Day 1: Arrival and travel to Arenal Paraiso Resort and spa
An early start, I get up at 4am to head to the airport. 2 hours early for international flights right? Wrong, I was actually flying American to Miami first so I really didn't need to get up that early, but eh, no lines right. First flight went well, pretty much slept, second flight was pretty fun. That's because I subscribe to the Adam Corolla rules of flying - constantly order drinks. Really, it makes the flight so much better. I meet up with a few of the fellow adventurers at the end of the flight and we proceed to find our way out through customs and around the airport, as we have no real clue where we are going (most of the group is flying Delta an hour later). We finally meetup with everybody and begin the loose introductions. I've only met a few people from whitewater rafting and it seems most people don't yet know each other. We've got 30 people, so quite a crowd. Our first stop is a casino/restaurant because most of haven't eaten unless you count the pretzels on the airplane as a meal (I don't). I was actually hoping to do some gambling, but the bar and food was about all we had time for, and I don't think they had the table games open yet. Onward to the resort. The driver drops us off at Maxi Bodega, which is actually owned by WalMart. Most of us head straight for the liquor/beer isle , which was quite impressive. They actually had one of my favorite wheat beers, Paulander, but only 5, so I bought them all, and some bottled water. That was the last time I'd see a wheat beer for the rest of the trip, pretty much every place had the local beer, imperial, or Corona. I certainly tried the local one, but it wasn't my taste. We finally arrive to the resort, it's pretty nice. I meet my roommate Kevin and I believe we all head to the dinner buffet. Pretty good food, I recall beans and rice and chicken being the staple almost everywhere we went. The plantains were really the best, fried especially, very sweet and tasty at just about every meal. That night we all head to the pool bar. This pool is actually fed from the hot springs from the Arenal volcano and trickles down to several pools. The water's nice and warm, though pretty murky, however you don't tend to think about that when it's night and everyone's is partying it up. I get to test out my underwater camera, a really really good idea. I can't say how many times underwater cameras were needed at this trip, especially since my main Canon died later, it was pretty crucial.

Day 2: Ecoglide Canopy Tour & horseback ride to Canopy Tour
This is an adventure vacation, not a party vacation, so we've got a full day planned. We start with the canopy tour, which if you've never been is basically a series of zip lines through the rain forest. I've actually done this in Jamaica, and it was my favorite part of that trip. I don't know if this was as good, but it could have been I was so excited because it was my first time before. It was still enjoyable, and they had a Tarzan swing. Basically they strap you up push you off this platform where you freefall before the swing kicks in and you swing way out. Similar to what you see in the amusement parks, it was actually pretty fun, I love anything that involves freefall. The only bad part was the guides had to stop you by grabbing at your legs why you fly by, often resulting in bruises and even a lost shoe in at least one case. But at the end we are rewarded with a cold carves, so I can't be too critical. I believe our next step was lunch in the local La Fortuna town. This place didn't look to impressive, basically an open structure that had a kitchen on one side. But wow, the food was amazing. I had the BBQ ribs and they brought them, along with most of the dishes still flaming. Really great presentation and the taste backed it up. Then there was some debate if we were going back to the hotel to change before going on our horseback ride, here some of the personality conflicts start to show. But with any group of 30 people, it's going to be hard to have everyone agree on anything. We finally work it out, with those who need to going to change while the others do some shopping. Next, we're off to go horseback riding. This was actually the thing I was least looking forward to you, I've never been horseback riding but it didn't seem that exciting. Well I have to say I was totally wrong. These really were not great horses, but when they started trotting and racing among each other it was pretty fun. Now they weren't galloping or anything (I'm guessing at horse terminology here), but I could still barely hold on. We ride for about half an hour (and my ass and thighs really feel it), before hiking down a trail in the rain forest. We cross a swimming bridge, which seem to be pretty popular in Costa Rica. Fine by me, always more fun when it sways. We end up at a pool at the bottom of a beautiful 230 ft waterfall. This thing was huge and you could feel a force of air coming from it. Some people tried to swim under it, but it was like a brick wall of force when you were still 20 feet away. Water cameras were pretty much required as you'd get sprayed with water even from 100 feet away. The water was cold, but it was really a great end to the hike. Time to hike back up to the horses, you defiantly don't want flip flops on this hike. I was glad I had my hiking shoes as it was pretty slippery at times. On way back we stop by to "chat" with some local Indians. We learn their native greeting is saying, "Copy copy" and patting the person's right shoulder. Now this did seem pretty suspect, especially since the guy had a feather on his head, a bit too stereotypical if you ask me. They seemed to just want us to buy painted balsa wood masks, which weren't really too intricate or anything, kinda paint by numbers actually. Needless to say I passed, but can't blame them for trying. Actually Costa Rica was pretty good about those things in general, none of that pushiness you get in most countries and there was some bargaining room. That night brought another fantastic dinner at another local restaurant. This place had amazing tropical drinks. They actually cored out pineapples for pina coladas and used them as the glass, can't get fresher fruit than that. I'm not 100% what we did after, it probably involved an after-party at someone's room. Drinking and shooting the shit before we retire for another full day tomorrow.

