Today we did the hanging bridges hike, paddleboarding on Lake Arenal, and toured a sugarcane plantation. Being at the start of the low season meant rain was basically guaranteed. The hanging bridges felt completely different because of it. It started as an on and off drizzle, which honestly made it feel more like an actual rainforest than just a path through the trees. The fog sitting in the forest and seeing monkeys swinging right above us was one of the coolest moments of the whole trip so far. When it started pouring toward the end, though, the bridges got a little slippery, and I was a little scared, considering I am not the biggest fan of heights to begin with. That said, I would not have traded the rain for sunshine because it made the whole thing feel a lot more real. For the paddleboarding, the rain was not really an issue since we were already wet from the lake anyway, though it would have been nicer with some sun.

The sugarcane farm was a genuine family operation that had been running for 16 years. They started as straight farmers, but the kids pushed toward tourism when farming prices dropped, which actually connects directly to what we were talking about yesterday. What made it feel less touristy than the pineapple tour was that they grow 116 different crops and everything on the farm feeds directly into their three restaurants on the property. When it was interactive and people were participating, it was interesting, but some parts felt long, mostly because a lot of us were exhausted by that point. For the low season, a farm like this is better positioned than most because its restaurant gives it a reason for people to show up even when tourism slows down. The rain is part of the deal here, and the businesses that build around that, rather than fight it, are the ones that seem to survive it.