On our 2nd full day in Arenal Springs, we had another adventure in store - something the girls & I have never done before - white water rafting! We went with another family who was staying at our resort who had 2 boys around the same age as our girls. We all crammed in a little van with 2 rafts on top & it took about an hour to drive from our hotel to the river & I was a little nervous when we got there. It was literally someone's private property with guard dogs, a small house & a couple of random bathrooms:
They gave us a quick tutorial & then we jumped right in! We rode just the 4 of us with our guide, Brayan & we floated the Balsam River. The other raft had the other family with their guide & then we had a 3rd guide who went ahead of us in a small kayak. He had a camera & would stop ahead of us & take pictures, really awesome pictures! Literally they only charged $40 but at the end of the day we had over 120 photos & we didn't have to mess with our phones or cameras at all. So, here are a few of our favorite action shots:
Those last 2 pictures crack me up because as you can see Sadie was loving it & Sophie was hating it! Ha! Before we even got in the water Sophie was crying & telling us she did not want to go, but of course we made her. Our guide was awesome though & had her sit in the middle & just hold on so she wouldn't have to paddle. And he had her yell all of the commands to us to help distract her & it worked, eventually!
Bryan & I were getting soaked in the front & Sadie was a little jealous, so eventually we traded & I let her sit in the front while I sat in the middle with Sophie:
Sadie absolutely loved it! Sophie will still say that she didn't like it, but secretly, I think she warmed up to it & you can tell by the smile on her face. Bryan has done this in Colorado before & he actually said he liked it here better because the rapids were better. I personally think I would prefer it here also because it was hot so we got to wear bathing suits & enjoy the water. Plus we were rafting in a tropical rainforest! I know in Colorado the water is freezing, even in the summer.
We rafted for about an hour or so & then we caught up to our van which was waiting on us. They even cut up fresh fruit & had a snack waiting for us too:
We had the best time & I am so glad we all experienced something new together:
On our way home, we stopped at Monkey Park for a local lunch & it was amazing. Bryan said it was one of his favorite meals of the trip:
Since we had such a late lunch, we didn't go out to dinner that night either. We were all so excited to go relax in the hot springs again!
The next morning we surprised the girls & booked them a chocolate massage at the spa:
Sophie was such a trooper horseback riding & rafting that we thought she deserved a break. She had been crying & telling us for 2 days everything she did not want to do, but she was SO excited for her first real spa experience! Chocolate & coffee are a big deal over there & they have tours everywhere because they actually grow the cocoa beans in their country. Sadie thoroughly enjoyed it also:
Our final morning was pretty low key, besides the spa. We had brunch, let the girls play while I read a book & relaxed before it was time to pack up & head out:
Our final view of the Arenal Volcano - can you see it beyond my book & Sadie in the hammock? It was surrounded by a cloud.
We had arranged private transportation through our hotel so they picked us up in a taxi, then took us to Arenal Lake, which is the largest lake in Costa Rica & the 2nd largest lake in central America, so we were told:
It was a 30 minute taxi ride, then a 1 hour boat ride. The weather was absolutely perfect & we loved the boat ride:
The lake was absolutely dead - no one was out there & the whole area was completely undeveloped. Actually, I was a little nervous because our captain did not speak English & I was kind of worried where they were taking us. Eventually he took us ashore in the middle of nowhere - not even a boat dock, just a random van on the side of the lake where another gentlemen who didn't really speak English was waiting for us:
Turns out, this was actually the nicest ride we had the entire time we were there! It took about an hour to drive to our next resort, but we officially left the volcano & spent the next part of our trip in the cloud forest!
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