Day 2 - La Fortuna (Giddy Up!)

Let’s start by saying that today was one of those days where you had this vision of how it would all go, and then it didn’t. And not so much in a bad way but different. Feel me?

Ok … let’s do this.

MORNING: Headed out about 8am for a 30 min caravan in Pepe (Mike’s rig) and TBD (still working on a name for Matthews rig) to Mystico for the Hanging Bridge tour.

Big Ang’s Vision? Causal walk, seeing birds, sloths, lizards, monkeys, … surrounded by lush green, flat paths and chirping birds as we would take in the sights. All done while sipping cool water (really working on this) as I snapped photos of all to see.

Reality? It was a busy day at Mystico! Lots of people all signed up and ready to hit the trails. Louis Alfonso was our tour guide and seemed eager to share. Shared the tour with a mother/father/daughter trio from DC and a couple from Germany. Kicked off as expected … flat, birds, lush green grass … then … a bit more challenging … and then a bit more of a climb … then the first of 6 hanging bridges. This is where I realized I clearly didn’t read the title of this tour … “hanging bridges”. I’ve always struggled with reading comprehension so no surprise but what a miss! There were 6 of these gems and while I got more comfortable as I conquered each one, the first one was dicey and I questioned so much of life. But then I thought … ok, God … if this is how I go, at least it will be a great story! Spoiler alert! We all made it safe and sound, and it ended up not being my day to meet Jesus.

As for animals? We didn’t see any sloths but we did see beautiful birds, pit vipers, farmer ants and holler monkeys. Louis Alfonso took pics for us so enjoy those. They are keepers!

After lunch, we headed back to the house for quick change for horse back riding …

AFTERNOON GIDDY-UP: This adventure was supposed to be horse-back riding with an option to visit Arenal Waterfall.

Big Ang’s vision? I’d mount my stead, we’d all ride causally in a line along a lush forest, dirt road … come up to a swimming pond where a waterfall pours into (think Dirty Dancing kind of thing).

Reality? Horse back riding was probably the only thing that was true but even that was skewed from my vision of what this would be like. (Quick Note: I’ve never ridden a horse before … ) They put us all on horses with no waivers or instructions except to remember our horses name, and a 30- sec tutorial on how to turn right, left and stop. Then we were off! Zs horse, Mariposa, led the way the whole time. Maybe once Mike and his noble stead, El Tigre or Matthew’s horse, Palomino,had some lead-time but … 99% of the time, Mariposa was out front like Seabiscuit. Me? I’m more of a casual horse rider so me and Talia (my horse) hung back to bringing up the rear pretty much all day. El Tigre really has some struggles up the mountain (yep, up the mountain, not flat), but he made it to their snack/water stop and hung out while we went to check out this waterfall.

This is where the plot twist begins … this water fall … nothing like I have envisioned. The trek up and down, and back up and down again … was stupendous - in a not-so-good way! Legs were burning, Big Ang was grumbling and you couldn’t touch anything! Otto, our guide, said that there are poisonous plants, bugs and snakes so don’t touch anything along the way. Ugh … ok … but should we even risk it?? Not sure Otto was digging all my questions and whining but at this point we were all committed … Mike, Matthew, Lilly, Z (kind of 😂) and I were going to this waterfall. It. Was. Happening.

You can fill in the blanks with the pics and you know the ending because if I didn’t make it, I wouldn’t be writing this. Hahaha!

Short ending to a long story … Arenal Waterfall was super worth it! My booty, quads and calves may have a different take on things but it was truly a work of living art! The Lynn boys bullied me and Lilly into taking a dip so we did, and ended up being ok! No diving tho! Not safe. Z vowed he would keep the rocks on the shore in place, so he elected to be our photographer and hold those down. Lol.

Once we all made our way back up the mountain, again, saddled up and made our way back to the stables … it was time to head to the house, nap and have dinner.

Dinner was at Don Rofinos, which is owned by the same people that own this Airbnb home. A++ for food, service and atmosphere! Exactly what was needed to end a day full of suuuprises!

To bed we go! This cowgirl is mighty tired!

Much love,
M&ALæs mere