Monteverde Costa Rica July 23
Today was the day to feel the fear and
do it anyway-ziplining in the cloud forest of Monteverde. I am not at
all happy with great heights so the thought of hanging off a steel
cable at tree top level was not a comfortable one. But I had good
Team Central America support-I was not the only nervous one so that
was reassuring. We caught the Adventure park coach and made our
through the steep little back streets picking up other zipliners
along the way. When we arrived we paid up $US40 for the pleasure of
scaring ourselves silly and went out to the harness area where we
were fitted up with a harness which we stepped into-providing us with
a series of straps around the waist and groin. Attached to this were
a couple of steel safety clip things-pretty heavy and reassuringly
strong looking! This stylish ensemble was set off with a fire engine
red hard hat and a pair of smelly heavy duty leather lined gloves. We
had a safety briefing where we were told what and what not to
do-Don't put your hand in front of the line mechanism (which is
basically a n enclosed roller for moving along the steel wire).Do put
your dominant hand up on the wire behind you to act as a brake. If
you're a righty put your right hand back and head to the left-keep
your knees up. Relax and enjoy!!!! Yeah right!! Off to the first
line-this was short and not far off the ground. We had to jump in the
air on the platform on command so the guide could clip us to the
line. Now we were suspended from the line held up by steel wire, a
clip and our harness- which acts as a seat type arrangement-knees up,
hand back -around the wire not holding it, head sideways and go!
Actually it wasn't so bad-I glided along smooth as silk and slowed up
as I reached the opposite platform using my brake hand by tightening
it around the wire. Now to get off this line and onto the next-with
the help of the guide who used his knee to lift us so he could unclip
us we changed lines and set off again. The lines got longer and
higher and the platforms were more obviously just attached to a very
tall tree!I found the best way to manage was not to look down-that
way I fooled myself into thinking I was not metres above the forest
floor! The guides were all lovely young men who encouraged us and
joked with us putting us at ease. It was all very well done and
safety was obviously the number one concern (thank goodness!). By the
time I reached the last two lines of eleven I felt quite comfortable
and even managed to look around as I zipped along the line. The
second last line about 400 m long and 100 m high and it looked a
very long way from one platform to another-but it was fabulous-great
views of the forest and a chance to feel totally alone and enjoy the
beautiful green environment. We had other challenges to face before
this point though-namely rappeling which is a fancy name for going
down a rope very fast! I was coming across a line and Lynn was just
at the end and getting onto the platform. As I got to the end I could
see her out the corner of my eye-one minute she was there then-she
fell over the edge! Well thats how it looked-in fact she was being
let down a vertical rope down the side of the tree. OMG it was the
only way down! No choice but to do it! I went down so fast I was at
the bottom before I knew it-it was so fast I couldn't stay upright
and ended up flat on my back on the ground much to everyones
amusement! But wait there's more-the biggest challenge of the day was
still to come-THE TARZAN SWING!How can I describe this apparatus of
of terror? It was a hugely long rope dangling from a very tall tree
in a small clearing. It involved climbing a set of steep metal
stairs-hard enough in itself for a height phobic person such as
myself-being attached to the rope by a clip and stepping off the
edge! There was a queue of people and everyone seemed to scream as
the safety gate opened and they went over the edge-not confidence
inspiring at all! I almost backed out-one girl did -but I thought no
-don't be such a wuss. I got attached-held on for grim life, closed
my eyes and stepped forward.- it was the most terrifying moment of my
life! I didn't even scream-I was frozen with terror!Those one or two
seconds of free fall felt like an eternity-but someone was looking
out for me from above-the rope picked up the slack and there I was
swinging like Tarzan in the jungle. That bit was fun -just swinging
back and forth until the guides stopped us by catching us in a rubber
sling contraption. I felt very pleased with myself-who would have
thought I could do it-I will probably NEVER repeat it but I felt
good. A few more zip lines and we came to the end. The last line was
750 m long and nearly 400 ft high and crossed a valley-it was sunny
and quiet and there was a great view of the farmland below. It was
amazing-what a great morning. After dropping back our gear we were
rewarded by viewing photos taken at the Tarzan swing and on one of
the zip lines-unbeknown to us. I certainly hadn't noticed any
camera-too much of the fear factor going on! Needless to say the
photo of me plunging to the depths on the swing was not a flattering
one-my eyes tight shut and my face screwed up in fear-not one to pass
around-but it did create some laughs from the crowd!
After all that excitement it was time
for lunch-a big bowl of Aztec chicken soup-basically a tomato soup
with chopped avocado, white cheese and broken tortilla chips in
it-and a pork tamale. The tamale was pretty bland but the soup was
spicy and tasty. We fancied a more sedate afternoon so we went off to
the frog and butterfly house. Amazing frogs-all shapes and sizes and
colours-green, brown, red and -my favourite -the red eyed green tree
frog who has blue stripes on his legs and orange hands and feet.
There were 25 species on display but there are so many more in Costa
Rica. The little poison dart frogs were very cute-only about an inch
long and some a beautiful red colour with blue legs (aka blue jeans
frog). The native Indians used them for their poison darts-hence
their name. There were even some cane toads there-they are not a pest
in Costa Rica as they are in Australia. I didn't know the difference
between toads and frogs-toads have dry, bumpy skin and frogs have
smooth, wet skin. All in all an interesting afternoon. No butterflies
as the afternoon was cloudy and cool and it was getting onto evening.
We wandered into town and went to the
supermarket where we met Elvis-the Hercules beetle. He was massive-he
had a very smooth and shiny shell and was very content sucking away
on a piece of sugar cane-that plus bananas is their diet so they are
found in large numbers in the cane fields and banana
plantations-harmless to humans but a pest in crops. We bought some
food and wandered back up the steep hill in the dark-after some
initial confusion in the tangle of streets that is Monteverde. After
tea in our room it was time to pack up again ready for the next day
-a morning departure heading towards Costa Ricas most active
volcano-Volcan Arenal-just another day in Central America.
