April 4, 2023 • 28 mins
Katie shares how she fell in love with the canyons of Costa Rica and why you’ll want to add this incredible country to your canyoneering bucket list too!
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Episode Transcript
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Katie (00:08):
Hey everyone.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Katie
Carma (00:10):
and I'm Carma and you're listening to, I'd rather be
canyoneering.
Katie (00:14):
We're best friends who totally geek out about canyon
rigging and beautifully slotcanyons.
Basically we'd always rather becanyoneering.
But when we can't, we spendevery spare minute, we have
talking about it.
Carma (00:26):
This podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
Please seek professionalinstruction and practice
technical skills in a controlledenvironment before entering slot
canyons.
Your safety is entirely your ownresponsibility.
Katie (00:41):
Welcome to our canyon crew!
Carma (00:45):
Hey everyone.
Thanks for dropping in with usagain today.
We're gonna switch things up.
We're gonna hit kind of alighter side that's not so
technical.
Katie recently went on thisawesome trip and we thought it
would be super fun to tell youall about a place you might
wanna go canyoning someday.
So Katie, where did you go?
Katie (01:05):
I just got back from Costa Rica because.
In love with that country,
Carma (01:09):
I mean like what makes it so amazing?
Katie (01:11):
Some of the things that just blow my mind when I'm down
there.
There's this one canyon that Iwanna tell you about, and it was
Ga Madea, and it's not superlong and it's, a wonder.
It's like a gem.
I remember my first time in thatcanyon.
Getting to the first big repel,and I'm standing at the top of
this waterfall looking over andthis teal water is just falling
(01:33):
down.
And I'm looking over at all thejungle vines like straight out
of Tarzan and ferns that arejust as big as me.
And then these giant blue morphobutterflies come flapping around
the top of the waterfall, a pairof'em, and just standing there
with my husband, and this islike our 10 year anniversary.
It just blew my mind.
(01:55):
And then we did the rappel andthat waterfall, actually,
there's a second waterfall thatcomes in from another direction
once you get down there and theteal waterfall meets with a
lavender waterfall and thelighting was.
On a dark day, you might not seeit quite as well, but on this
day, the lighting was perfectand the water just shown like
gems.
Probably one of the most amazingmoments that I've ever, ever
(02:19):
stood in the canyon.
and I just fell in love withCosta Rica right then.
Carma (02:23):
Yeah, that sounds like avatar, honestly.
Like, it sounds likeotherworldly, how does that
happen?
Yeah, it's magical
Katie (02:32):
Absolutely.
And then this trip, one of thedays that it rained, we kinda
had to go quick on our canyon,to beat the storm.
We came out and we were havinglunch as a big storm came
through, and that actually,brought the two cans out.
They're black and so they don'tlike to get hot, and so one of
the naturalists I was talking tosaid you're more likely to see a
two can on a rainy day.
Out and in the sunshine whereyou can see it rather than
(02:54):
hiding in the shade of theleaves.
So that was, that was kind of amagical moment.
Cause I'd really been hoping tosee one of these, yellow chested
toucans, and I did.
So it, it's cool.
Carma (03:03):
they were on your list.
You got one for a animal.
Bingo.
Katie (03:07):
Got home from my animal.
Bingo.
I had seen one on my first trip,but it was kind of in the city
on a telephone wire.
And it wasn't like, like where?
It's not super magical, but thisone it was magic
Carma (03:19):
Yeah, something, uh, you guys probably don't know yet
about Katie, but she reallyloves animals.
So it's one of the things that,if she comes back from a trip,
she's gonna tell you exactlywhat animal she saw,
Katie (03:32):
It's true.
I mean, I've got exotic animals,I've got sugar gliders, and uh,
I've got a list of animals thatI wanna see in the wild someday.
It's kind of my unicorn list.
Carma (03:41):
Hmm.
Katie (03:42):
going down to Costa Rica, I've been able to, uh, knock a
couple off the list
Carma (03:47):
So for those of us who are like geographically
challenged, where is Costa Rica?
Exactly, because I know I got itwrong when you first told me you
were going there.
Katie (03:58):
Fair enough, fair enough.
Costa Rica is in Central Americaso most people can kind of maybe
picture where the Panama Canalis and it's, right down there.
It's a bordering country downthere.
And, right by the equator, whichmeans it's got a lot of tropical
climate, similar to kinda yourCaribbean climate.
Lots of rain, lots of humidity,lots of heat, uh, but it's not a
(04:24):
desert heat.
It's, it's a really cool, humidheat.
I love it.
My husband sometimes are on thecoast.
He's like, I can't breathe overhere.
Um, but He definitely doesn'tcomplain when we're in the
mountainous areas, which iswhere a lot of the canyons are.
They're more in the mountainousareas and less on the coast.
Carma (04:40):
So what is the country like in Costa Rica?
How easy is it to get around?
Are people friendly there?
Katie (04:49):
Sure.
I really enjoyed it.
I've had the good fortune overthe years to have gone to a lot
of countries.
And I'm not trying to likecountry drop here, but just as a
comparison.
I've been to England andScotland.
I've been to the South Pacific,so like New Zealand, Australia,
Fiji, I've been down to Peru andMexico and some other countries
too.
But as a comparison, I would saythat Costa Rica was probably one
(05:12):
of the easiest countries thatI've gone to.
Very, very tourist oriented, butnot tourist.
So,
Carma (05:21):
That's nice.
Katie (05:22):
Ecotourism is huge.
In Costa Rica.
The country has made greatefforts to preserve the natural
resources.
So they have national parks,they have animal and wildlife
conservation areas.
They have lots of places thatare being protected in order to
protect the wildlife and theenvironment.
(05:42):
In fact, they've been recently.
Buying back some of the bananaplantations in order to protect
the reefs.
They have found that not onlyhave flash floods kind of harmed
the reefs, but also thechemicals that are sprayed on
the banana plantations can alsohurt the algae and the reef
life.
So they've been making an effortto buy that land from farmers
(06:06):
or, uh, to encourage farmersand, and give them funds to
switch the crops to somethingthat's less harmful.
It's really cool seeing whatthey're doing to protect the.
Carma (06:15):
Yeah.
That's awesome.
So how's the food there?
Katie (06:19):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
So not only do I own sugargliders.
Sugar bears, I am alsopersonally a sugar bear.
I love all of the fruits.
Okay.
I mentioned I, I have an animaltick list that I wanna see in
the wild.
I also have a goal to trypassion fruits from about 20
(06:41):
different countries in theworld.
And so the fruit in the tropicalareas blows my mind.
It's like flavors you've nevertasted before in your life.
So I'd have to say that the besttasting juice in Costa Rica, you
have to try the Mari and that istheir passion fruit.
It's not the same as every otherpassion fruit.
Every country kinda has the onethat they call theirs.
