Zip-lining

Hola Amigos! This is Rachel, the daughter of the main-blogger, Chris. As my mom said, yesterday we went zip lining. The zipping course was located in La Fortuna, a tourist city about an hour and a half from the CCS home-base. We all loaded into a large van (about 18 of us) and began driving. On the way, the bus driver stopped at an iguana restaurant. In the nearby trees, we could see huge iguanas sleeping. We then went in the restaurant’s gift shop. All of the souvenirs were nice, but one rose above them all. A wooden bowl. But not just any bowl. This bowl had the cutest little cat sleeping in it. The cat loved me, and I petted it for most of the time in the shop. The cat even let me hold it in my arms, until I had to say adios to la gata.

We loaded back in and finished the drive to the zip lining course. The course included 12 lines and a Tarzan Swing. We reached the info and paying building (and I can’t say zipping was cheap, but it was worth every penny, even though my dad paid.) after dropping Susan (the girl who works at the day care with us) in the main square of La Fortuna. She had gone zip lining before and had a bad experience because heights scare her, and she got a cable burn. My dad, Alex, the two other kids (Lanice and Megan), and about 9 other people got suited up in zipping gear and headed to the practice line. After teaching us how to sit in the harness, how to unclip, and how to brake, everyone was loaded into an open air pickup truck. The drive up the mountain was a ride in itself. Megan was forced so close to the edge of the truck that she almost fell off because there was no side rail! Luckily, everyone made it safely up the hill and onto the first zip line. Line after line passed. On every side, there were spectacular views of the forest. Everything was a beautiful, lush, green, except for the fruits of the trees. Soon, the first eight lines were over and it was time for the Tarzan Swing.

The Tarzan Swing is completely optional. For this death-defying adventure, they hook you into a long rope with both your clips. You lean forward, out of an open gate while they hold you from falling. “Now, keep your knees bent and your ankles on the edge of the platform.” As you attempt to do as they say, without warning they let go and push you off the platform. Down, down, down, you plummet towards the earth, sure that a gloomy doom is awaiting you at the bottom, along with the viciously fanged snakes, cruel, blood hungry spiders and the hard, rocky ground. Okay, so not exactly, but you do fall. Only, not for very long until the rope catches you and swings you back up on the other side. Back and forth, you swing until you slow enough for the guides at the bottom to catch you. You land after (for most people) screaming your heads, as well as the other people in the groups’ heads, off. Like I said, for most people. Lanice screamed on the way down. While Megan, on the other hand, only stopped screaming to gulp some air so she could begin screaming again. I screamed once, then was silent, but my legs were flailing like crazy. Alex, my brother, shouted, “Holy crap.” as he fell. But my dad’s fall was the most interesting by far. As he swung back and forth, flailing his legs and free arm, he imitated Tarzan’s monkey call from the Disney movie. It was hilarious, until he almost dragged a guide off the platform because he was going too fast. After the Tarzan Swing, which four people decided not to do, we had four more lines. They passed very quickly. It was cool. I started speaking some of the Spanish I knew to the guides, and they all then spoke Spanish to me, while talking to everyone else in English. Sadly, zipping ended like all things do, and we were firmly on the ground again. Everyone was filthy from the dirty, oily cables. All over my face and arms, I had filth. We washed up in the bathroom back at the info building of the zipping tour, and headed back to San Carlos. On the way through Fortuna, we picked Susan up and began the long drive back. I slept on pretty much the whole ride back. But who knew what was in store for me that night…