Day 3: Rappelling and Baldi Hot springs
We start off with most painful 4x4 ride I've ever experienced. Very rough and bumpy roads and we're packed into 3 trucks. Of course all these harness wearing activities and horseback riding doesn't help. Then we're off to do 5 rappels over and into waterfalls. Quite a few people scared about this one, as it's basically sit back over the cliff and drop. You couldn't easily see what was coming, but most people got the hang of it after a few tries. It was some neat rappelling, you got wet a few times. It did take a bit with so many people, but I enjoyed, can't say it was my favorite since I'm a rock climber anyway. They did serve us some delicious lunch, with incredible tasting juice. I think it was guavabanilla or something maybe not like that at all. All I know it was fresh and delicious. That evening we were off to Baldi Hot Springs, the "touristy" resort (i.e. drinks are twice the price). I actually really enjoyed this, it had pools from the hot springs like our hotel, only they filtered it so it was clear instead of murky brown. They had lot of pools, some super burning hot, and lots of pool bars. My favorite part was the water slide. No way they'd ever have a slide like this in the US. It basically just twisted a few times but then it launched you airborne around a corner before landing and splashing into the pool. It was so exilerating, I did it about half a dozen times. We had a group of us just watching the landings, who had the biggest splash, farthest, worst landing, ect. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed there for another great dinner, really there wasn't a single meal I didn't enjoy. Afterwards we headed up to the Arenal volcano. At nightfall, you are supposed to see the red lava flow. Unfortunately it was cloudy each night we went and we couldn't see it. We were also supposed to go out to the clubs after, but they were closed mid-week. That didn't stop us from having a crazy dance party on the bus. I believe it started with a sing along to "I love rock and roll." Somewhere in the mess I think my camera got broken though, it stopped focusing and starting making a bad mechanical noise. I think it's still under warranty though, so we'll see, and luckily I had the water camera so I could still take pictures all week.

Day 4: Whitewater Rafting
The scuba divers head off to Hilton this morning, leaving us with a group of 7 adventure-only people. Luckily everyone left was pretty cool and it was a more close-knit group than when were all together. On the transfer over we did get to see a tree of holler monkeys, which we had been looking for all week. Our first adventure activity was whitewater rafting, I was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, they were at the end of dry season and the water was pretty low. It should have been class 3 and 4 rapids, but it was 1 and 2 basically, nothing that you really had to work hard on. A few local kids followed us down in half-inflated interties if that gives you an idea. It was a nice day though, no rain, we really only had rain the first night and a few brief showers in-between activates. We did get so see some wildlife though. At the end we had a nice bridge we could drop off, which was actually kinda scary. It's one of those things that doesn't look bad from below, but when it's time to look over the edge and jump, it's not so easy. That night was pretty laid back, we had dinner at the steakhouse at the resort. Have you ever seen a steakhouse where they don't have steak knives? At first we almost had butter knives and then got something slightly better, but certainly made you work to eat.

Day 5: Hacienda Guachipelin @ Ricon de la Vieja Volcano
This was pretty much a travel/off-day. We ended up staying at a working cattle ranch. Much more rustic, smaller place. They had a pool and bar with limited selection and that was about it. The drinks were not very strong either, I think that's when I decided to make it a long island iced tea night. I'm pretty sure that was the first time any of them had made a long island, and they had varying degrees of success. Everything closed at 10 and there was no town nearby so we pretty much just went to bed. We did have a few really cool pets at the ranch. They had a pair of very friendly Australian dogs who loved playing catch with rocks. Apparently they don't have tennis balls so they would just grab a rock from the ground and drop it off at your feet so you could throw it to them. We also had a friendly, yet stinky cat, that liked to climb up on your lap. The dogs would be at our doorsteps when we woke up and wait for us to come back from dinner, great dogs.

