Canyoning Adventure in Arenal, Costa Rica

[Danny Solano Alvarez]

 La Fortuna, home of the very popular and stunning Arenal Volcano. I arrived on a Thursday and left the next day, even though it was a quick trip, I truly enjoyed it.

I left San Jose in the early morning, going straight to Ciudad Quesada,  A few hours later, I arrived at One Hotel, where I not only enjoyed a delicious lunch, but also had the chance to explore their facilities. This hotel offers natural thermal waters flowing directly from the rainforest surrounding the property. The restaurant is quite big and offers different services for special events, like weddings and conferences.

After a little exploring of the property, I enjoyed the delicious lunch and embarked myself on direction to my final destination: La Fortuna. The weather was a bit inconstant, raining at times and sunny at moments, very characteristic of the Northern Region of Costa Rica.

Here is where the real adventure begins; the Canyoning Tour was waiting for me. Next morning, by 7 am, I was picked up with my group  transportation and guides. The guides started to describe the tour, on our way to the tour place, the ride took around 15 minutes from the hotel.

The paved road ended, so at this point we left the bus and switch it for a truck, which took us to the tour place. I should highlight that this adventure starts from the moment you take the truck; the views of the surroundings, a few animals in the middle of the way and just the truck itself made a great beginning.

The truck dropped us off at the start location of the tour, where we putted on all the necessary equipment for the tour (helmet, gloves, harness, jacket, etc), took some group pictures and began the real journey.

The tour consisted in 3 waterfalls and one canyon wall, where you need to rappel down the canyon in the middle of the rainforest. We arrived at the first waterfall and received the safety talk as well as the instructions to rappel the canyon. Some people were a little scared about the first canyon, I should confessed this fear was also shared by me; this first waterfall was the highest with approximately 165 feet tall.

After you start to rappel the canyon, you feel the adrenaline going all over your body, for some people like me, it was also mixed with some nervous and strong heart beatings, but after all, you end up having a blast. The guides are all the time there to assure your safety and in case you experience any problem during your way down, they will take control of the cable and will keep you safe.

The first canyon was followed by the second waterfall, which thanks God was shorter, around 80 feet, as the tour goes on, you will feel more and more adrenaline, the second waterfall is really nice, on this one you will definitely get wet.

The third platform is the shortest with 30 feet long; this is actually a rock wall, followed immediately by the last waterfall which is 100 feet. I rappel down all the waterfalls with success and ended up being a great and fun experience.

The guides are always attentive to all safety details and willing to help in anything you might need during the tour. We ended up the last waterfall and took some fun pictures at the bottom of the waterfall and hike the last trail.

We came back to the base; took off all the equipment and get in the truck to catch the bus. Finally, we were taken to facilities, where bathrooms, showers and towels were available for our group.

The final part of this experience was accompanied by a delicious typical Costa Rican lunch: ¨Arroz con pollo¨ while enjoying the photos of the tour. The fun was over, so we finally took the bus back to San Jose.

This canyoning tour was a real blast; totally recommend it for anyone, suitable for everyone and really fun. Check the route I took to reach La Fortuna in the following map:

 

By Maricel