(07:03):
So I don't know how thiscompares to other passion fruits
in terms of similarity, but it'sdelicious and that I can't tell
you
Carma (07:11):
Was it easy to get around the country?
Like, how difficult is that tonavigate?
Katie (07:17):
basically, Renting a car is pretty easy.
My first night in a foreigncountry, I do like to get a
hotel kind of near the airport,and a lot of times there's a
shuttle service.
I do like to do that just whenI'm getting in late.
And then come morning, I'll gopick up my rental car so that
I'm not like blurry eyed anddelirious while I'm signing
paperwork.
It's my own personal preference.
um, But, Google Maps.
(07:40):
Is okay down there.
Waze is preferred and what I'vebeen doing is just getting
in-car wifi and that way I'vegot, like all the country chips,
it's harder to put a chip inyour phone than it used to be,
so I just do that in-car wifiand for that navigation was so
much easier than my first time.
Carma (07:58):
Oh, good good.
Yeah, I mean, so I've been toNew Zealand in Hawaii and I
remember like the roads thereare kind of crazy cuz you're on
an island and there's a lot ofmountains and volcanoes and the
roads are like these twisty turnsnakey, crazy cliff on the side
type of roads.
Is that how it is in Costa Ricatoo?
Katie (08:17):
Sometimes.
So I would not drive out to bajostill Toro in the dark.
In fact, we thought about it andI said no, because there are
some of those roads that arereally just like looking down a
big fat cliff.
There aren't a lot of them, butone of them does do that, and
you don't wanna be driving it inthe fog and in the dark.
We just, we drove our rental carout to Baja del Toro in the.
(08:41):
Pay for the toll roads, they'retotally worth it.
There's a lot of potholes outthere as people are just trying
to maintain these roads that areconstantly getting hit with
rains and rains and rains.
Carma (08:50):
Okay, perfect.
Good to know.
What are the canyons like inCosta Rica?
Because really that's what youwent for,
Katie (08:59):
that's what I went for.
So my first time I wasn't surewhat they were gonna be like or
who I could find as a guide oranything like that.
So I planned, two days ofcanyons and when I came back, I
planned like six days of canyonsbecause they're just that good.
Yeah, that's all I wanted to do.
They're amazing.
They are aquatic and playful andsplashy and fun.
(09:25):
I thought they would also bewarm and that was my mistake.
Carma (09:28):
that's what I would've guessed is that you're in a
tropical place, so won't you bein warm water.
Katie (09:33):
you're in a tropical place, but you are also at high
elevation where a lot of thecanyons are, and that's the
difference.
Most of the canyons are inmountainous areas, and we're
talking about elevation similarto Utah's Wasatch range you're
talking about that five to 8,000feet and so you're, you're high
enough up that even though it istropical, you want a four mill
(09:56):
wetsuit or higher.
I was in my 5, and five.
So I had a farmer jane, kindathe overall style and then a
jacket that went over that.
it puts five millimeters offarmer Jane, and then five
millimeters of jacket on mychest for 10 mil and I was quite
comfortable.
And then some days I would takemy jacket off.
Carma (10:15):
So when you were in the canyons, can you just filter the
water in the canyons?
do you have to bring all yourwater with you?
Katie (10:22):
So it depends on the canyon.
a lot of the ones we were doingwere around volcanoes, the tops
of the volcanoes, there's moreof a sulfuric acid content in
the air and in the water.
And so don't wanna be drinkingacid water if it's coming from
one of those.
So we generally just carriedwater with us.
and you stay so cool that Ididn't feel like I was even
(10:42):
drinking very much, but I'dusually just bring an algae and
a gator.
Carma (10:45):
Well, and so do you have to worry about the acidic water
coming in contact with yourgear?
Does it
Katie (10:51):
So I did rinse mine off every night, but it wasn't such
a high content that you feel it.
The first time I went, I felt iton my fingers by the second or
third day.
But I was also wearing somegloves that they have that
padding in'em, like kind of agel foam padding in there.
And I felt like those gloves,they were holding a lot of the
water on my hand.
(11:11):
And so I felt like my fingersgot more beat up the first time.
And I just felt it kinda like ifyou skin your finger is what it
felt like by the end of a coupledays of canyons.
The second time I went, I justtook like garden gloves and then
I didn't feel it at all.
They didn't hold the water onmy.
We kind of like split it up alittle bit more.
Our second time down there,weather was more agreeable and
(11:33):
so we got to choose between kindof acidic ones and not, and more
freshwater ones.
But it does matter the boltsthat they use down there.
It's very specific, which typethat they need so that it
doesn't rust within a year justbecause of the interactions of
the chemicals.
Carma (11:50):
Another question I had for you about the canyons.
Did you get to do a lot ofslides?
Katie (11:55):
Oh my gosh.
There are so many naturalwaterfall slides.
Yes.
Very splashy,
Carma (12:01):
See, that sounds even more fun to me than a jump.
I think a slide would be reallyfun.
Katie (12:06):
The water park side of it was definitely there.
Some of them were short littleones, and some of'em were like
20 feet steep ones that landedin a huge splash pool.
There was two like that, thatwas just like, whoa, that's big.
Oh, here we go.
Carma (12:23):
Yeah.
Katie (12:25):
That was one of my favorite parts too, cuz it, just
makes you feel like a kid again.
Just like you're on a playgroundexploring things for the first
time.
Also more jumps than I've done.
That's probably what stands outthe most about Costa Rican
canyons, is I love to fly.
And so doing these, some of themjust have like little, like
(12:45):
eight foot jumps and some of'emhave 25, 30 foot jumps.
And what's really cool is thewater is so clear that you can
see where you're going.
You can see where you need tojump.
We had a guide with us who knewthe canyon like the back of his
hand, and could just really tellus where any hazards were.
And so that was probably thething that I love the most is
(13:05):
that when I wanted to jump, Icould,
Carma (13:07):
Did everybody do the big jumps or there were options,
right?
If you didn't wanna jump, or didyou have to jump.
Katie (13:13):
you never had to jump.
Um,
Carma (13:17):
because I'm a weenie.
Like I would ws out after it'slike 10 feet high.
I would w out
Katie (13:21):
thought I would, because I've done a few jumps in Seattle
and I look at like the videos ofme doing my jumps in Seattle
last year, and I was like, oh,look how nervous I was.
And then I look at these inCosta Rica and I was like, look
how confident I was.
And I mean, part of that wasthat I, you know, I got
comfortable with my shoes andhow sticky they were and what I
could and couldn't do in'em.
So that was part of it was justmy confidence as a jumper has
(13:44):
really gone up a lot more in thelast two years.
And a lot of times there wasanchors on the dry line and
anchors a splashy line on theflow line.
And then if you didn't want to,our guides were really familiar
with it and they could set up ameat belay so they became an
anchor knowing full well thatthey were perfectly happy to
jump as the last person.
