No longer a novice!

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For ages now I’ve referred to myself as a novice adventure on a lot of sites. I enjoy adventure and travel but still felt like I was just a novice where adventuring was concerned.

After this latest trip to Costa Rica though I have to say I now consider myself a full-fledged adventurer. I not only visited two new countries in Central America but I tried many new activities and food.

First was the zip-lining. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now and I got my chance on this trip. We started with an hour hike through the jungle up to the highest point. We saw monkeys and a sloth and a huge boa constrictor along the way. I’ve been practicing a lot lately on being in the moment and I think that served me well on this trip. Once we were harnessed up and the guy said go there was no hesitation. I jumped and it was awesome. We went on 11 lines in total and saw more monkeys and iguanas and a lot of jungle from the top down. It looks so different when you are above it.

zipline

Next was an ATV tour.  I had only been on an ATV once – very briefly – around a friends back yard.  It turns out it was pretty easy even though some of the trails were very rocky and bumpy.

atv

The really surprising adventure for me was snorkeling.  I had never done anything like it but we got invited to join 2 other couples and I said why not?  When the guide handed me my mask I put it on and once again just jumped in without any hesitation.  I have to admit it was incredible and I’ll definitely go snorkeling again.  There were so many fish and so many colors.  I even saw a seahorse, which is apparently not common.

snorkel

We also went to Nicaragua for a day and saw their lake with two volcanoes in it, the capital city of Granada, an active volcano that we could only stay at for 5 minutes because of all the sulfur and the charming little town of Catarina.

Oh – and I got to hold a baby crocodile.

babycroc

After all of that I don’t think I can consider myself a novice anymore.