Cloudforest zipline dirt face
10/30- Thank god we found el Gofito hostel. I could not say that enough. After quite the day on the 29th I was so happy to be in a safe place. Seriously, it must be blessed because I felt so happy to be there. Normally Im a pretty easy going person and I can stay most places, but here I felt over whelmed with happiness and comfort. It was just such a warm place- if you go to Monteverde- te lo recomiendo.
So we wake, have some breakfast, toast- w/ pinapple jelly I might add, coffee, fried egg, watermelon and a banano. Perfect because we have another busy day planned. At 10:30 the bus for the zip line is coming to pick us up. Sweet. We had to be out of the room by 10am, and the gave us 30mins to check the emails and be in touch with the worlds we had left. At this time K decides he wants to check out zip lining. When I orginally made the reservations it was just for two because K said she wasn't interested in those kind of things, but I guess the Buenas Vibras del Golfito inspired him and I over hear him talking to Jorge (the kind front desk man) about getting a Tico deal for the zip line. Honestly I can't blame Ticos for looking for their personal national cut in the price. I mean this country is expensive and I made twice as much a night waitressing then what some people make in a week... SO ya catch my drift. SO I dont really know what kinda deal they work out, but K is coming with. We get everything in the car just then the bus arrives.
Now normally I hold the keys because Im the momma translator and just because thats how things were going, but we get in the Zipline Shuttle and I ask Hayley if shes got the keys, and she says Nope I gave them to you, so we are driving away and my mind is racing... when did she give me the keys? What did I do with them? EEK the shuttle is filled with people but we gotta stop! I do not have the keys to Hanzel... SO I tell K and he asks the driver to stop. One thing I like about the Costa Rican dialect is the say "toque" - a touch, and minute, and inch. "pare un toque" "stop for a sec." And the three of us JUMP out of the van and RUN back down the dirt road to the hostel. Where are the keys!? Ahhh right by the compu Hayley was using. Wonderful, Im glad I wasn't losing my mind because I knew I didnt have them, but I was now calm because.. I did have them and Hanzel would remain safe. This is just a taste of how our trip has been goin'... if you haven't already noticed.
Anyway, we head up the busy mountain pass to the Zipline center. This place has been offering tours for sometime and came highly recommended in the Frommers guide book Hayley brought. Only the best. This place also offers guide Rainforest Hikes and multiple bridges and I even believe there was a tram of sorts.. but we arent abuelitos so we opt just for the adventure stuff. Hayley and I are share a ticket because we bought it the night before, and when they ask Kenneths for his, he just says "hable con Jorge" and the women nods and saids us on our way... ?! What a minute... WHAT!? thats it "I talked to Jorge" thats all he said. I mean, I personally dont care if he got in for free, but really? SO I tell this to Hayley after we sign our lives away on the little wavier and did set up for lining... We crack up. I dont really know if its the coffee or the earlish mornings or even plain nerves, but Hayley and I really get a good laugh going before we get our adventure on. This time its because K is going with us and we'll he gets easily distracted and we aren't really sure if the structure of the Zipling is going to work for him. So after we get our groin harness on, get handed our gloves and I get the stinkiest helmet EVER, we realize K is gone. WTF?! Now what, really. So Hayley and I are enjoying our little inside joke with K returns, and he returns with something in his hands, oh cool he has a band new pair of gloves... This really gets Hayley and I laughing... First he gets to Zip line for FREE- just a simple name drop and THEN get gets a brand new pair of Zip Line gloves. Meanwhile we get cold, wet gloves and stinky helmets. AH pretty funny if you ask me.
So after everyone is suited up we head up the trail into the forest. I really would love to go into details about Cloud Forests, but right now, this isn't the blog... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monteverde (but heres a wiki entry for your curious minds)... But what I will say is that these forests are incredieble and also very wet. As you can imagine, they are forest in the clouds, only few remain in the world, so we are taking this opportuntiy to ZIPLINE- travel from mtn to mtn (better hillside to hillside) on metal cables. We get attached to the cable with some hightech carabiners and the like and basically once we are attached to the cable, grativy takes us down and speed brings us up and gets us to the end of the line. We use the leather gloves to control our speed and to brake... you just have to keep you hand far enough behind your head as to not spin and to brake. Otherwise its pretty simple and basically you just have to enjoy the ride. I would say its not as much adrenaline as the rappeling, but less stress allowes us to FLY through the jungle, excuse me, Cloudforest with ease. Plus you get to take in more of the environment and the beauty the nature holds. The funny this is that the trees have epiphytes, http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0405.htm, so they begin to create their own soil up in the trees, and this stuff falls on the zipline cable.... So at the END of the zipline, for whatever reason... I AM COVERED WITH THIS DIRT... really, I hadn't even realized but Hayley and Kenneth let me know. Plus me ever faithful HOT PINK KAPPA jacket is spotted with this stuff.. Oh well this is AWESOME- I could be dipped in the dirt, flying through the top of the rainforest on nothing but a cable and a harness is awesome. Good thing there are 12 more to go!