Day 6: Horseback & Adventure Tubin'
We started off horseback riding to the black river. Luckily our horses were much bulkier than the skinny one's we had before. I'd also gotten better at standing up so my ass doesn't get constantly slammed in the saddle too (a very good thing). Then we loaded up for the tubin' which was completely different than what I expected. We had to have helmets and everything on. I'm used to Harper's ferry where you float down, drink a beer, and a few times the water gets a little faster. This was no such river. This was basically a narrow whitewater shoot with pools between each rapid. It was really cool, I think my favorite activity of the whole trip. The water was still low but they had guides swimming and pushing us when we got stuck. You were also much closer to the water and would spin down the rapids without control, I think that's what really made it for me. It reminded me of a flume ride at an amusement park. Next up was hike of the volcano crater. This was a really good hike, we go to see and feel the mud boiling up from the volcano. Our guide was really good, pointing out some cool wildlife and giving us a history. We even got to see a Tucan. Afterwards we headed back to our ranch and just chilled and played some cards before bed.

Day 7: Mud bath and Papagayo Gulf
Four of us went to the local spa to do the Volcanic Mud bath. Apparently this volcanic mud is very rare and this is one of the few places you can do it. They start us off in a sauna for a bit to prepare our skin. Next, they showed us this boiling mud pit and we're thinking, "We're supposed to get in, that??" No they actually scooped it up into a bowl with paintbrushes. We than began painting each other with this hot mud. It felt kinda strange on my skin, but not bad. We were completely covered in mud, head to toe, face and everything. Then they had us lay out in the sun for 10 minutes, while the mud hardens and your kinda a stiff mud zombie. Very unique experience, after showering we relaxing in another natural hot spring tub. Next we were off to the 5-star Hilton to join the divers, who had been there the first few days. This place was very nice, fully-stocked open bar, great food, many pools, and of course beautiful clear war. We pretty much went straight for the pool bar, and unlike the first hotel this wasn't murky water at all. It was pretty much all about relaxing and chilling at this point. Not completely true of course, after dinner we got a bus clubbing to town. We ended up stayin' out until 2:30 I believe, some people were dancing non-stop. The night also left no question who was hooking up with who either, it's always amusing, in the beginning of these trips people have suspicious and people try to be discreet. But by the end of the week, especially out dancin', there is no doubt.

Day 8: Papagayo Gulf
This is our first and only full day at the resort and I wanted to make the most of it. I was up fairly early (8:30am), and hit the beach for some snorkeling. I didn't see a whole lot, but lots of schools of fish and a really big somethingortheother (I believe that's latin). The water was great, crystal clear and very warm. After doing the beach and pools for a while, some of us rented some mopeds to explore around. Wow, I've never ridden a motorcycle or anything but this was really cool. They give you a 3 second training lesson, turn key, this is gas, this is brake. It didn't take long to get ahold of it and by the end I was lovin' leaning into those downhill turns. We rode around for 2 or 3 hours, got to see some more of costa rica, including the town we went clubbing at. Upon returning it was more pool bar time and just swimming around. We had reservations at the formal restaurant that night. Everyone got pretty dressed up and some of the food was soo good. I had a double order of beef Carpaccio.. soo tender and delicious. A note for those of you on cruises and inclusive resorts like this, you are not limited to order just 1 appetizer and 1 entree.. so eat till your heart's content. After dinner some people crashed but a few of us stayed up playing pool and chilling as long as we could. We had to be checked out by 5:30am, so Sunday was certainly a long trip home.

Wrap-Up: Overall a very well planned trip. A good mix of adventure and leisure. We had people from all over the place actually, about 15 from Vanessa's diving group, 10 from the adventure group, and another 5 or so from Seattle, Canada, Georgia and Texas who had just found about it online. No major accidents or ill will among the group, good times all around. We'll just have to see what's next.