Carma (14:05):
Yeah.
Lots of
Katie (14:06):
Yeah.
So there was never a time when Ihad to, but I actually met up
with some friends, in theirsixties plus down there, and
these women were doing thejumps.
I mean, they're total bad asses.
Um, but I just had to say anytime that I was like, oh, do I
want to?
Then I was like, oh, dang, lookat her.
Go.
Uh, yep.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Got this.
Carma (14:26):
So how crazy is that, that you actually ran into
people that you
Katie (14:29):
It was so fun.
It was so fun.
Carma (14:32):
How, kind of wild were the hydraulics on the waterfall
repels?
Like were you in anything thatwas intense or was it pretty
tame?
Katie (14:41):
It's gonna be weather dependent because these canyons
can completely change if itrained all night the night.
they're very versatile.
But when I went the first time,they were probably a little
stronger my second time.
It was more gentle and splashyand just super playful.
And there were dry lines that wecould have taken.
But compared to my trip to thePacific Northwest, these were
(15:03):
much more gentle and fun andplayful.
and they don't carry as muchlike debris.
So like some of our US canyonscarry, like pine trees can get,
you know, thrown down in thereand stuff, and really strong
items.
Whereas the foliage is just,tends to be a little softer in
Costa Rica.
So like, if a vine gets droppedinto the water, you know, it's,
(15:25):
not the same as like a giant oaktree or something.
There wasn't nearly as muchdebris in the canyons to get
tangled in.
The water was just smooth andmore clear and clean.
Every once in a while I wantedto check, uh, the bottom of a
waterfall, and every once in awhile there'd be too many
bubbles where I'd be like, Ican't see through the white
bubbles, even though I had mygoggles with me.
Carma (15:46):
right.
We should post this video, butthere's this fun video of you
going kind of down this chute asyou're repelling a waterfall.
And the reason why it's reallycool is because the water
changes with you.
It looks like it plays with youas you go down.
It's really
Katie (16:04):
Oh yeah, that spot.
It was really cool.
It was like the water wasdancing.
Carma (16:08):
Yeah cuz it really just like changed the shape.
The flow of the water as he wentdown it and it, it just looked
really fun.
Katie (16:16):
I really liked that spot.
Love those canyons.
Love how they pool up.
Love how they look.
Some of those spots just, it'snot like a dirty old pothole.
It's like a pristine pool thatlooks like an infinity pool.
That would be at a high end.
Hotel, you know, it's just like,wow, nature made this.
That is so cool.
Carma (16:35):
Yeah.
It's not like some stanky beefstew
Katie (16:39):
Right.
Don't stink after I get out ofit.
Also, the, um, anchors arereally improving down there.
There's a lot of people workingreally hard to bolt those
anchors and get things set up sothat it it's maintained and
places where it used to be, youknow, off the roots of something
is now nice and clean for the,the amount of traffic that
(17:00):
they're getting.
I don't know everyone who's downthere.
I was down there with Johannand, and we had a good time
with.
some of the anchors have beenreally well thought out that.
Used to be bolts and are now Vthreads.
So up near the top of some ofthese volcanoes.
The acid really destroys thebolts fast and there's nobody,
(17:20):
you know, wants to carry up asaw to cut those off later.
They've now moved to V threadsthat are going through the rock.
And so you can put a giant pieceof cord, like a 30 foot piece of
cord through a couple of spotsof holes in the rocks.
And it's really strong rock cuzit's what's left after lava came
by.
And these V threads are workinga lot better than your
traditional bolts and just a lotof thought and carers going into
(17:42):
people trying to get these,these canyons ready for, you
know, traffic and for people whoare coming to visit it and to.
Pristine and looking nice.
Carma (17:52):
That's awesome.
Katie (17:53):
Yeah.
Nobody wants to see nine choppedbolts like got rusted out, so
people just taking the care toplace them in the right places
and use V threads when needed.
Carma (18:01):
I mean, it sounds like they're trying to innovate to
keep the canyons really nice andsafe at the same time.
Katie (18:08):
Yeah.
and it's just people who haveother jobs and other things that
they're doing, and they'retraveling five, six hours from
their hometowns to come to theseplaces with canyons and spend
their week up there working on,these projects.
So it's very cool.
Carma (18:23):
Sounds like they have a good community that's growing
there.
Katie (18:26):
Yeah,
Carma (18:27):
Okay, so when you were planning your itinerary, what
were some of the factors thatyou, thought about when you were
planning out your days?
Katie (18:35):
Posta Rica doesn't have a summer, winter type of weather
pattern.
They actually have a wet seasonand dry season.
And dry season only lasts forabout two months, and dry season
is when it only rains half ofthe days.
So in trying to plan my canyon Irealized that, hey, you know
(18:56):
what, this is a rainforest andit might still rain 50% of the
days, even while I'm down there.
So in order to not be sad ondays when it was gonna rain or
There was potential for flashflooding.
I took my location and I alsofound places that were within
one to two hour drive that if Ineeded to just call the day and
(19:17):
say, today is not a canyon day,that I could go and do that.
So I found, like a biologicalreserve that I could go check
out.
Uh, sloth sanctuary, some nighthikes.
Frogs are noc.
So seeing like the poison dartfrogs and the red eye tree,
frogs and things, and thenightlife, the Kinko J are
nocturnal too.
(19:38):
So kind of having that as anoption in the back of mind,
there's a lot of hot springsthat you can go see.
And then I also looked at.
Canyons that I, thought thewaterfalls were spectacular.
I checked out which ones hadhiking paths that could also go
see those waterfalls, even if itwasn't the right day for the
canyon.
And that way I had backups and Icould also pace out my day if
(20:01):
there's a day when I'm like, Iam just too tired.
To be a rigger today to dorigging and to do the canyon.
Not that that ends coming up,but I had that kind of a backup
if one of the canyons kicked mytrash and the next day I wanted
just an easy hiking day,waterfalls and hummingbirds type
of day.
Oh my gosh.
The hummingbirds, there's asbiggest pigeons out there.
(20:21):
They are huge.
So amazing.
One of the reserves I went toactually has wild hummingbirds
coming up to it, and they'repurples and blues and amazing,
and they have some feeders outthere for them, and for me.
They took away the little footstools on the feeders, and one
of them landed on my finger anddrank from the feeder.
It was so amazing.
(20:42):
There's a lot of treasures andgems out in Costa Rica, even if
it's not a good Canyon Day.
Carma (20:48):
It's always better to have a backup plan, right, that
you like actually wanna go do.
Cuz then it makes it so mucheasier for you if you have to
call a canyon that you havesomething else that you're
excited about to go do.
I was gonna ask about beaches,but I'm imagining the beaches
aren't as close to themountains, like for a day off of
canyoning.