After the ziplining we get to do one more thing... The Tarzan Swing... Its kinda like bungee jumping but not quite (okay I know I haven't bungeed and I dont think I will BUT, it seems similiar), only its on a pendelum. Good thing I paid attention in Mr. Ericksons Physics class because otherwise I would have been worried about smacking into the launch pad on the return swing, but a good teacher taught me otherwise, so now Im just worried about taking the step off the edge... Well the tour guides dont have all day, and they were going to let me freak myself out, so one of them just grabs the back of my harness and guide me to the edge were I step off...... WOOOOAH - god I love this feeling. Your stomach goes to your brain and you dont even have air to scream.. Lo maximo. After the first drop you just kinda swing there for a little bit until they stop you. Excellent. Hayley follows and she enjoys as much as I do... a little inside for her- the BRIT- oh how his guy gurgled when he dropped.... "agug gu wa wu woo" Something like that, but I have to say the guy had guts, a 60something that has been traveling all over the world, pretty cool.
So that adventure is over and now its time to return to Hanzel, grab a bite to eat and get Hanzel some gas.... The word on the street is that on the 'one' of the ways out of town, past the tree after the rock there is a house/mechanic, un taller, that sells gas. People say that the way out of town we want to take is mostly down hill and we'd make it there even with the little gas we have, but being Gringas we want to play it safe, so we buy a gallon of gas for this lady. Yes a gallon. Everything else is in Liters, Kilos, Kilometros, but this place sells gas by the gallon. And after we leave town, it is all down hill and we make it to a gas station about an hour and a half later safe and sound. SO we fill Hanzel up, get ourselves some Coke and Bizcochos and head on our way-- have I mentioned that Bizcochos are awesome and that the Coke here is Deli!? I dont even like cola.. but perhaps I have turned a new leave... Next stop Tamarindo on a Saturday night- oh yeah and on the Saturday of "Halloween" even if its not the 31st they celebrate the day... SO
10/30 to be continued.... Pirates and a Cop, Playa Tamarindo.
So we wake, have some breakfast, toast- w/ pinapple jelly I might add, coffee, fried egg, watermelon and a banano. Perfect because we have another busy day planned. At 10:30 the bus for the zip line is coming to pick us up. Sweet. We had to be out of the room by 10am, and the gave us 30mins to check the emails and be in touch with the worlds we had left. At this time K decides he wants to check out zip lining. When I orginally made the reservations it was just for two because K said she wasn't interested in those kind of things, but I guess the Buenas Vibras del Golfito inspired him and I over hear him talking to Jorge (the kind front desk man) about getting a Tico deal for the zip line. Honestly I can't blame Ticos for looking for their personal national cut in the price. I mean this country is expensive and I made twice as much a night waitressing then what some people make in a week... SO ya catch my drift. SO I dont really know what kinda deal they work out, but K is coming with. We get everything in the car just then the bus arrives.
Now normally I hold the keys because Im the momma translator and just because thats how things were going, but we get in the Zipline Shuttle and I ask Hayley if shes got the keys, and she says Nope I gave them to you, so we are driving away and my mind is racing... when did she give me the keys? What did I do with them? EEK the shuttle is filled with people but we gotta stop! I do not have the keys to Hanzel... SO I tell K and he asks the driver to stop. One thing I like about the Costa Rican dialect is the say "toque" - a touch, and minute, and inch. "pare un toque" "stop for a sec." And the three of us JUMP out of the van and RUN back down the dirt road to the hostel. Where are the keys!? Ahhh right by the compu Hayley was using. Wonderful, Im glad I wasn't losing my mind because I knew I didnt have them, but I was now calm because.. I did have them and Hanzel would remain safe. This is just a taste of how our trip has been goin'... if you haven't already noticed.
