucky. The devil wind must have toyed with him also. He stopped on the line about 100 feet from the platform. Oh, the look on his face.
No apprehension, I wanted to shackle back up and go get him.
Luckily, he was able to summon the courage and strength to pull himself to the platform.
Let’s just leave it at “poor boy”.
But now, the Tweetfesters had another real fear to conquer. The general consensus quickly became, “screw being afraid of the devastating heights and speed, getting stuck is way worse”.
So it was with this newly discovered mindset that the group continued on their perilous trek miles above the jungle tree tops.
Along this amazing journey, only three others were stopped along their course short of the platform (and Colton was privileged to experience this joy once more).
But the energy did eventually begin to shift. About half way through the course of mile high zip lines, the mood began to loosen up a little.
People were actually starting to look around at the amazing scenery.
This was actually easier to do as we descended closer and closer towards the jungle itself.
Less worries of steel cables unraveling to lend us to the jungle floor and more “did you see the toucans in the beautiful fig trees?”
Ahhh, now this was more like it. Whew…I started to really enjoy the experience.
The last real line was upon us. If I remember correctly, this was the longest and fastest of the bunch. Not that any of them were short or slow, but the guide felt it imperative to impart this information upon us.
This last line was amazing. Once off of the platform we journeyed along the stretch of cool steel into the very trees. There was a tunnel carved through the tree tops to our last large platform.
Amazing. Beautiful. Simply magical.
All the fear was worth it for this last leg of our journey. We were gracefully carried through the cool green jungle to a swinging bridge style destination.
Not my favorite engineering surprise of the trip, but we were only a couple hundred feet above our final desination.
I spied Nico and Lee from this swinging perch. Apparently Lee thought this was a great photo opp.
After we all arrived for the group shot, we descended a spiral stair case to our very last zip line. I didn’t include this as the final “real” zip line, because it wasn’t.
It was another “bunny hill” line. But it did give Lee a great chance to get a few final action shots.
Overall the journey was amazing.
I was exhausted, ready to get out of this bondage gear and really craved a Bavarian Light cerveza. I felt like I had earned that frothy cold beverage.
My sexy husband hooked me up on all accounts.
Amazing start to a wonderful day. And the TweetFesters were high on life at conquering their very real fears.
Read on to the next post to find out what the rest of this magnificent day held for the TweetFesters.
Pura Vida, baby!