Like do you have to go fartheraway to get to a
Katie (21:08):
So for the canyoning in this region, you do kind of have
to drive to get to a beach, butwe went to Bajo del Toro, and
then there's a, a beach abouttwo hours away in HaCo.
So we weren't opposed to drivingthat far.
Another thing that we just keptour minds open to was that this
is our shot in a foreigncountry.
And if we had two bad days ofweather, it wouldn't hurt us to.
(21:31):
Another hotel just on top of it.
Like if we had driven all theway to HaCo and said there was
two days of bad weather, wemight've just picked up an
Airbnb in HaCo and stayed therefor a night and then come back
to Canyoning, you know, almosttwo days later.
But we could spend two days atthe beach and then come back to
Canyoning if we wanted to.
And it really wouldn't be thatmuch more expensive, uh to add
that extra layer of flex.
Carma (21:53):
Right and what are the beaches like
Katie (21:55):
Very cool.
Very cool.
So some of the best surfing inthe world is in Costa Rica.
Also, they've got some reefs Ihave struck out twice on it,
because I thought I could justlike go to the beach and that
was known for snorkeling.
The beach on the eastern sidethat I wanted to go to,
actually, they were still havinga lot of rains and so the water
(22:16):
was still really muddy.
So the first time I went, Ithought I could go to any beach
in snorkel.
That's not the case.
A lot of them are like long,drawn out sandy beaches.
So not a lot to see there.
and some of the others are likeseasonal, so you gotta kinda be
aware of rainstorms.
And on that side, they're coralreefs.
They wanna protect them.
(22:37):
So you need a, guide.
They're not expensive.
You just get on a tour andthey'll take you on a boat out
to the reef where you wanna be.
This is what I did the secondtime I schedule the boat for my
last two days.
That would take me out to thereef right where I wanted to be.
And.
I'd see the right animals.
But then there were too manyrains, even in dry season to
really have good visibility.
And so it, it needed to becloser to March than to February
(23:00):
for that particular area.
Carma (23:01):
Yeah, I was, gonna ask you like what are the months
that are considered like the dry
Katie (23:05):
Yeah.
So it's like the end of Januaryis, is catching it.
And then February and March are,are the main months.
but there's a lot to see.
So they've got cloud forests aswell, that it doesn't matter
what time of year you're downthere, you can see the cloud
forests.
The animals don't care about therain.
They're used to it.
So a lot of the, the naturereserves are gonna be really
(23:27):
cool year round.
Some of the scuba diving, seakayaking through mangroves,
they've got dolphins that comeinto some of these little coves
and inlets and things.
So really just a lot to do.
One of the things that surprisedme about the beaches was that I
thought that I would be able todrive to the eastern beaches
pretty easily cause I could seethe coastline.
(23:49):
But there's also a good ofmarshland, and so just because a
beaches nearby doesn't mean thatthere's a road that goes to it.
Sometimes you need to like driveand park and get on a riverboat
cruise to go down the river andout to the ocean, cuz a giant
river might be blocking your wayand or may not be a bridge on
that river cuz it floods.
(24:10):
So it might not make sense tohave a bridge and people use
boats.
Carma (24:14):
Gotcha.
just cuz you can see the beachdoesn't mean you
Katie (24:16):
Right.
Carma (24:17):
get to it.
Katie (24:18):
Just cuz you can see it on a map doesn't mean you can
drive there.
Carma (24:20):
Yeah.
Katie (24:21):
That surprised me.
Carma (24:22):
Right?
Cuz it might have to be a waysaround that body of water to
Katie (24:25):
Yeah.
So if you're like me and you'retotally nuts about the canyons
and that's all you wanna do, youmight just plan to stay like in
Bajo still Toro or Tori Alba, orsome of those areas that are
known for canyons.
You might plan your whole tripthere, or if you'd like.
Arrest day or to kinda get toknow the country more, then you
might plan your last two days,like my first trip to go see,
(24:48):
uh, a national park like ManuelAntonio or, or some of the
others, and see some of thevolcanoes and see some of those
other items as you move around.
Both are great options.
I've done both.
I
Carma (25:01):
Yeah.
So I know you guys hit, uh, theCanyons pretty hard.
right from the start, So, onyour last couple of days, what
did you guys do to relax beforeyou had to fly home?
Katie (25:12):
So we spent a day up in the La Fortuna area, and that's
right by Arnell Volcano.
And there's some really coolplaces around there.We went to
MySeco hanging.
Bridges and it's really cool.
You're up in like the canopiesof the jungle.
And so we saw hauler monkeys upthere.
We saw some of their reptiles.
(25:33):
I really wanted to see aneyelash pit viper, I don't know,
judge me if you will, butthey're really pretty and
they're really shy.
Like the animals out there don'treally want much to do with you.
There's a few, but by being onthe hanging bridges, you're up
above that and you guides withyou to show you.
And so we were able to lookthrough telescopes to see some
of those animals like the vipersthat were far away and got to
(25:54):
see, some Mott mo birds they'rebright blue with these little
TikTok tales.
They swish back and forth like agrandfather clock.
and saw some more karates inthere, really cool spot to stop
at and to support ecotourism.
And then we ended the evening atone of the hot springs.
So some of the hotels also havehot spring resorts attached.
(26:14):
And so we just paid the day feeto go do that.
And just relaxed looking outover the jungle canopies and
seeing arnell volcano in thedistance.
Really cool.
to end the week and just havesome drinks with friends and
then head back to the city lifebefore you fly out.
Carma (26:32):
Costa Rica Hounds just.
Beautiful and amazing.
So when are you going again?
Katie (26:40):
Oh my gosh, I have to go back.
There's at least five morecanyons I wanna do, and I've
mostly been in the bajo stillToro area.
I'd like to go down to Tova.
I'd like to go see a few more ofthe national parks as well.
And I need to snorkel or I needto get out my scuba diving
stuff.
Either way, I'd be happy eitherway, but yeah, I have to go
(27:01):
back.
This is an open-endedconversation for sure.
I could go there every year and,not see.
Carma (27:07):
You have to go back and I need to go for the first time
Katie (27:11):
I would love to take you down there.
You would absolutely love it.
Carma (27:15):
It sounds like it's a really cool country to visit,
whether you're canyoning or not,but awesome that there's so many
amazing
Katie (27:24):
If you're thinking that you'd like to go visit Costa
Rica, one of our next podcaststhat we're gonna try to put out
is going to be the details ofhow to plan a trip down there,
because I've done it twice nowand I've got a lot of tips and
tricks that can help you getdown there and get you started.
Carma (27:38):
So if Costa Rica's on your world traveling wishlist,
stay tuned.
We'll get back to you with somemore of that stuff.
If you're totally hooked oncanyoneering like us, remember
to subscribe, so you don't missany episodes and you can also
reach out to us on Facebook.
with questions, comments, topicsyou wanna talk about, or just to
(28:01):
say, Hey, cuz We would love tohear from you.