Anyway, we head up the busy mountain pass to the Zipline center. This place has been offering tours for sometime and came highly recommended in the Frommers guide book Hayley brought. Only the best. This place also offers guide Rainforest Hikes and multiple bridges and I even believe there was a tram of sorts.. but we arent abuelitos so we opt just for the adventure stuff. Hayley and I are share a ticket because we bought it the night before, and when they ask Kenneths for his, he just says "hable con Jorge" and the women nods and saids us on our way... ?! What a minute... WHAT!? thats it "I talked to Jorge" thats all he said. I mean, I personally dont care if he got in for free, but really? SO I tell this to Hayley after we sign our lives away on the little wavier and did set up for lining... We crack up. I dont really know if its the coffee or the earlish mornings or even plain nerves, but Hayley and I really get a good laugh going before we get our adventure on. This time its because K is going with us and we'll he gets easily distracted and we aren't really sure if the structure of the Zipling is going to work for him. So after we get our groin harness on, get handed our gloves and I get the stinkiest helmet EVER, we realize K is gone. WTF?! Now what, really. So Hayley and I are enjoying our little inside joke with K returns, and he returns with something in his hands, oh cool he has a band new pair of gloves... This really gets Hayley and I laughing... First he gets to Zip line for FREE- just a simple name drop and THEN get gets a brand new pair of Zip Line gloves. Meanwhile we get cold, wet gloves and stinky helmets. AH pretty funny if you ask me.
So after everyone is suited up we head up the trail into the forest. I really would love to go into details about Cloud Forests, but right now, this isn't the blog... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monteverde (but heres a wiki entry for your curious minds)... But what I will say is that these forests are incredieble and also very wet. As you can imagine, they are forest in the clouds, only few remain in the world, so we are taking this opportuntiy to ZIPLINE- travel from mtn to mtn (better hillside to hillside) on metal cables. We get attached to the cable with some hightech carabiners and the like and basically once we are attached to the cable, grativy takes us down and speed brings us up and gets us to the end of the line. We use the leather gloves to control our speed and to brake... you just have to keep you hand far enough behind your head as to not spin and to brake. Otherwise its pretty simple and basically you just have to enjoy the ride. I would say its not as much adrenaline as the rappeling, but less stress allowes us to FLY through the jungle, excuse me, Cloudforest with ease. Plus you get to take in more of the environment and the beauty the nature holds. The funny this is that the trees have epiphytes, http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0405.htm, so they begin to create their own soil up in the trees, and this stuff falls on the zipline cable.... So at the END of the zipline, for whatever reason... I AM COVERED WITH THIS DIRT... really, I hadn't even realized but Hayley and Kenneth let me know. Plus me ever faithful HOT PINK KAPPA jacket is spotted with this stuff.. Oh well this is AWESOME- I could be dipped in the dirt, flying through the top of the rainforest on nothing but a cable and a harness is awesome. Good thing there are 12 more to go!
After the ziplining we get to do one more thing... The Tarzan Swing... Its kinda like bungee jumping but not quite (okay I know I haven't bungeed and I dont think I will BUT, it seems similiar), only its on a pendelum. Good thing I paid attention in Mr. Ericksons Physics class because otherwise I would have been worried about smacking into the launch pad on the return swing, but a good teacher taught me otherwise, so now Im just worried about taking the step off the edge... Well the tour guides dont have all day, and they were going to let me freak myself out, so one of them just grabs the back of my harness and guide me to the edge were I step off...... WOOOOAH - god I love this feeling. Your stomach goes to your brain and you dont even have air to scream.. Lo maximo. After the first drop you just kinda swing there for a little bit until they stop you. Excellent. Hayley follows and she enjoys as much as I do... a little inside for her- the BRIT- oh how his guy gurgled when he dropped.... "agug gu wa wu woo" Something like that, but I have to say the guy had guts, a 60something that has been traveling all over the world, pretty cool.
So that adventure is over and now its time to return to Hanzel, grab a bite to eat and get Hanzel some gas.... The word on the street is that on the 'one' of the ways out of town, past the tree after the rock there is a house/mechanic, un taller, that sells gas. People say that the way out of town we want to take is mostly down hill and we'd make it there even with the little gas we have, but being Gringas we want to play it safe, so we buy a gallon of gas for this lady. Yes a gallon. Everything else is in Liters, Kilos, Kilometros, but this place sells gas by the gallon. And after we leave town, it is all down hill and we make it to a gas station about an hour and a half later safe and sound. SO we fill Hanzel up, get ourselves some Coke and Bizcochos and head on our way-- have I mentioned that Bizcochos are awesome and that the Coke here is Deli!? I dont even like cola.. but perhaps I have turned a new leave... Next stop Tamarindo on a Saturday night- oh yeah and on the Saturday of "Halloween" even if its not the 31st they celebrate the day... SO
10/30 to be continued.... Pirates and a Cop, Playa Tamarindo.
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