Zip Line Adventure

(photos and video courtesy of Esteban Coto)

This morning I got up super early to take advantage of the good early morning weather and try my hand at rainforest canopy zip lining at Arenal Mundo Aventura.

Of course there was an extensive waiver and much protective gear. Because of my height I required a second harness for my upper body.

The zip line itself is fairly easy to master. One hand to secure your harness, one hand a foot and a half behind you gripping a leather brake.

Ankles crossed knees up - you fly. Bring your brake hand down, even gently, and you begin to slow down. Don’t slow down until instructed by hand signal or you may not have enough momentum to clear the platform.

The first few lines were a cinch. My helmet brushed the line a few times to let me know why it was there.

I hit a snag on the first of two lines that passed over the La Fortuna waterfall. I was traveling fast on the second longest line. I was cautious not to brake. Maybe too cautious it turns out as my hand fell off the brake line altogether! I was losing control of the line and swinging around, but I managed to reach back and find the line again quickly.

I scraped my hand and wrist up on the fast moving steel cable. The guys expressed concern about my “injury” but it truly looked worse than it was. I licked mysel and hiked up to the next line.

On the way to this, the longest line, and the second to look over the Cataracas La Fortuna, I admit I was a little unnerved. We were to travel 80m over the forest floor. It was difficult to believe there were trees that scraped up this high.

The wildlife at this height of the rainforest was truly wild.

Army ants poured over the pavestones like rivulets of water. They had eaten a few steps clean away. Poison frogs with irridescent red and blue markings lay in wait in tree limbs and under leaves. Monkeys have used the zip lines for their own hand-over-hand transportation. Apparently, the electrical sound of pulleys moving across the lines encourages them to jump away and no collsions have been reported.

I made it across but just barely. I managed my brake well, but still couldn’t get enough zip to tag the platform without crawling the last 30 ft.

The rest of the ten lines went swimmingly. It seemed as though it was over quickly, but the tour took over three hours!