Thanks for dropping in with usand we'll catch you on the wrap
side.
Hey everyone.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Katie
Carma (00:10):
and I'm Carma and you're listening to, I'd rather be
canyoneering.
Katie (00:14):
We're best friends who totally geek out about canyon
rigging and beautifully slotcanyons.
Basically we'd always rather becanyoneering.
But when we can't, we spendevery spare minute, we have
talking about it.
Carma (00:26):
This podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
Please seek professionalinstruction and practice
technical skills in a controlledenvironment before entering slot
canyons.
Your safety is entirely your ownresponsibility.
Katie (00:41):
Welcome to our canyon crew!
Carma (00:45):
Hey everyone.
Thanks for dropping in with usagain today.
We're gonna switch things up.
We're gonna hit kind of alighter side that's not so
technical.
Katie recently went on thisawesome trip and we thought it
would be super fun to tell youall about a place you might
wanna go canyoning someday.
So Katie, where did you go?
Katie (01:05):
I just got back from Costa Rica because.
In love with that country,
Carma (01:09):
I mean like what makes it so amazing?
Katie (01:11):
Some of the things that just blow my mind when I'm down
there.
There's this one canyon that Iwanna tell you about, and it was
Ga Madea, and it's not superlong and it's, a wonder.
It's like a gem.
I remember my first time in thatcanyon.
Getting to the first big repel,and I'm standing at the top of
this waterfall looking over andthis teal water is just falling
(01:33):
down.
And I'm looking over at all thejungle vines like straight out
of Tarzan and ferns that arejust as big as me.
And then these giant blue morphobutterflies come flapping around
the top of the waterfall, a pairof'em, and just standing there
with my husband, and this islike our 10 year anniversary.
It just blew my mind.
(01:55):
And then we did the rappel andthat waterfall, actually,
there's a second waterfall thatcomes in from another direction
once you get down there and theteal waterfall meets with a
lavender waterfall and thelighting was.
On a dark day, you might not seeit quite as well, but on this
day, the lighting was perfectand the water just shown like
gems.
Probably one of the most amazingmoments that I've ever, ever
(02:19):
stood in the canyon.
and I just fell in love withCosta Rica right then.
Carma (02:23):
Yeah, that sounds like avatar, honestly.
Like, it sounds likeotherworldly, how does that
happen?
Yeah, it's magical
Katie (02:32):
Absolutely.
And then this trip, one of thedays that it rained, we kinda
had to go quick on our canyon,to beat the storm.
We came out and we were havinglunch as a big storm came
through, and that actually,brought the two cans out.
They're black and so they don'tlike to get hot, and so one of
the naturalists I was talking tosaid you're more likely to see a
two can on a rainy day.
Out and in the sunshine whereyou can see it rather than
(02:54):
hiding in the shade of theleaves.
So that was, that was kind of amagical moment.
Cause I'd really been hoping tosee one of these, yellow chested
toucans, and I did.
So it, it's cool.
Carma (03:03):
they were on your list.
You got one for a animal.
Bingo.
Katie (03:07):
Got home from my animal.
Bingo.
I had seen one on my first trip,but it was kind of in the city
on a telephone wire.
And it wasn't like, like where?
It's not super magical, but thisone it was magic
Carma (03:19):
Yeah, something, uh, you guys probably don't know yet
about Katie, but she reallyloves animals.
So it's one of the things that,if she comes back from a trip,
she's gonna tell you exactlywhat animal she saw,
Katie (03:32):
It's true.
I mean, I've got exotic animals,I've got sugar gliders, and uh,
I've got a list of animals thatI wanna see in the wild someday.
It's kind of my unicorn list.
Carma (03:41):
Hmm.
Katie (03:42):
going down to Costa Rica, I've been able to, uh, knock a
couple off the list
Carma (03:47):
So for those of us who are like geographically
challenged, where is Costa Rica?
Exactly, because I know I got itwrong when you first told me you
were going there.
Katie (03:58):
Fair enough, fair enough.
Costa Rica is in Central Americaso most people can kind of maybe
picture where the Panama Canalis and it's, right down there.
It's a bordering country downthere.
And, right by the equator, whichmeans it's got a lot of tropical
climate, similar to kinda yourCaribbean climate.
Lots of rain, lots of humidity,lots of heat, uh, but it's not a
(04:24):
desert heat.
It's, it's a really cool, humidheat.
I love it.
My husband sometimes are on thecoast.
He's like, I can't breathe overhere.
Um, but He definitely doesn'tcomplain when we're in the
mountainous areas, which iswhere a lot of the canyons are.
They're more in the mountainousareas and less on the coast.
Carma (04:40):
So what is the country like in Costa Rica?
How easy is it to get around?
Are people friendly there?
Katie (04:49):
Sure.
I really enjoyed it.
I've had the good fortune overthe years to have gone to a lot
of countries.
And I'm not trying to likecountry drop here, but just as a
comparison.
I've been to England andScotland.
I've been to the South Pacific,so like New Zealand, Australia,
Fiji, I've been down to Peru andMexico and some other countries
too.
But as a comparison, I would saythat Costa Rica was probably one
(05:12):
of the easiest countries thatI've gone to.
Very, very tourist oriented, butnot tourist.
So,
Carma (05:21):
That's nice.
Katie (05:22):
Ecotourism is huge.
In Costa Rica.
The country has made greatefforts to preserve the natural
resources.
So they have national parks,they have animal and wildlife
conservation areas.
They have lots of places thatare being protected in order to
protect the wildlife and theenvironment.
(05:42):
In fact, they've been recently.
Buying back some of the bananaplantations in order to protect
the reefs.
They have found that not onlyhave flash floods kind of harmed
the reefs, but also thechemicals that are sprayed on
the banana plantations can alsohurt the algae and the reef
life.
So they've been making an effortto buy that land from farmers
(06:06):
or, uh, to encourage farmersand, and give them funds to
switch the crops to somethingthat's less harmful.
It's really cool seeing whatthey're doing to protect the.
Carma (06:15):
Yeah.
That's awesome.
So how's the food there?
Katie (06:19):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
So not only do I own sugargliders.
Sugar bears, I am alsopersonally a sugar bear.
I love all of the fruits.
Okay.
I mentioned I, I have an animaltick list that I wanna see in
the wild.
I also have a goal to trypassion fruits from about 20
(06:41):
different countries in theworld.
And so the fruit in the tropicalareas blows my mind.
It's like flavors you've nevertasted before in your life.
So I'd have to say that the besttasting juice in Costa Rica, you
have to try the Mari and that istheir passion fruit.
It's not the same as every otherpassion fruit.
Every country kinda has the onethat they call theirs.
(07:03):
So I don't know how thiscompares to other passion fruits
in terms of similarity, but it'sdelicious and that I can't tell
you
Carma (07:11):
Was it easy to get around the country?
