The weather gods finally smiled upon us and allowed us one good day to hike without rain! We ventured out early for the hour drive of curves. Still no puking, but headaches nonetheless. We finally found the location of the hanging bridges. It is not well labeled and a very easy turn to miss.
There were 16 bridges, six of which were suspension bridges. We chose not to take a guided tour (these excursions are expensive enough) but we somehow managed to get behind every tour group anyway. Since we followed them, we did find out that there should only be about 12 people on the suspension bridge at a time. They are wobbly enough. One was about 50 meters off the ground! Liam was pretty freaked out and yelled at all of us for allegedly shaking the bridge. Then he blamed others for walking on only one side of the bridge or for being overweight There was no way of explaining any logic or physics to him. He simply didn't like it and lashed out in every way to mask his fear.
View of the Arenal Volcano just before you start the trail
Our first bridge....still smiling
Maeve confidently walks across the bridge
Views from a bridge when I was feeling a little confident to stop and snap a quick pic
Another view from the bridge
Gives you an idea why Liam was apprehensive
One advantage of being stuck behind a tour group is being able to see what they find. One guide found a poison dart frog. It was too tiny to see and I didn't want to look like Elaine from Seinfeld episode where she is trying to get a workout by taking advantage of someone else's paid trainer at the gym. Other things were easier to see. Monkeys....lots of them. And then there was the massive snake. I'm not sure I would have noticed it if the guide hadn't spotted it and pointed it out. It was huge, but you had to be looking down on the side of where the bridge met the land. All I heard was the guide saying in Spanish that it was the type that squeezed (constrictor) and that was enough for me. I quickly snapped two pictures as I walked by (or should I say I was pushed by my husband who couldn't get by fast enough). They guide stayed there to make sure everyone passed safely. Later, I found out they closed the trail until someone could safely relocate the snake. Phew.
It's blurry, but you get the idea
It was a great hike. Lots to see and lots of hills. Liam said we would be 'ripped' by the end of our trip if we kept this up. I'm not so sure, but we'll see.
waterfall to the side of the trail
