This was one of our most memorable days. It was action packed.
Well, there are no alarm clocks in the rooms, but luckily we brought ours. Somehow when we were setting the alarm the night before, we pushed it ahead 15 minutes. So this morning we woke up to the alarm clock and got ready for breakfast. We planned it so we got to breakfast right when they were starting - or so we thought. We went to the front door of the restaurant, but it was locked. A couple other groups were doing the same and saw that a few people were going in the side door straight to the dining room. We followed them along, grabbed a table and started helping ourselves to the buffet. About one minute later the manager comes out, looks at us and locks the side door. Shorly after a long line starts to form at the door. It was a funny scene with four couples/families eating while the rest of the guests stood in line staring at us.
WATERFALL RAPELLING
We had the 7 am PURETREK waterfall rapelling trip. If you like adventure you must do this. It is hard to explain it, but it was amazing. Puretrek was by far the best tour company we worked with. I felt they went way beyond what was expected as far as safety. The guides were wonderful. Spoke perfect english. I didn't believe the main guide when he told me he wasn't from the US.
Everything was explained clearly to us and I never felt at easy with safety. Basically the trip consists of going on a truck 8 km I believe down a dirt road. From there you get your gear on and hike a little bit to the first waterfall.
The first rapell is NEXT to the waterfall. The other 3 waterfall rapells are THROUGH the waterfall. Quite invigorating. I think we saw the most beautiful scenery of our trip during these 3 hours.
I will say that I was much more nervous doing this than the ziplines. I'm not sure why. I do have a bit of a scare of heights but the ziplines didn't bother me. My husband was the opposite though.
We had one person back out before the first waterfall and they took her down to the bottom.
Also, you should be fairly fit to do this activity. The hike back up was extremely strenuous. I'm very active and was huffing and puffing by the top.
The guy that runs it is from LA so we chatted for a while. He told us of his plans for the "base camp" as I call it where we had a good lunch. He plans to add a pool and rock climbing/bouldering wall to the grounds. He has done a great job with the place.
I didn't know but they have showers there that are pretty nice and you can change afterwards. We just went home wet.
THE POOL
We spent a few hours in the afternoon at the Arenal Paraiso pool. There were not many people at the hotel and it was quite peaceful. They have a whole string of hot spring jacuzzi size pools that lead up the hill. Some are pretty private. If it weren't so hot out we would have spent more time in them.
The swim up bar was pretty cool. You can sit on these underwater bar stools and order drinks at a bar while staying in the pool. You also have a vew of the volcano from there. The drinks were pretty overpriced so we only did that once.
ECO TERMALES HOT SPRINGS
We opted to go here instead of Tabacon or Baldi. People who we met along our trip would ask us about Arenal and none of them had heard of this place.
Most everything I have to say about this place has been said before. We LOVED it. So peaceful. The family is wonderful. I have heard Tabacon compared to Hollywood, and that just wasn't what we were looking for. There were several more secluded pools (smaller) and we never had to share one of those pools with anyone. Our favorite spot was at the top pool there is a big waterfall that comes into the pool. You can push your way through the wall of water and there are seats behind the wall. It is really hot so you can't stay in there for long but it is like a sauna. Very cool. Also there is a string of waterfalls leading down to one of the lower small pools. If you climb up the first waterfall ledge, the next area is sunken in so that you can sit in it. Pretty cool to be in the waterfalls relaxing in hot water.
I will say that the dinner was one of the most unbelievable meals we have EVER had before. My husband is still talking about it. They had amazing salad as well as everything else. He said he would have paid the $60 just for the food.
The price seemed to have raised $1. For dinner and the hotsprings it was $28 a person.
We made reservations through email two days before we got there.
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