Like, how difficult is that tonavigate?
Katie (07:17):
basically, Renting a car is pretty easy.
My first night in a foreigncountry, I do like to get a
hotel kind of near the airport,and a lot of times there's a
shuttle service.
I do like to do that just whenI'm getting in late.
And then come morning, I'll gopick up my rental car so that
I'm not like blurry eyed anddelirious while I'm signing
paperwork.
It's my own personal preference.
um, But, Google Maps.
(07:40):
Is okay down there.
Waze is preferred and what I'vebeen doing is just getting
in-car wifi and that way I'vegot, like all the country chips,
it's harder to put a chip inyour phone than it used to be,
so I just do that in-car wifiand for that navigation was so
much easier than my first time.
Carma (07:58):
Oh, good good.
Yeah, I mean, so I've been toNew Zealand in Hawaii and I
remember like the roads thereare kind of crazy cuz you're on
an island and there's a lot ofmountains and volcanoes and the
roads are like these twisty turnsnakey, crazy cliff on the side
type of roads.
Is that how it is in Costa Ricatoo?
Katie (08:17):
Sometimes.
So I would not drive out to bajostill Toro in the dark.
In fact, we thought about it andI said no, because there are
some of those roads that arereally just like looking down a
big fat cliff.
There aren't a lot of them, butone of them does do that, and
you don't wanna be driving it inthe fog and in the dark.
We just, we drove our rental carout to Baja del Toro in the.
(08:41):
Pay for the toll roads, they'retotally worth it.
There's a lot of potholes outthere as people are just trying
to maintain these roads that areconstantly getting hit with
rains and rains and rains.
Carma (08:50):
Okay, perfect.
Good to know.
What are the canyons like inCosta Rica?
Because really that's what youwent for,
Katie (08:59):
that's what I went for.
So my first time I wasn't surewhat they were gonna be like or
who I could find as a guide oranything like that.
So I planned, two days ofcanyons and when I came back, I
planned like six days of canyonsbecause they're just that good.
Yeah, that's all I wanted to do.
They're amazing.
They are aquatic and playful andsplashy and fun.
(09:25):
I thought they would also bewarm and that was my mistake.
Carma (09:28):
that's what I would've guessed is that you're in a
tropical place, so won't you bein warm water.
Katie (09:33):
you're in a tropical place, but you are also at high
elevation where a lot of thecanyons are, and that's the
difference.
Most of the canyons are inmountainous areas, and we're
talking about elevation similarto Utah's Wasatch range you're
talking about that five to 8,000feet and so you're, you're high
enough up that even though it istropical, you want a four mill
(09:56):
wetsuit or higher.
I was in my 5, and five.
So I had a farmer jane, kindathe overall style and then a
jacket that went over that.
it puts five millimeters offarmer Jane, and then five
millimeters of jacket on mychest for 10 mil and I was quite
comfortable.
And then some days I would takemy jacket off.
Carma (10:15):
So when you were in the canyons, can you just filter the
water in the canyons?
do you have to bring all yourwater with you?
Katie (10:22):
So it depends on the canyon.
a lot of the ones we were doingwere around volcanoes, the tops
of the volcanoes, there's moreof a sulfuric acid content in
the air and in the water.
And so don't wanna be drinkingacid water if it's coming from
one of those.
So we generally just carriedwater with us.
and you stay so cool that Ididn't feel like I was even
(10:42):
drinking very much, but I'dusually just bring an algae and
a gator.
Carma (10:45):
Well, and so do you have to worry about the acidic water
coming in contact with yourgear?
Does it
Katie (10:51):
So I did rinse mine off every night, but it wasn't such
a high content that you feel it.
The first time I went, I felt iton my fingers by the second or
third day.
But I was also wearing somegloves that they have that
padding in'em, like kind of agel foam padding in there.
And I felt like those gloves,they were holding a lot of the
water on my hand.
(11:11):
And so I felt like my fingersgot more beat up the first time.
And I just felt it kinda like ifyou skin your finger is what it
felt like by the end of a coupledays of canyons.
The second time I went, I justtook like garden gloves and then
I didn't feel it at all.
They didn't hold the water onmy.
We kind of like split it up alittle bit more.
Our second time down there,weather was more agreeable and
(11:33):
so we got to choose between kindof acidic ones and not, and more
freshwater ones.
But it does matter the boltsthat they use down there.
It's very specific, which typethat they need so that it
doesn't rust within a year justbecause of the interactions of
the chemicals.
Carma (11:50):
Another question I had for you about the canyons.
Did you get to do a lot ofslides?
Katie (11:55):
Oh my gosh.
There are so many naturalwaterfall slides.
Yes.
Very splashy,
Carma (12:01):
See, that sounds even more fun to me than a jump.
I think a slide would be reallyfun.
Katie (12:06):
The water park side of it was definitely there.
Some of them were short littleones, and some of'em were like
20 feet steep ones that landedin a huge splash pool.
There was two like that, thatwas just like, whoa, that's big.
Oh, here we go.
Carma (12:23):
Yeah.
Katie (12:25):
That was one of my favorite parts too, cuz it, just
makes you feel like a kid again.
Just like you're on a playgroundexploring things for the first
time.
Also more jumps than I've done.
That's probably what stands outthe most about Costa Rican
canyons, is I love to fly.
And so doing these, some of themjust have like little, like
(12:45):
eight foot jumps and some of'emhave 25, 30 foot jumps.
And what's really cool is thewater is so clear that you can
see where you're going.
You can see where you need tojump.
We had a guide with us who knewthe canyon like the back of his
hand, and could just really tellus where any hazards were.
And so that was probably thething that I love the most is
(13:05):
that when I wanted to jump, Icould,
Carma (13:07):
Did everybody do the big jumps or there were options,
right?
If you didn't wanna jump, or didyou have to jump.
Katie (13:13):
you never had to jump.
Um,
Carma (13:17):
because I'm a weenie.
Like I would ws out after it'slike 10 feet high.
I would w out
Katie (13:21):
thought I would, because I've done a few jumps in Seattle
and I look at like the videos ofme doing my jumps in Seattle
last year, and I was like, oh,look how nervous I was.
And then I look at these inCosta Rica and I was like, look
how confident I was.
And I mean, part of that wasthat I, you know, I got
comfortable with my shoes andhow sticky they were and what I
could and couldn't do in'em.
So that was part of it was justmy confidence as a jumper has
(13:44):
really gone up a lot more in thelast two years.
And a lot of times there wasanchors on the dry line and
anchors a splashy line on theflow line.
And then if you didn't want to,our guides were really familiar
with it and they could set up ameat belay so they became an
anchor knowing full well thatthey were perfectly happy to
jump as the last person.
Carma (14:05):
Yeah.
Lots of
Katie (14:06):
Yeah.
