Adventure Day: Zip Lining!

We were up and in front of La Palapa by 6:30AM.  Bryan and I followed our regular morning routine--sunscreening up and packing some things we thought we might need--so Hunter and Amber beat us to the waiting spot again.  So, we waited.

And waited.

About 6:50 (after we and the Alabama group who was waiting with us started to get nervous) the van/bus came trundling down the road.  The delay was due to two people not showing up at their hotel, which dropped our number to 16.  The drive to the Rincon de Vieja tour spot was approximately an hour and a half.  I think it was supposed to be a bit longer--closer to two hours--but out driver booked it!  His driving style made me feel slightly nauseated, so I slept most of the way.  I did wake up for our stop in Liberia for gas and again for the last 30 minutes, during which we were on a very rough dirt road.  It reminded me of the koliche roads in the Hill Country.

Once at the tour stop, we loaded off the bus and were loaded into our zip lining harnesses.  We drank glasses of watermelon juice (jugo de sandia) and took some pictures before heading to the base of the first platform.  A wonderful Scottish couple was in front of us in line.  The live outside of Toronto, Canada and are both police officers.  The husband was in INTEL (which consists, in his words, or catching psychos and rapists) and the wife is in INVESTIGATIONS.  She's a detective now, but back in Scotland she was a mounted officer who broke up bar fights by riding her horse straight through the crowd!

We started the zip line after a brief wait and it was SO MUCH FUN!!  I was so proud of Bryan for zip lining too, and he seemed to think it was pretty neat!  On the third platform we met Turi, who was actually present with our group most of the day.  The workers there really got a kick out of the fact that I speak Spanish, so we were talking most of the day.  The first three zip lines were all through the canopy, but the fourth and fifth zip lines were over a canyon!  On the fourth, we had the option of going upside down--which I did!  What a rush!  Bryan went right side up, and went in front of me to get some pictures as I flew along upside down, watching the canyon river rush along beneath.

In between the fourth and fifth zip lines there was a straight drop-down into the canyon itself via a rope and pulley system, which I also did upside down!  Then we got to Tarzan swing across the canyon to the base of the opposite side.  Or rather, we got to make several attempts with the spotters pretending to catch us and then "missing" and grabbing our feet, only to send us spinning back across the canyon.  They loved it lol.

Into the wall on the opposite side of the canyon they had affixed rock-climbing hand and footholds.  Once we actually landed, we had to climb up.  I admit, with my wrist and elbow, I was pretty worried.

Luckily for me--and the people waiting behind and below me--when I started faltering after the first third of the way up I just had to use the foot and handholds to stay attached to the wall!  The guys at the top literally pulled me up the rest of the way, except for the very last few feet, which I did manage myself.  At the top there was a nice jug of cool water from which I got a much-needed drink.  Then came the fifth zip line, at the end of which we got to climb sideways across the face of the canyon wall on stake-grips for a few feet to another Tarzan swing.  This swung us across to another set of stake-grips that let us climb up to the platform that started the last few zip lines.

The whole experience was so exciting!  The combination of flying and swinging, falling and climbing was exhilarating and gave us an amazing view of a beautiful canyon.  That said, we all looked forward to the zip line portions--they helped cool us down!  At the end, we were all tired and more than ready for lunch!

We trekked back to our starting place, were divested of our zip lining gear, and crossed the road to the restaurant.  Lunch was delicious and relaxing.  We sat at a table with Hunter and Amber, the Scottish couple and another couple from Seattle.  There was water and fruit juice to drink, a delicious chicken soup and a nice salad bar.  The lettuce was the spindly kind as opposed to big leaves, but it was still very good.  For the main meal there was a variety of options--chicken, beef, vegetables, rices and spaghetti with alfredo sauce (which is what I chose; Bryan had chicken, rice and vegetables).  For dessert there was an amazing rice pudding.

We all ate and chatted for a bit, relaxing in the brisk breeze that swept through the restaurant.  A guitar and wooden xylophone were played and a beautiful team of some sort of oxen came by for pictures.  They let people sit on them and were very sweet and soft.

I started reapplying sunscreen at the restaurant and finished back at the starting point.  We all got ready for the next portion of our day--horseback riding and river tubing!