hudson

I am going with a group of friends to Costa Rica. While I am excited about going to this beautiful wonderful country, I am concerned about my 55 year old overweight out of shape body on some of the activities.
Among our activities:
Arenal and tabacon--this looks wonderful.
Cano Negro --also looks great, not too intimidating for me
Horseback riding from Arenal to Monteverde. Here is a major concern. I have only been on a horse maybe 3 times in my life. I want to do this but need a REALISTIC appraisal of my situation--over the hill, out of shape and overweight... How hard will this be?
Same questions for the Canopy tours? I am anxious to try these things! How wlse who fits my description has done it??? HELP PLEASE!
I appreciate any honest, frank advice

Jessie_

Arenal, do go to the Hanging Bridges if the weather is good. They are nice easy trails. The slower you go the more you will see so feel free to take your time and enjoy. Plan plenty of time and always carry water with you on any excursion. There is a restaurant and a bathroom right by the entrance.

Sky Trek now has a place to do the canopy rides on a tram. You see the same things as you would on the zip but at a much slower more relaxing pace.

The Cano Negro trip will be a bus and a boat. You will be fine and will see so much neat stuff. Have binoculars, you will need them to get a really good look at everything.

Do not do the horseback ride to Monteverde. That is a rough ride and unless you know for sure that the horses are in good shape you could end up hurting them. There are ways to ride that make it easier on the horse but if you don't know how I would just forget this. More and more people have been taking care of their horses from when I first started going down there many years ago but there are still some that are underweight and pushed way too hard. Even if you found good healthy horses it would still be an awfully long ride for someone who hasn't ridden much (you might wish you were going in the direction of the hot springs instead of the other way LOL) You can go by jeep/boat/jeep through the mountains.

hudson

thanks-- i will try to convince others in our group--i'd hate to be the sore thumb holding everyone back ...

Jessie_

You could surprise yourself. Since hurting my back about 5 years ago I have gone from a 112lb free weight lifter and century bike rider to weight hauler (me). There are times that I even have to walk with a cane. I have a couple of nice hand painted ones from CR made of coffee wood! None of that stops me when I am in CR or anywhere else for that matter. I still go white water rafting, hiking all over the place, horseback riding (I had to brush up on my English posting rather than the western riding that I like to protect myself from some of the bouncing but that is okay with me), and kayaking. I am even looking forward to an 11 mile hike up into the high Sierras in Calif this summer to a tent camp. And yes, I am your age. Don't talk yourself into not being able to do everything that you can do. Been there done that. I may be slower but I get the job done.

hudson

great encouraging words!

I have a few months before we go (July), i think it's time to get out the old duff and move! What better motivator than a trip to Paradise?
Lose a few lbs, get moving and get ready to do it all !

Jessie_

That's the way to think! Have a great trip.

TAGriffin

I agree 100% with Jessie. And now that you have mentioned you are going in July, you have one more valid reason to talk your group into not doing the horseback trip to Monteverde. July is the middle of the rainy season and unless your group relishes the idea of sitting for hours on a horse, possibly in a torrential downpour, while slogging through dangerously muddy trails, I'm sure they will want to reconsider. There's an good post on this subject at http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...&tid=85404.

Terri

patga

My husband and I are closer to 60 than we are to 50. Have done many horseback riding trips in Costa Rica. Most of them are very aware of amateurs and give you gentle horses. Haven't been on the one to Moneverde though. The trip to Cano Negro is very enjoyable. Oh by the way, my husband is very familiar with horses. I ,on the other hand, had never been close to one before the ride in Costa Rica. My husband tried to give me pointers but I was so nervous I didn't hear anything he said. The trip was wonderful and I didn't fall off. If I can do it anyone can.

plmrod

Thanks Patga, for the encouragement.
TAGriffin, thanks for the info. I guess I will ponder the idea until we get there--there is a chance we will cahnge our trip to beginning of June, surely it will be a little drier then? (or is that wishful thinking)
Any other comments are VERY appreciated-~thanks

Jessie_

I would consider sticking with July. That is considered little summer and although there is always a chance of rain that time of year you should have good weather most of the day with just a possible shower later in the afternoon or evening.

RufusTFirefly

If the rest of the group wants to go from Arenal to Monteverde on horseback that doesn't mean you have to go by horseback. Let them ride, and you take the van/boat/van option--we did and it was very interesting and scenic. Plus we met some very nice people from all over the world--Japanese, Dutch, Chilean, German.