Viaje con David!! Part 2

Monteverde and Playa Conchal

The next day, David and I took the public boat across Lake Arenal to get to Monteverde, the famous Cloud Forest (aka Level 3 in SuperMario Brothers right Travis?). The view leaving Arenal was sweet and the boat ride was well worth it.

Monteverde, much to David's liking, was cooler and not nearly as humid. We checked into our second hostel, bought a loaf of bread, Nutella and guayaba jelly and had lunch. That afternoon we signed up for a Canopy Tour, aka ziplining! There are a good 5 or 6 companies in town, so after weighing our options, we decided on the one, the only, Extremo Canopy Tour! It sure was extreme. As if the 14 regular ziplines weren't enough, we got thrown a few surprises.

The first was a 50 ft rappel down a gigantic tree. We dropped down so fast I could smell the rope burning against the metal piece on my harness. The second was a Tarzan Swing. High up on a platform, we attached our harnesses to a rope that hung from a distant tree and swung through the air like Tarzan. The guides purposely leave you with slack in the rope so you don't start your swing right away, rather you free fall for half a second first! It was a huge rush of energy. Not quite the same rush as bungee jumping though :) Lastly, instead of hanging normally in a sitting position for the last zipline, we flipped our harness to our backs, added a chest harness, hung up our feet, and went flying through the air Superman style for almost an entire kilometer! What topped it all off was we were up SO high in the cloud forest that most of our time on the cable was in complete fog!! At times you could see parts of the ground far beneath you. But you honestly can't get any closer to flying than this (still being attached to something, that is). It was such an awesome experience.

The next morning we took a bus to Sardinal, caught a bus going to Liberia, and finally our last bus got us to Playa Flamingo. I made a friend with a 3 year old on the last bus :)

We relaxed at Playa Flamingo for a while...

but our ultimate goal was to find the famous but secluded Playa Conchal. We ended up walking a few kilometers to the small beach town Brasilito where we decided to spend the night. Let me just say, as far as transportation and lodging went, I only planned our trip up to Monteverde. It was different (and nice) for a change to figure things out as we went. We found a hotel right on the beach that had AIR CONDITIONING. I have to tell you it was the first room I'd stayed at in months that had A/C. David was in heaven and I was in shock.

With a good amount of daylight left, we set out to find this Playa Conchal. I've yet to tell you why it was our ultimate destination. Well, simply put, Conchal basically means shelly. Usually you go to sandy beaches. Playa Conchal didn't have sand. Instead, all you saw, all you felt, all there was...were shells! Soft, polished dime-sized sea shells lined this beach from top to bottom. No matter how far down we tried to dig we only found shells. And, since the shells are lighter in color than sand, sunlight hits the water with more clarity giving the ocean a crystal clear blue appearance. Amazing.

Furthermore, it was kind of scary at first because the shells just DROP out from under you no more than 10 feet from the shore. The shore gets deep fast due to the shells somehow. Plus, when each wave recedes, some weird effect makes you get sucked out into the ocean and pushed toward the shore by the next wave at the same time! Even weirder! For hours, David and I laid in just enough water to let the waves carry us effortlessly up and down the shore. Incredible. Everyone must experience this. So go to Conchal on your next vacation :) Besides, David's got all the Conchal pictures so I guess you'll have either find him or go there yourself!

Other pictures:
More to come soon!