Costa Rica Kaleidoscope: SouthFlorida.com

Some in our group had requested "volcano wake-up calls" for the wee hours, when the humid cloud-forming winds from the Caribbean are less prevalent. But they had no luck. Costa Rica's Arenal Volcano had been shrouded in mists, its head in the clouds, since our arrival. Then on our second night, I happened to wake up at 4:34 a.m., and the skies were clear. I threw on a robe, yelled to my husband to get up and ran to the tiny balcony of our room.

There, in the "backyard" of the Arenal Kioro Hotel, on the "safe" non-erupting west side, the volcano stood in all its glory: 5,389 feet high, the quintessential volcanic cone with a spectacular crater. We heard it grumble – loud as thunder – and the crater lit up as if with fireworks. Three huge incandescent rocks spewed out and rolled down its slopes setting off sparks like pixie dust as they hit the ground.

One of the world's 10 most active volcanoes, Arenal has been erupting daily since 1968 when a major eruption was felt as far north as Boulder, Colo. It dominates the landscape of a recently created national park with 16 protected reserves. The volcano's light show was ephemeral. In less than a half-hour clouds again covered it for the rest of our three-night visit.

As the saying goes, "life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." This had been one such moment -- one of several during a weeklong trip with Adventures by Disney, a company launched last year by the folks who gave us theme parks and resorts, an animated Tarzan and Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow, and a cruise line whose ships whistle to "When You Wish Upon a Star."

We were with a group of 30 well-traveled, well-educated nature lovers (among them a doctor and lawyer and their families). Age span was from 10 to 66.

Pura Vida Begins

Called Path to "Pura Vida" (the Good Life), our trip began with an overnight at the Marriott Costa Rica Hotel, a former coffee plantation hacienda in San Jose. A $13 taxi ride takes you to Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San Jose with the Museo del Oro Precolombino (Pre-Columbian gold) displaying golden figurines of birds and frogs, which we would see come to life, as it were, in the jungle soon.

From San Jose, we headed to the Arenal Volcano area via La Paz Waterfall Gardens with its gorgeous cascade and butterfly farm including iridescent blue morphos, big as saucers, and many of this Central American country's 1,250 species of this fancy insect.

Whoo-hoo!

The days we spent at Arenal were filled with activities arranged by two local guides who accompanied us the entire trip.

Most popular was zip-lining, a Central America invention in which participants, equipped with a harness, gloves and helmet zip down cables at speeds of up to 30 mph from a height of 600 feet. Stops are made at observation platforms.

"See you in the next life," Peter Steinman, an attorney from Los Angeles, said to the first half of our group leaving for the first platform, where there were two practice cables. There was laughter and nervous snickers.

"They have Petzl rock-climbing gear here -- the best, from Austria," one of our guides, Jayms Ramirez, reassured everyone.

"And you're 'flying' on two cables, not just one," said Gaston Trujillo, our other guide, a licensed naturalist guiding in Costa Rica for 17 years. "I would not go zip-lining with just anyone." In other places there have been fatalities because of employing just one cable and it snapping, or a poor quality harness failing. "Now to the adrenaline rush," Trujillo said, leading us to the practice runs where guides demonstrated how to slow down (before arriving at platforms) and how to hold our body (with ankles crossed and legs up toward our chests).

With a "whoo-hoo!" and other screams, and the "swoosh" of the gear on the cable, the intrepid were launched over the jungle for bird's-eye views of its zillion-and-one shades of green, and Arenal Lake, a vast man-made body of water.

"I have never been so afraid of anything in my life," said Susan Gas, a mother of one, from Paris. "I'm glad I did it, but I'm exhausted."

"I felt like Tarzan," said Will Hertel, 10, of Denver.

"Awesome," said Charles Glessner, 66, of Depford, N.J. "Certainly doing something you've never done before."

Three from our group -- including definitely-not-so-intrepid me -- did not go zip-lining. Two of us opted instead for an aerial tram ride (we spotted howler monkeys, sloths and a coati, a raccoon-like mammal) and one got a massage at the hotel's spa.

"We want people to do what they're comfortable doing," Ramirez said. "Nobody is pressured to do something because the rest of the group is doing it." As in a Disney theme park, there are thrills for those who want them and other activities for those who don't.

Rain forest encounters

That afternoon, we had another intimate encounter with the rain forest while hiking on the Hanging Bridges of Arenal -- a two-mile circuit with 15 bridges to observe the canopy. "This time, from a monkey's perspective," Trujillo said.

As we hiked, I understood why Christopher P. Baker referred to this country as "a Noah's Ark" in his National Geographic Traveler Costa Rica guidebook. We encountered a diversity of animals, from leaf-cutter ants to eyelash vipers, from blue morpho butterflies to white-nosed coatis -- not to mention three-toed sloths and a chestnut-mandible toucan, like a tiny rainbow on a tree.

A country roughly the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica (Rich Coast in Spanish) has 12 ecological zones, and 5 percent of all known species on earth, including 10 percent of all birds.

After the hike we went to Hidalgo Hot Springs, a natural spa with water pools of varying temperatures, where we soaked our tired muscles contentedly.

Our last day at Arenal, we went white-water rafting on the Sarapiqui River. We picked up helmets, paddles and life vests, and after an orientation, we had a choice of navigating a stretch of the river, where there are Class II and III rapids, or a gentler section with Class I rapids. A half-dozen people fell into the water in the Class III rapids and were put back into the rafts by rescuers on a "safety kayak" that accompanied us.

Dinner one evening was a Costa Rican feast with entertainment by a trio and folkloric troupe. We sampled "olla de carne" (beef and vegetable soup), hearts of palm salad, plantains, "carne mechada" (stuffed meat strips) and other dishes.

On to the beach

Leaving Arenal we boarded two Twin Otter planes for a 40-minute flight to Quepos on the Pacific coast. Our activities there included a hike in Manuel Antonio National Park, where we saw capuchin monkeys, white-tailed deer and three-toed sloths.

We went swimming at Manuel Antonio Beach, a tropical idyll with white sands, and explored the marine side of the park via catamaran, snorkeling on the reef. On the return, spotted dolphins frolicked in our wake.

While at a beach near the Manuel Antonio park, several Jurassic-looking iguanas posed for pictures, and most impressive, we heard the lion-like roar of howler monkeys. It'd been a big dose of what Thoreau called "the tonic of wildness" just before we had to return to civilization.

Georgina Cruz is a freelance travel writer and grandmother of two.