The Farm

We've had another great day in Costa Rica. We started the day with a bit of souvenir shopping in Fortuna. We were rained on, but our quest for the perfect trip momento was not dampened. After shopping, we went to visit the Don Juan Organic Farm. We got to harvest spinach, tomatoes, radishes, and cassava for our lunch. We saw and learned about many different fruits and vegetables, we got to press sugar cane and drink the the juice and sing "Cana Dulce" to our guide. We then had a delicious lunch made from things we had harvested, and well as other foods grown on the farm, in a covered open air dining room next to a small river. We watched as a downpour surrounded us as we ate. After watching the rain, we can believe that this area of Costa Rica gets nine feet a year of rain. Next we took a hike on the El Silencio trails on the west side of the Arenal volcano. We walked through lush a rain forest and saw howler monkeys, toucans, sloths, vipers and all kinds of interesting plants. It was so interesting to see the rain forest from the forest floor since we had seen it from above when we were zip-lining yesterday. Next we went to the Escotermales Fortuna Hot Springs, a series of pools fed with volcanic hot water. Very relaxing. We had a delicious dinner there before returning to our hotel for the night. Tomorrow we leave Arenal for the Mid Pacific area. This beautiful area has been very good to us!

Sarah Hill harvested cassava for our lunch.

Savanna Galloway and Caitlin Giddings show off the tomatoes they picked.

Michael Sanders and Amanda Jenkins picked radishes for our salad.

Rudi Yniguez and Hope Collins picked a basketful of spinach.

Dominic Mallari and Kyle Matsumoto run a length of sugar cane through a sugar cane press.

Eagle Scout Addison Twede was prepared for a rain shower.

We saw howler monkeys on our hike in the rain forest.

Toucan Sam showed off his beak for us on our hike.

Wes Jackman, Camille buick, Jeff Mayberry and Gavin Graham at the hot springs.

Madi Harner, Sarah Hill, Dominic Mallari and Jordan Sharp relaxing at the hot springs.

Hannah Moty, Addison Twede and Gavin Graham pose for the camera.

Zip Lining Video

Just thought that you should all be able to see what we experienced while zip lining. This video gives you a good glimpse into what we did. This video is of Camille Buick. In the background you can hear her mother freaking out a little.

Zip Lining

This next video is of Jordan Sharp as he is sailing across the second large zip line.




Be patient with this last video of the zip lining. I started recording and then prepared to zip across the forest. It gives you a good view of what we were looking at when we were 500 feet above the forest ground.


Flying High

Flying High in Costa Rica

Another exciting day in Costa Rica! We started with a post-mass concert at Iglesia de la Fortuna. Fortuna is a town about ten minutes from our resort. The people were very appreciative and kind. The kids sang beautifully, and the audience especially responded to "My Spirit Sang All Day," "Peace Like a River," and "Cana Dulce." Many people came up to us after the concert and expressed their gratitude for the concert. Our next activity was the much anticipated zip lining. WOW!!! What an exhilarating experience! We "flew" on a series of 8 lines near the Arenal volcano. We went whizzing over the canyons of the rain forest with views of Arenal lake and the surrounding mountains and valleys. The longest line was 650 meters and with speeds up to 50 miles per hour. What a rush!! We had a great dinner at a local restaurant and then spent another lovely evening swimming at our resort. Can't wait till tomorrow.

Concert at Iglesia de la Fortuna.

Kyle Matsumoto with a local who was waiting to hear our concert.

Waiting outside the Iglesia de la Fortuna before our concert.

Waiting on the steps of the church.

Nikki Sarti and Amber Spencer modeling their new rain jackets.

Michele Spencer's lunch in Fortuna was "Volcano Rice."

Sarah Hill and Madi Harner ready to zip line.

Riding the tram up to the zip lines.

Ashley Aboud, Brooke Powell and Hailey Thompson ready for an adventure.

Mr. Perez flying through the rain forest.

Gavin Graham walking to the last zip line.

We're ready!

All smiles before....

Fearless Mary Forbes and Danger-loving Donna Nelson.

Michael Sanders starting out.

Rudi Yniguez and David Fowler at our resort.

View of the Arenal volcano.

Jeff Mayberry and Jared Matheson.

Chris Stadick ready to go.

Relaxing at the resort.

More Videos

Here are some more videos from our travels. The Cana Dulce video is our combined piece with the Costa Rican choir.

Cana Dulce

This next video is after the concert had ended. The audience started clapping for more. So the Costa Rican choir sang a love song to our group that they had performed earlier in the evening. The kids and audience loved this piece.

Love Song

This is a video of the kids messing around in the river. We stopped for a few minutes during the rafting. It was a great time for them to get in more splashing.

Rafting

There will be more videos to follow. We are all having a great time!

Our first Video

Listen to the choir sing Peace Like a River at our concert. We performed at the Basilica de Santo Domingo.
Follow the link below to listen.

Peace Like a River

By the way, the kids have been following the blog as we travel. They would love to hear all of your comments about the trip. They feel very supported when they get lots of feedback from the people they love and miss.

Adventures in Costa Rica

Today we left San Jose and traveled to the Arenal Volcano. On the way we stopped at the Sarapiqui River for a rafting excursion. The river runs through rain forest and we expected to see "Jurassic Park" dinosaurs tromping down to the river to take a drink as we paddled by. The river was warm with just enough rapids to make the trip exciting. A few of us took "unplanned swims" during the trip, but we a had a great time. Then we traveled on through the countryside toward Arenal. We drove through agricultural land and rain forest, arriving at the Arenal Moana Hotel in the late afternoon. Our resort has two pools, bungalow type rooms, an open air restaurant and views of the volcano from every room. We're living the high-life now!

Saying goodbye to Casa Conde in San Jose.

On the rafting company's bus on the way to the Sarapiqui River and our rafting adventure.

All ready for rafting!

Aaron Vogt and Roxie Bailey take a swim in the river.

Every raft had six people and one guide.

Paddling is hard work!

Outfitted and ready to go.

We followed a truck load of bananas on the way to Arenal.

Ashley Aboud enjoys the view from the pool.

Danna, Krista, Aaron, Eliza and Roxie.

The patio and view out one of our rooms.

Amanda Jenkins and Bailey Rehmann on their patio.

The cool pool.

The grounds of our resort.

One of our rooms.