Day 7: Monteverde and Puntarenas

Hola!

Today began with a power breakfast at our remote hotel, followed by a 25 minute drive to a zip line outfitter.  This place was even more remote than our hotel.  We pulled up, got set up with heavy, sturdy harnesses and helmets (which absolutely stunk to high heaven), and boarded a van to our first platform.  We got a 5 minute crash course in zip lining, and then climbed the staircase to the first platform.  To say I was nervous would be the understatement of the century.  Zip lining sounds like a great time until you're standing on a metal platform that you can see right through, 3/4 of the way up a 100 year-old tree in the rainforest, looking out onto nothing but treetops.  And then you see the person in front of you go gliding off into the distance, and it's your turn to go, and you really lose bladder control.  Okay, not really, but it's pretty scary at first.  At least to me...but I'm a total chicken.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that everyone in our group (including me) went without hesitation from one platform to the next.  There was a great variety of runs we went through- from short and sweet to exceptionally long- with the longest one being 2.2 miles.  There were runs that we did solo (a majority of them were solo runs), and there were others that we did with a partner.  Some runs went through the canopy, while others went high above it.  It was a total trip to be gliding through the air and see beautiful, exotic, colorful birds flying right alongside or in front of you.  There was also a run in which I could see one of our group members gliding through the air on the run that I had not yet reached.  It was exhilirating and terrifying and completely worthwhile.

The "surprise" at the end of our 13-run canopy tour was a tarzan swing.  This involved climbing up a staircase to about 4-5 stories high, getting hooked up to a long rope, and jumping off.  The workers at the zip line outfitter made us feel really safe by yelling, "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!" after pretty much everyone jumped off.  This was especially worrysome for the first person to jump, Profe Olson, who wasn't privy to the "joke" yet.   The rope caught us pretty soon after the initial jump, and then we began a long pendulum-like swing from one side to the other.  This resulted in a series of tummy tossers, but it was pretty darn cool.

Thanks for reading!

Profes Simmons and Olson