Arenal and the Zipline

Spending a night with a family that has found ways to use sustainable practices on their family farm, and then arriving at this lovely Hotel Kioro, has given me much to think about. The experiences have been vastly different.

Hmmm- lots of warning signs greeted us as we entered Arenal.
This is Hector, he was our tour guide. In this picture he's showing us a plant that is polinated by bats, he called it "fast food" because the bats swoop down and grab a bite and then move on to pollinate other plants.
Hector also showed us this termite nest and told us that if we were ever lost in the forest and needing food - termites have more protein gram for gram than beef and that we could eat them to survive. He suggested we eat one. I did!!! Yum.
We saw two cool animals today. On the left is an Eyelash Viper and on the right a Coatis. Both are found fairly commonly in Costa Rica. The Coatis is kind of like a raccoon. People throw them food so they come around regularly for tourists. Isa warned us however that they do bite.
We hiked to get a closer view of the volcano and from this spot we could hear the rumblings of Arenal and saw lava rocks tumbling down its side.
The flowers are gorgeous...these are from around from all around the hotel.
The hotsprings are naturally heated by the volcano. There are a series of hotspring hot tubs at the hotel. Water cascades from one to the next in gurgling waterfalls.

I didn't get a video of me going down the zipline because I was holding on for dear life...but it was a rush! We started out in daylight and as I sped down the cable high above the rainforest I could see a vibrant sunset over Lake Arenal. The images below aren't me obviously, but you get the idea.

 

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