If you read Laura's post "Remember Me?", you know about the 4 1/2 hour hike up the mountain, through the jungle, into the reserve and, eventually, to an inland section of the Rio Claro. If it mearly sounded hard, she grossly under-sold it!
April and Fiona were intrigued and wanted to give it a shot. They were insistent that just because it was really hard for Mamma and her fellow yoga teachers in training, that did not mean that it would be too hard for the three of us. So we went for it.
Two hours there, over steep, muddy hills where the assent side broke your legs, bum, back and spirit and the descent side broke your knees and ankles (mine anyway). The final descent down to the river valley was probably 300-400 meters in elevation over 1/2 km of trail so it was killer!
But it was all worth while when we got down to the river valley and got to experience the rope bridge and swimming hole that Laura had told us about. We even found a place in the slow-moving river that was neck deep on me and over the girls' heads!
And then the part that makes difficult physical endeavors that are a round trip so hard - doing it all over again to get back! Climbing up out of the river valley back to the highest part of the terrain was a real opportunity for both me and girls to see what we were made of. The girls were absolutely tough as nails. Not because it wasn't incredibly challenging, but because they accepted that it was and just gritted their way through it anyway.
I could not have been more proud!
And when we made our way back out of the Costa Rican mountains, we went into town for banana chocolate smoothies to recharge and celebrate!
(Taking a break - right here, right now!)
(The bridge)
Hasta luego!