So there was never a time when Ihad to, but I actually met up
with some friends, in theirsixties plus down there, and
these women were doing thejumps.
I mean, they're total bad asses.
Um, but I just had to say anytime that I was like, oh, do I
want to?
Then I was like, oh, dang, lookat her.
Go.
Uh, yep.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Got this.
Carma (14:26):
So how crazy is that, that you actually ran into
people that you
Katie (14:29):
It was so fun.
It was so fun.
Carma (14:32):
How, kind of wild were the hydraulics on the waterfall
repels?
Like were you in anything thatwas intense or was it pretty
tame?
Katie (14:41):
It's gonna be weather dependent because these canyons
can completely change if itrained all night the night.
they're very versatile.
But when I went the first time,they were probably a little
stronger my second time.
It was more gentle and splashyand just super playful.
And there were dry lines that wecould have taken.
But compared to my trip to thePacific Northwest, these were
(15:03):
much more gentle and fun andplayful.
and they don't carry as muchlike debris.
So like some of our US canyonscarry, like pine trees can get,
you know, thrown down in thereand stuff, and really strong
items.
Whereas the foliage is just,tends to be a little softer in
Costa Rica.
So like, if a vine gets droppedinto the water, you know, it's,
(15:25):
not the same as like a giant oaktree or something.
There wasn't nearly as muchdebris in the canyons to get
tangled in.
The water was just smooth andmore clear and clean.
Every once in a while I wantedto check, uh, the bottom of a
waterfall, and every once in awhile there'd be too many
bubbles where I'd be like, Ican't see through the white
bubbles, even though I had mygoggles with me.
Carma (15:46):
right.
We should post this video, butthere's this fun video of you
going kind of down this chute asyou're repelling a waterfall.
And the reason why it's reallycool is because the water
changes with you.
It looks like it plays with youas you go down.
It's really
Katie (16:04):
Oh yeah, that spot.
It was really cool.
It was like the water wasdancing.
Carma (16:08):
Yeah cuz it really just like changed the shape.
The flow of the water as he wentdown it and it, it just looked
really fun.
Katie (16:16):
I really liked that spot.
Love those canyons.
Love how they pool up.
Love how they look.
Some of those spots just, it'snot like a dirty old pothole.
It's like a pristine pool thatlooks like an infinity pool.
That would be at a high end.
Hotel, you know, it's just like,wow, nature made this.
That is so cool.
Carma (16:35):
Yeah.
It's not like some stanky beefstew
Katie (16:39):
Right.
Don't stink after I get out ofit.
Also, the, um, anchors arereally improving down there.
There's a lot of people workingreally hard to bolt those
anchors and get things set up sothat it it's maintained and
places where it used to be, youknow, off the roots of something
is now nice and clean for the,the amount of traffic that
(17:00):
they're getting.
I don't know everyone who's downthere.
I was down there with Johannand, and we had a good time
with.
some of the anchors have beenreally well thought out that.
Used to be bolts and are now Vthreads.
So up near the top of some ofthese volcanoes.
The acid really destroys thebolts fast and there's nobody,
(17:20):
you know, wants to carry up asaw to cut those off later.
They've now moved to V threadsthat are going through the rock.
And so you can put a giant pieceof cord, like a 30 foot piece of
cord through a couple of spotsof holes in the rocks.
And it's really strong rock cuzit's what's left after lava came
by.
And these V threads are workinga lot better than your
traditional bolts and just a lotof thought and carers going into
(17:42):
people trying to get these,these canyons ready for, you
know, traffic and for people whoare coming to visit it and to.
Pristine and looking nice.
Carma (17:52):
That's awesome.
Katie (17:53):
Yeah.
Nobody wants to see nine choppedbolts like got rusted out, so
people just taking the care toplace them in the right places
and use V threads when needed.
Carma (18:01):
I mean, it sounds like they're trying to innovate to
keep the canyons really nice andsafe at the same time.
Katie (18:08):
Yeah.
and it's just people who haveother jobs and other things that
they're doing, and they'retraveling five, six hours from
their hometowns to come to theseplaces with canyons and spend
their week up there working on,these projects.
So it's very cool.
Carma (18:23):
Sounds like they have a good community that's growing
there.
Katie (18:26):
Yeah,
Carma (18:27):
Okay, so when you were planning your itinerary, what
were some of the factors thatyou, thought about when you were
planning out your days?
Katie (18:35):
Posta Rica doesn't have a summer, winter type of weather
pattern.
They actually have a wet seasonand dry season.
And dry season only lasts forabout two months, and dry season
is when it only rains half ofthe days.
So in trying to plan my canyon Irealized that, hey, you know
(18:56):
what, this is a rainforest andit might still rain 50% of the
days, even while I'm down there.
So in order to not be sad ondays when it was gonna rain or
There was potential for flashflooding.
I took my location and I alsofound places that were within
one to two hour drive that if Ineeded to just call the day and
(19:17):
say, today is not a canyon day,that I could go and do that.
So I found, like a biologicalreserve that I could go check
out.
Uh, sloth sanctuary, some nighthikes.
Frogs are noc.
So seeing like the poison dartfrogs and the red eye tree,
frogs and things, and thenightlife, the Kinko J are
nocturnal too.
(19:38):
So kind of having that as anoption in the back of mind,
there's a lot of hot springsthat you can go see.
And then I also looked at.
Canyons that I, thought thewaterfalls were spectacular.
I checked out which ones hadhiking paths that could also go
see those waterfalls, even if itwasn't the right day for the
canyon.
And that way I had backups and Icould also pace out my day if
(20:01):
there's a day when I'm like, Iam just too tired.
To be a rigger today to dorigging and to do the canyon.
Not that that ends coming up,but I had that kind of a backup
if one of the canyons kicked mytrash and the next day I wanted
just an easy hiking day,waterfalls and hummingbirds type
of day.
Oh my gosh.
The hummingbirds, there's asbiggest pigeons out there.
(20:21):
They are huge.
So amazing.
One of the reserves I went toactually has wild hummingbirds
coming up to it, and they'repurples and blues and amazing,
and they have some feeders outthere for them, and for me.
They took away the little footstools on the feeders, and one
of them landed on my finger anddrank from the feeder.
It was so amazing.
(20:42):
There's a lot of treasures andgems out in Costa Rica, even if
it's not a good Canyon Day.
Carma (20:48):
It's always better to have a backup plan, right, that
you like actually wanna go do.
Cuz then it makes it so mucheasier for you if you have to
call a canyon that you havesomething else that you're
excited about to go do.
I was gonna ask about beaches,but I'm imagining the beaches
aren't as close to themountains, like for a day off of
canyoning.
Like do you have to go fartheraway to get to a
Katie (21:08):
So for the canyoning in this region, you do kind of have
to drive to get to a beach, butwe went to Bajo del Toro, and
then there's a, a beach abouttwo hours away in HaCo.
