Miss the first few honeymoon recaps? Check those out first. 🙂
After El Silencio Lodge in the cloud forest, Matt and I traveled on to Arenal Nayara, where we stayed for 5 nights. In addition to enjoying the beautiful grounds of the hotel itself (they had a great pool, outdoor hot tubs, and spa), Matt and I had a bunch of fun adventure excursions booked! The first excursion was Waterfall Rappelling through a group called Pure Trek Canyoning.
This trip was AWESOME – not only did we meet a really cool couple who live right nearby us in the DC area (Hi, Annie and Mark!), but the rappelling itself was so cool. If you’re wondering what waterfall rappelling is, it’s exactly as it sounds – you rappel down the side of a waterfall in the rainforest! Beautiful AND exciting. 🙂
To get to the rainforest where we’d be rappelling, we took a bus, followed by an open air truck on some really bumpy dirt roads. The ride was rough but fun – lots of great scenery! Seated across from us in the photo below are Annie and Mark, our new friends. We actually just met up with them for dinner last night here in DC! 🙂
When we arrived at base camp in the rainforest, we got suited up in our safety harness and sexy helmets, plus an optional raincoat if we wanted it.
And then we began our hike through the rainforest to our first rappelling location!
When we reached the top of the first waterfall, we got a brief safety instruction/demo.
And then we were ready to go! Eek!
Ironically, the very first rappelling location was the highest of all of them! It was also wide enough that two people went at a time. Check this out:
I think everyone was a little nervous at the top, but once we got going it was a blast.
Weee!
And here’s the view from the bottom (some of these photos were taken on my waterproof camera, and others were purchased from the company, who had a photographer with us):
Now you see why they gave us raincoats. 🙂
After everyone was down, we hiked on to the second rappelling station! Next up was a shorter but equally fun one. On this one, everyone went one at a time. Here goes Matt:
And then me!
We made it!
One more short hike later came a third very short mini-drop, and then we arrived at the fourth and final waterfall. This one was probably my favorite – I was feeling confident by this point so I FLEW down, only touching my feet once on the rock! So fun.
Ready for action:
Here goes Matt!
We were sad there weren’t even more waterfalls – I was ready to do that all day long! What a blast. Great guides and experience with the company as a whole, too.
After the excursion, we hiked back to base camp and all of us were treated to a delicious local lunch back at the main Pure Trek headquarters. It was DELICIOUS – typical Costa Rican casado with chicken, potatoes, rice, beans, and a salad. Yum!
If you ever have the chance to go waterfall rappelling (or any kind of rappelling) – I highly recommend it! What a blast. 🙂
Have you been rappelling before? If not, would you try it?
