Arenal Part 2

Had I ziplined before? Yes. Had it been an incredible experience? Yes. Was ziplining with the volcano Arenal and lake Arenal (which happens to be where the old town of Arenal was flooded to create a hydro electric dam) in front of me seriously amazing? YES, yes it was!

First Run!

And yeah, the volcano with whisps of clouds while I am in/above the canopy of the forest, I am in!

Hey Pauli, is that a go pro on your head? Why yes, yes it is!
Do you know how to use it? Why no, no I do not!
Are you going to have massive fun with it anyway? Why yes I will :)

Sorry, until I remember how to upload videos, the blog will stay photos only. But I do have some pretty awesome videos, though they are not for those prone to motion sickness.

After the canopy tour, we went on a walk to a waterfall nearby. In a stunning twist, I was encouraging the kids who were less than enthused about a hike and keeping them going. When did I become the cheerleader for hiking?! We did see some cool animals, have a lot of fun together, and see a neat waterfall, so I GUESS hiking is ok...

After we got back to the hotel, we ran off to our next activity- Baldi. This is a pretty famous hot springs resort most often seen in American Culture on Wheel of Fortune when a contestant wins a trip to Costa Rica. And I don't know about the rest of the resort, but the hot springs were a lot of fun. Maybe I could have gone the relaxing hot springs route, but again, that would not be me. Instead, an 11 year old nominated me their adult so that they could leave their mom and younger siblings and explore hotter hot springs. We made our way up until we reached the top, but it was downright cold compared to the one before it. We realized it was the exit for 3 water slides. Well, duh we had to try them out!

Slide 1- This slide was called the fastest by the staff member at the top of the structure. So of course we need to try it out first. The kid would like to go second, alright, I am first. First difference from water parks I remember in the States is hand placement. The last waterslide I was on was the Volcano (realizing now how funny that is) at Universal Studios. There, you cross your arms and drop. I feel like crossing your arms in fists toward the opposite shoulder is the way of the states. (Please correct me if I am wrong). Here in Costa Rica or at least at Baldi, you interlock your fingers behind your head with your elbows facing forward. This is important as it leads to difference number 2. When they say "this is the faster one" they fail to mention that safety regulations about how fast a body can move through the curves of these tunnels seems to be VERY different from any other water slide I have been on. Exhilarating is an understatement! After we were done with the slides, we were extremely entertained by the bewildered faces of everyone coming out of that slide. You don't know which way is what when you get out of that one.

Slide 2- This slide was the other option for a closed tunnel experience. And while the staff member had indicated the other one was faster, I don't believe it was by a vast margin AT ALL. On this one, I had my arms crossed as I went in (another reason I believe that is more typical in the states, because it was what I naturally went to) and the staffer called out to put my arms around my head JUST in time for the first curve. By the 2nd curve I was VERY happy they'd reminded me. At the 3rd or 4th curve (they all blurred) I realized wait, my body has flipped over on it's side and I am now facedown in the water. I flipped myself back over on the last curve just in time to get spit out into the pool with the kid laughing hysterically at the look on my face.

Slide 3- Now, the same structure had an open faced slide a level below the first two slides. We debated skipping it before heading over to the "kids" section of slides (kids is in quotes for a reason). Finally we decided, no, we want to do them all. We'd seen people going down that slide, but never really watched them. It was my turn to go first, so down I went thinking I would get a break from the adrenaline. NOPE. This one featured a small drop in the middle that caused my heart to freeze up in the slide while my body was sent by gravity to the pool. I had recovered by the time the kid came down and so I asked if they were as surprised as I was by the drop. "Nope," huge smile, "I watched you, saw you drop and heard you scream, so I knew it was coming."

Slide 4- We moved into the "kids park." One half was the kind of kid's structures you see at a playground, but with water, and the giant bucket that fills up with water and dumps it onto a roof and splashes anyone standing below. The OTHER half was our slide number four, a closed tunnel slide with a few twists and then you come shooting out the toilet bowl spin around a bit and drop a few feet into the pool below. Everyone else called it the toilet bowl, but I didn't like to think what that made me as I swirled around, so I preferred to call it the marble exhibit from the science museum. So somehow by kid logic, it was my turn to go first, and off I went. Swirling around the marble bowl was actually really fun, but then I realized, wait, how do I go into the pool at least somewhat gracefully. I discovered the answer very quickly: Graceful wasn't in the cards for my exit. My whole body flopped sideways and I side body flopped into the pool below. It was quite funny and luckily only witnessed by a few.

Slides 5-?- By the time my buddy had decided that we needed to ride EVERY slide in the park. This included the kids' slides in the playground structure. And this is where I found some major flaws in this plan. 1, I had a bit more mass than the folks who normally go down these slides and acquired a bit more speed. But that the bottom was an inch maybe two of water, and a stone floor. It was either an abrupt stop with my feet and use my momentum to stand up, or skid on the stone bottom. I opted for the first, but it was definitely and adrenaline filled moment! The next slides were slightly more difficult for other reasons. On one, I was able to fit if I turned sideways. On another I could barely squish into the frogs head to get down it's slide tongue. But in the end, we conquered every slide in the park. After going back to the fast slide pool and watching friends and strangers come out of the slides, we reconnected with their family. After we were dry and getting ready for dinner, it became clear that the younger siblings needed a more calm environment stat, but the oldest wanted to stay with the rest of our group for dinner at Baldi. I was happy to continue hanging out with them, so mom set off. 

As we started off to find the restaurant, it started pouring. And that was when we realized that the bag with all their rain stuff had gone back to hotel with their family.

And this is yet another reason that ponchos are the greatest!

Yes, the 11 year old is taller than I am. I am spatially efficient!

My other favorite moment of the night occurred when I got up to get a salad after the rest of my meal. The kid followed me saying they needed to stick to me since I was their Mom for the night. We both stopped for a second, they looked at me and said, "no, cool aunt." I accepted that, and we continued to have a great time. That included seconds and maybe thirds of dessert (after having a bit of dessert before the meal, JUST as a taste test. I am a cool aunt :)

PS, for those worried about my corruption of the youth, a few days later during the coffee break, I watched the younger ones "sneakily" getting some coffee followed by MASSIVE amounts of sugar, and saw their mom watching. She shrugged and said "pura vida. They won't get any at home, so it won't hurt them too much to play around here." That totally sent me back to memories of my brother and me and our friends running around Klezkamp/Workmen's Circle Convention/Yiddish Vokh/Any conference I am forgetting, and trying out "the forbidden" THINKING we were being sneaky while every single adult watched and went, yeah, ok.