1 post tagged “hostels in costa rica”
We were up early again to do the zip lines. These are suposed to be the best in Central America. We chose to do the child friendly ones thinking that they couldnt be that scary, high, or fast. (For those who dont know, a zip line is a wire that runs from one point to another. You get harnessed up then they attach you to the zip line and you go flying through the jungle.)
The first of the 18 zip lines were nice and tame. I felt fine, with all my Sport and Rec training i could identify the safety systems so i knew it was relitivly safe. It was only when we got to the 3rd line that i got scared. It was about 300 metres high and so long you couldnt see the end. We didnt have much time to think about anything as we were puched off the edge. Seeing the tops of trees under you was exilirating in the kind of... fight back panic attack... way. The woman in front was terrified and I tried to comfort her with my knowledge of the safety structures. I however was also a little afraid so i dont think it made a huge difference to her. But that wasnt the worst of them. There was another that was 500 metres high. We soared well above the highest trees. The clouds had moved in so we jumped into the abiss and flew through the clouds, hopeing to see the signals of the man at the other end telling us to slow down or speed up so we got in safely. It was breathtaking in more ways than one.
Finally there was the Tazan swing. They attached us to a rope and pushed us off a platform. We fell for a couple of metres before the rope took our weight. Once we got over the initial jerk we were flying back towards the platform. One guy had to put out his hand so he didnt hit it with his head. To slow us down two men at the bottom hit out feet but having only crocs they knocked mine half off. I swung back over the jungle holding my croc on with my big toe. Finally a guy grabs both your feet sending your hips hard into the harness.... the wedge from hell. Finally we stopped... got our breath and hobbled back to the comfort of soil underfoot. A great day.
We headed back for one more night in Arenal... 5 star backpackers resort which was the loveliest place ever. The pool looked out over the volcano, the best food we had for ages and a bar in the pool. So much fun.
