Breakfast this morning was from 6:20-7:20, which makes me glad that I went to bed at 10:30. After breakfast, the canopy tour company sent shuttles to pick up our group. Thirty minutes up winding gravel roads, and we had arrived at the cloud forest of Monteverde. When we signed our lives away with a waiver, we also got to choose whether we would do the last zip line a la superman. Why not? I was already going to be zip-lining, rappelling, walking on an air bridge, and doing a Tarzan swing. A little bit more of an adrenaline rush wasn't going to kill me. So we all got suited up into our harnesses, helmets, and gloves, and went to get a lesson on zip-lining. In broken English, we were told what to do and what not to do, how to break, and how to pull ourselves the rest of the way down the line if we screwed up and used too much break. We were also told not to ever mess with our harnesses, which to me was a bit of a no brainer, since it was the only thing between me and a 200 foot drop on some of the lines.
We started on a practice line, to get the hang of breaking. This was when I was able to take a bit of skin off my wrist with the cable, so it was a great start. After a while, I got the hang of it, and the views were amazing. Soaring over the forest below was an experience that I will never forget. Some of the longest lines let you ride along for 30 seconds or more. When I arrived at the final line, the one that I had chosen to do the Superman on I was very excited. It really was like I was flying. Then came the final obstacle of the day, the Tarzan swing, which was a free fall into a rope swing at 200 feet above the forest floor.
Shockingly, today I realized I was an adrenaline junkie. A hard core adrenaline junkie. Because that free fall was the most exhilarating experience that I have ever had. A few of the people in my group were unable to complete this last part of the tour, but I had decided before I started the day that I was going to do everything. Walking onto the bridge, while it was swinging from the first member of our group to go, was a bit tremor inducing. As was looking over the edge into nothingness that the guide beside me said to jump into. But the rush of the fall.....so sweet. So I now know that if my mother asks me if I would jump off a bridge if all my friends were doing it, I will have to tell her yes. As long as I have a harness or something to catch me.
Another thing that I discovered today; zip-lining through the forest and climbing up the sides of mountains to get to the next line makes a person very hungry. Add to that the adrenaline rush and the inevitable crash, and I was ready to eat an entire cow and then take a nap. After we checked out of the hotel, we headed back down to town to grab lunch and I managed to sneak in a bit of souvenir shopping :). A very long bus ride back to San José, because of traffic and I was finally back in my Tican home. I still have a lot of homework for tomorrow, so I will hopefully get this posted Monday night after class. Oh and only three more weeks in CR! Time flies like I did on the zip-line :D
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