So we weren't opposed to drivingthat far.
Another thing that we just keptour minds open to was that this
is our shot in a foreigncountry.
And if we had two bad days ofweather, it wouldn't hurt us to.
(21:31):
Another hotel just on top of it.
Like if we had driven all theway to HaCo and said there was
two days of bad weather, wemight've just picked up an
Airbnb in HaCo and stayed therefor a night and then come back
to Canyoning, you know, almosttwo days later.
But we could spend two days atthe beach and then come back to
Canyoning if we wanted to.
And it really wouldn't be thatmuch more expensive, uh to add
that extra layer of flex.
Carma (21:53):
Right and what are the beaches like
Katie (21:55):
Very cool.
Very cool.
So some of the best surfing inthe world is in Costa Rica.
Also, they've got some reefs Ihave struck out twice on it,
because I thought I could justlike go to the beach and that
was known for snorkeling.
The beach on the eastern sidethat I wanted to go to,
actually, they were still havinga lot of rains and so the water
(22:16):
was still really muddy.
So the first time I went, Ithought I could go to any beach
in snorkel.
That's not the case.
A lot of them are like long,drawn out sandy beaches.
So not a lot to see there.
and some of the others are likeseasonal, so you gotta kinda be
aware of rainstorms.
And on that side, they're coralreefs.
They wanna protect them.
(22:37):
So you need a, guide.
They're not expensive.
You just get on a tour andthey'll take you on a boat out
to the reef where you wanna be.
This is what I did the secondtime I schedule the boat for my
last two days.
That would take me out to thereef right where I wanted to be.
And.
I'd see the right animals.
But then there were too manyrains, even in dry season to
really have good visibility.
And so it, it needed to becloser to March than to February
(23:00):
for that particular area.
Carma (23:01):
Yeah, I was, gonna ask you like what are the months
that are considered like the dry
Katie (23:05):
Yeah.
So it's like the end of Januaryis, is catching it.
And then February and March are,are the main months.
but there's a lot to see.
So they've got cloud forests aswell, that it doesn't matter
what time of year you're downthere, you can see the cloud
forests.
The animals don't care about therain.
They're used to it.
So a lot of the, the naturereserves are gonna be really
(23:27):
cool year round.
Some of the scuba diving, seakayaking through mangroves,
they've got dolphins that comeinto some of these little coves
and inlets and things.
So really just a lot to do.
One of the things that surprisedme about the beaches was that I
thought that I would be able todrive to the eastern beaches
pretty easily cause I could seethe coastline.
(23:49):
But there's also a good ofmarshland, and so just because a
beaches nearby doesn't mean thatthere's a road that goes to it.
Sometimes you need to like driveand park and get on a riverboat
cruise to go down the river andout to the ocean, cuz a giant
river might be blocking your wayand or may not be a bridge on
that river cuz it floods.
(24:10):
So it might not make sense tohave a bridge and people use
boats.
Carma (24:14):
Gotcha.
just cuz you can see the beachdoesn't mean you
Katie (24:16):
Right.
Carma (24:17):
get to it.
Katie (24:18):
Just cuz you can see it on a map doesn't mean you can
drive there.
Carma (24:20):
Yeah.
Katie (24:21):
That surprised me.
Carma (24:22):
Right?
Cuz it might have to be a waysaround that body of water to
Katie (24:25):
Yeah.
So if you're like me and you'retotally nuts about the canyons
and that's all you wanna do, youmight just plan to stay like in
Bajo still Toro or Tori Alba, orsome of those areas that are
known for canyons.
You might plan your whole tripthere, or if you'd like.
Arrest day or to kinda get toknow the country more, then you
might plan your last two days,like my first trip to go see,
(24:48):
uh, a national park like ManuelAntonio or, or some of the
others, and see some of thevolcanoes and see some of those
other items as you move around.
Both are great options.
I've done both.
I
Carma (25:01):
Yeah.
So I know you guys hit, uh, theCanyons pretty hard.
right from the start, So, onyour last couple of days, what
did you guys do to relax beforeyou had to fly home?
Katie (25:12):
So we spent a day up in the La Fortuna area, and that's
right by Arnell Volcano.
And there's some really coolplaces around there.We went to
MySeco hanging.
Bridges and it's really cool.
You're up in like the canopiesof the jungle.
And so we saw hauler monkeys upthere.
We saw some of their reptiles.
(25:33):
I really wanted to see aneyelash pit viper, I don't know,
judge me if you will, butthey're really pretty and
they're really shy.
Like the animals out there don'treally want much to do with you.
There's a few, but by being onthe hanging bridges, you're up
above that and you guides withyou to show you.
And so we were able to lookthrough telescopes to see some
of those animals like the vipersthat were far away and got to
(25:54):
see, some Mott mo birds they'rebright blue with these little
TikTok tales.
They swish back and forth like agrandfather clock.
and saw some more karates inthere, really cool spot to stop
at and to support ecotourism.
And then we ended the evening atone of the hot springs.
So some of the hotels also havehot spring resorts attached.
(26:14):
And so we just paid the day feeto go do that.
And just relaxed looking outover the jungle canopies and
seeing arnell volcano in thedistance.
Really cool.
to end the week and just havesome drinks with friends and
then head back to the city lifebefore you fly out.
Carma (26:32):
Costa Rica Hounds just.
Beautiful and amazing.
So when are you going again?
Katie (26:40):
Oh my gosh, I have to go back.
There's at least five morecanyons I wanna do, and I've
mostly been in the bajo stillToro area.
I'd like to go down to Tova.
I'd like to go see a few more ofthe national parks as well.
And I need to snorkel or I needto get out my scuba diving
stuff.
Either way, I'd be happy eitherway, but yeah, I have to go
(27:01):
back.
This is an open-endedconversation for sure.
I could go there every year and,not see.
Carma (27:07):
You have to go back and I need to go for the first time
Katie (27:11):
I would love to take you down there.
You would absolutely love it.
Carma (27:15):
It sounds like it's a really cool country to visit,
whether you're canyoning or not,but awesome that there's so many
amazing
Katie (27:24):
If you're thinking that you'd like to go visit Costa
Rica, one of our next podcaststhat we're gonna try to put out
is going to be the details ofhow to plan a trip down there,
because I've done it twice nowand I've got a lot of tips and
tricks that can help you getdown there and get you started.
Carma (27:38):
So if Costa Rica's on your world traveling wishlist,
stay tuned.
We'll get back to you with somemore of that stuff.
If you're totally hooked oncanyoneering like us, remember
to subscribe, so you don't missany episodes and you can also
reach out to us on Facebook.
with questions, comments, topicsyou wanna talk about, or just to
(28:01):
say, Hey, cuz We would love tohear from you.
Thanks for dropping in with usand we'll catch you on the wrap
side.
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