Going on a lion hunt... but I'm not afraid

We woke up very early this morning to meet up with our friends, Maritza and Rolando. We had planned to take the ATVs up the rugged road from Santa Maria to a place called San Isidro de Dota then down to Quepos. It was supposed to be a whole day outing. Okay, obviously, there are no lions in Costa Rica, but there are pumas, so it's possible we might encounter one on our jungle adventure... although very doubtful since pumas are nocturnal and shy... they're rarely seen. So, we settled for experiencing a great ride and witnessing awesome vistas. 

Rolando and Maritza led the way while Kevin and I followed. Everything was going well; we were having a great time. I love being on the back of the ATV... such a freeing feeling. And our ATV is so darn comfortable, what's not to enjoy. I wore my bright orange hunter's jacket (no, I don't hunt, but I liked the visibility feature of the bright neon, so I bought it)

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And here's a peek at the views we were privileged to take in. Just gorgeous... pictures really don't do justice.

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Then, suddenly, the chassis on Rolando and Maritza's ATV cracked. (Well, chassis is probably not the right word, but whatever that part is that keeps the front and back wheels connected). This was bad.

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To keep the least amount of stress on the fragile part, we decided it would be better for Maritza to hop on our ATV. I was sandwiched in the middle. At one point, the road became so rough (the word 'mogul' comes to mind), we were bouncing left and right. The whole machine tilted so far to one side we nearly tipped over. Kevin yelled for us to lean the opposite direction and we reacted quickly and managed to avoid falling off. Phew.

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We came to an old wooden bridge... it was precarious, at best. The men checked it out and decided it was safe to cross. Uh, Maritza and I decided to walk across... many of the planks of wood were rotten, missing and/or wobbly. Gulp.

This picture was taken once Maritza and I had made it to the other side. Kevin is on the other side getting ready to drive over. Both Rolando and Kevin made it fine, but we were holding our breath.

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The day was actually perfect. It was overcast, but not cold. In fact, it was getting pretty hot on our ATV due to all the body heat. We plodded back carefully, but Rolando's ATV's back wheels suddenly swiftly swerved uncontrollably. The chassis broke completely. Even though Kevin brought his tools, he wasn't able to fix it. Rolando could no longer drive on. We had to stop.

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The men rode back to Santa Maria to pick up Rolando's truck. This was going to take at least two hours to drive there and back. Maritza and I stayed behind and waited. We sat on the side of the road with the broken down ATV and our cooler full of food (yeah, we made sure that stayed with us, we're no fools). Within 20 minutes, this happened... the fog rolled in. I was sure it would start to rain, luckily it didn't.

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Rolando and Kevin arrived an hour and a half later. Record time, for sure! The fog had rolled out and visibility was good again. The men winched the ATV and pulled it onto the truck. Mission accomplished.

It wasn't the adventure we were expecting, but isn't that the definition of adventure... it should be full of surprises.

We'll try again in a few weeks... we still have to go find those amazing waterfalls we've heard about... and pumas, maybe, because we're not afraid!

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