Canyoneering = "Serious Fun!"

Saturday was a day of adventure as the 13 of us headed off to go Canyoneering. Because of the intense physical nature of this activity, pictures could not be taken during the actual experience, which truly is indescribable. But, since this was my blog day, I will do my best.

We boarded our buses from Volcano Lodge and met our main tour guide, Marvin, who gave us an overview of the canyoneering experience as well as some history about the canyon. For those not familiar with canyoning (as I wasn't), it involves rappelling down mountain sides using ropes, harnesses, and your hands! It was scary to learn that we would be attached to a rope through our harness that we would then control the speed and "the brake". To me, this meant we would be freefalling through the rainforest, down mountains, with nothing between us and the rocky crags below but our hands. This was not the case, however, as our wonderful Tico tour guides harnessed us in safely and reassured us that, not only would we be strapped in, but that there would always be a guide at the bottom of the rope JUST IN CASE we lost control of our brake hand. With all this information, we strapped securely into our harnesses, buckled on our helmets, and grabbed our soggy gloves as we began our descent into the forest.

The first rappelling challenge was a 30 foot rocky waterfall incline. Kara went first and the entire group followed as we twisted, turned, fell, tripped and finally made our way down the first hill. We got soaked, of course, not only by the natural waterfall, but also by Marvin who splashed us all the way down. The next rappelling challenge was a short walk from the first, but was 4 times as tall. We rappelled down a 120 ft. mountain side that also had a waterfall running down the side. This one was a bit scarier as we had to lower our heads below our feet before we dropped off the platform. After dominating the second platform, we walked a short, but very wet, 5 minutes to the 3rd platform, which we also handled with ease. The 4th and final rappel was a guided 200 ft. rappel down a waterfall and through the trees. It was an amazing feeling as we zoomed through the trees and were sprayed by the water falling down the cliff. Next, we took a short hike to a secluded waterfall and took a nice, natural shower fully clothed. We finished up with a 15 minute run/hike back up to the base where we all collapsed onto benches and enjoyed a freshly prepared Costa Rican meal. We even got to capture our day's worth of memories on a photo cd of over 300 pictures! I will try to upload some at a later point when they are copied onto the computer. Now, time to sleep! Canyoneering wore me out!

P.S. Here's the link to the Canyoneering website of the company we used. http://www.desafiocostarica.com/index.php?lang=en&opt=tour&id=21&cat=f#top2 It's very hard to explain the experience in words, so if you ever get the chance - just do it!