Father’s Day. Oldman’s getting spoiled this year on account of rappelling. After getting up at 5:20 to try and catch the early rising animals, not much was still out, apart from more vultures. I did manage to get a few good ones before heading to the breakfast buffet, which, fortunately, was less crowded this time than yesterday. Looking to kill some time before our shuttle arrived for rappelling, we took off on a stroll down the street. The sun was blazing, but we did get to witness two big puffs out of the volcano on the journey. We stopped at another hotel to shoot ducks and flowers before security was alerted to our non-guest status and made payment the only available option for our continued presence there.
12:30 arrived just in time, and after loading up a van, which included four irritating pre-teen girls from Texas, we drove just around the corner to the headquarters to be served a larger-than-expected lunch of chicken and rice. It was delicious, though the four of us were the only family in the group to finish ours. I assume the Texas girls thought it was either gross or fattening. After a brief orientation, everyone piled into a van to drive into La Fortuna, where we switched over to an open-air 4x4 for the rest of the journey up a steep, irregular, dirt road. There was a great deal of bouncing along the way, though fortunately, there were no near-fatalities from someone falling off.
Arriving at base camp, we received out equipment. It took me three tries to get my damned harness on, because the workers kept telling me I had it wrong each time I put it on. It turned out that I had just put my leg through the wrong loop… again and again. Fifteen minutes later, decked out in harness and gloves, we descended to the first waterfall, 150 feet high. Oddly enough, fear evaded me completely this entire time. Rather, I spent the entire time focusing on getting the technique down pat (i.e. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself), which didn’t work so well on the first one. By the second, when we had to free-fall a good way in order to reach the first wall, it started to come together. Third was easy. Fourth left me with a bruise on my side. Fifth was all right, but I still preferred the third out of all of them because the footing was sure enough that I could have a little fun instead of trying to figure out my next foothold.
The rain started on the hike back and followed us to the top. It was nice to have our waterproof bags with us to keep the cameras dry, though the rain was the least of the wetness concerns at that point. We piled back into the 4x4 and plodded out down the road once again. Our guide told us about a man who works for them, who, every morning, gets up at 4:00 to go check the cables. He’s nearly seventy years old and of the impression that without work, he will die. The attachment alarm is going off! Still, that’s some admirable dedication, and honestly, I empathize completely with him. Workaholics Anonymous, here we come.
We returned to the hotel in the pouring rain for Father’s Day Happy Hour, where we bombarded Oldman with beverages in the hopes of getting him plastered. Unfortunately, these drinks were weak enough for me to enjoy, so there were no hilarious Father’s Day drunken shenanigans. However, Oldman did end up with a new friend, some self-centered guy from Miami who decided we would be a great audience for thirty years of stories about his time in Costa Rica, none of which was very interesting at all. Fortunately, we were able to catch a cab and drive out of there before he consumed another hour of our lives.
We dined at La Choza de Laurel, a place designed for tourists, though the food retained its local flair and tasted excellent. My Arroz con Pulpo had the best textured and best flavored octopus I’d ever tried, and the portions were enormous! We finished up there and headed back to the hotel, where I decided to take a little time by myself at the hot tub. As I arrived, I discovered that an enormous cane toad had beaten me to it. Not to be deterred, I asked the staff for a plastic bag, which I used to net the frantic amphibian. As an added perk, this surprisingly difficult feat gave me a marvelous opportunity to subtly flirt with the lindísimo mesero, who was terrified of toads. With the toad free and no E-mail addresses swapped, I sat for about an hour on the edge of the lukewarm hot tub and watched the bats buzzing the swimming pool. They were swift little buggers, and a couple of them flew so close to me that I had to duck a few times to avoid being hit.
12:30 arrived just in time, and after loading up a van, which included four irritating pre-teen girls from Texas, we drove just around the corner to the headquarters to be served a larger-than-expected lunch of chicken and rice. It was delicious, though the four of us were the only family in the group to finish ours. I assume the Texas girls thought it was either gross or fattening. After a brief orientation, everyone piled into a van to drive into La Fortuna, where we switched over to an open-air 4x4 for the rest of the journey up a steep, irregular, dirt road. There was a great deal of bouncing along the way, though fortunately, there were no near-fatalities from someone falling off.
Arriving at base camp, we received out equipment. It took me three tries to get my damned harness on, because the workers kept telling me I had it wrong each time I put it on. It turned out that I had just put my leg through the wrong loop… again and again. Fifteen minutes later, decked out in harness and gloves, we descended to the first waterfall, 150 feet high. Oddly enough, fear evaded me completely this entire time. Rather, I spent the entire time focusing on getting the technique down pat (i.e. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself), which didn’t work so well on the first one. By the second, when we had to free-fall a good way in order to reach the first wall, it started to come together. Third was easy. Fourth left me with a bruise on my side. Fifth was all right, but I still preferred the third out of all of them because the footing was sure enough that I could have a little fun instead of trying to figure out my next foothold.
The rain started on the hike back and followed us to the top. It was nice to have our waterproof bags with us to keep the cameras dry, though the rain was the least of the wetness concerns at that point. We piled back into the 4x4 and plodded out down the road once again. Our guide told us about a man who works for them, who, every morning, gets up at 4:00 to go check the cables. He’s nearly seventy years old and of the impression that without work, he will die. The attachment alarm is going off! Still, that’s some admirable dedication, and honestly, I empathize completely with him. Workaholics Anonymous, here we come.
We returned to the hotel in the pouring rain for Father’s Day Happy Hour, where we bombarded Oldman with beverages in the hopes of getting him plastered. Unfortunately, these drinks were weak enough for me to enjoy, so there were no hilarious Father’s Day drunken shenanigans. However, Oldman did end up with a new friend, some self-centered guy from Miami who decided we would be a great audience for thirty years of stories about his time in Costa Rica, none of which was very interesting at all. Fortunately, we were able to catch a cab and drive out of there before he consumed another hour of our lives.
We dined at La Choza de Laurel, a place designed for tourists, though the food retained its local flair and tasted excellent. My Arroz con Pulpo had the best textured and best flavored octopus I’d ever tried, and the portions were enormous! We finished up there and headed back to the hotel, where I decided to take a little time by myself at the hot tub. As I arrived, I discovered that an enormous cane toad had beaten me to it. Not to be deterred, I asked the staff for a plastic bag, which I used to net the frantic amphibian. As an added perk, this surprisingly difficult feat gave me a marvelous opportunity to subtly flirt with the lindísimo mesero, who was terrified of toads. With the toad free and no E-mail addresses swapped, I sat for about an hour on the edge of the lukewarm hot tub and watched the bats buzzing the swimming pool. They were swift little buggers, and a couple of them flew so close to me that I had to duck a few times to avoid being hit.
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