We embarked on our first adventure of the trip, a day that would forever change our lives. We would laugh, we would cry, we would sweat & bleed, but it was all for the glory…
But seriously…
We got up EARLY and took our 7:20am shuttle out to the Swiss Travel Service headquarters in Liberia. Side note: Swiss Travel is the company through which we booked our hotel & all of our excursions. They serve many of the hotels/resorts in Costa Rica.
We hopped onto a much larger bus and joined about 40 other people to head into the rainforest for a day of ziplines, waterslides, horseback riding, mud baths, hot springs and general monkey business. No pun intended.
At one point in the trip into the rainforest – which was nothing but a rocky, curvy path through the mountains – the bus driver had to cross a short bridge that was just about as wide as the bus itself. Kelly nearly ripped my arm off as she was holding on for dear life crossing the bridge. We arrived at the ‘base of operations’ and everyone quickly donned their zipline gear; helmets, gloves and all – with the help of the tour guides, of course.
Thus began the 1/2 mile hike up to the top platform, where we recieved simple instructions on how to use the zipline. Then it was “go-time.” Being the gentleman I am, I allowed Kelly to go first! She was gung-ho and didn’t mind one bit…and off she went. I followed directly behind and…well, there’s no words to describe what kind of feeling comes over a person as they’re flying above the trees, looking at mountains, rainforest and the beautiful horizon.
The pictures in the slideshow at the end will hopefully illustrate for all readers what it was like…however it can’t possibly give it justice. Let’s just say if you have the opportunity to ride ziplines anywhere in the world, do it. Without hesitation.
After we completed 11 platforms (we could have easily done 3x as many if given the option) we changed into swimsuits. Well, Kelly, like most other girls in the group, was wearing a bikini, and thus was required to wear a pleather “diaper” loin-cloth-type garment so as to avoid butt-burn on the waterslide. She wasn’t entirely ‘keen’ on the idea, but luck would have it that Andrew was carrying a pair of basketball shorts. Problem solved. No diaper necessary!
The group marched back up the hill and everyone eagerly (most everyone) waited their turn to go sliding down the 1/2 mile waterslide. I opted to go first this time and foolishly told the tour guide (at Kelly’s suggestion) that I wanted the “fast” option.
Basically, there’s a small tank at the top of the slide that is shut off by a gate. The mountain stream fills up the tank and when you’re ready, the guide pulls the lever, raising the gate and unleashing the fury upon the poor soul sitting at the top of the slide. The fast option basically consisted of the full tank of water blasting my pasty self down the twisting, turning, high velocity chute of sweetness.
I seriously thought the force of the water was going to jettison my body right out of the slide and into the trees. But it didn’t. Kelly also chose the fast option, but didn’t feel as much trepidation as I did of becoming a permanent part of Costa Rican nature. The picture explains it all.
After the whole group took their turns, we all dried off, changed, and proceeded to the lunch spot for a break in the action. We enjoyed a nice lunch of rice & beans, chicken, pork, potatoes, salad, fresh squeezed lemonade and the company of some Canadians who only wanted to talk about hockey.
Bellies full, we then hopped onto horses to prepare for the descent to the hot springs. Side note: all of the horses & cows we saw in Costa Rica were extremely emaciated. We felt a little guilty riding them, because it was apparent that they’re not in any shape to be bearing any loads.
At any rate – we began the second half of the day’s adventure and headed to the hot springs, all the while enjoying some great scenery of the rainforest and volcanoes on the way down. Once we reached our destination, we once again changed into our swimsuits and proceeded to the volcano-steam-heated sauna. Wow. HHHH–OOO–TTTTT!
After about 45 seconds in the sauna, we walked over to the mud basins for a mudbath. The mud was also heated by the volcano. Following our instructions offered to us by a saggy old man, we covered ourselves in mud, head to toe. We then stood and let it dry in the cool rainforest air. Next up was a cold shower to rinse off the mud, which then spurred us to sprint our behinds over to the hot springs. There were six pools in all, two of which weren’t very hot at all. We opted for the hottest pool and enjoyed a few minutes relaxing in the 106-degree water. Felt nice on Andrew’s sunburns.
Once we hopped out, we changed and headed up to the pub for a Corona. Our “cool-down” time was interrputed by a howler monkey sighting. There were several swinging around the trees above the hot springs. Very cool.
Once the group was finished, we all piled back on the bus, headed back to the travel headquarters in Liberia and switched shuttles again. After a sleepy ride back to the resort, we ordered room service for dinner and proceeded to crash immediately. It ended up being a 13-hour day with all of the adventures & travel included.
We were exhausted, but it was well worth it. An amazing day! Pictures below…
http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm181/zenderpuravida/?action=view¤t=57ac4882.pbw
You can still call Andrew “Zender” even though we’re both Zender now. In fact…Andrew has been calling me Zender more than anyone lately! 🙂
We’re excited for you to come home, dude! FYI–we bought our plane tickets for Colorado. We’re going August 8 through the 12. You are still invited if you can swing it. Grace said you probably wouldn’t come, though. Just let us know! 🙂
are you implying that i can’t handle the EXTREME?
That looks like you had an amazing time. From the sound of it, it would appear that Kel would have fit in better with me in Interlaken doing EXTREME things than you Zender. Speaking of which are we still allowed to call Zender…Zender…because they are now both Zender. Hmmm…. the dilema begins. 🙂 Miss you guys hope all is well.
Bracco
Last night Andrew showed me the clip of Mike Meyers as the “special kid”. I had never seen it before and I was CRACKING up!! 🙂 Next time (and there will definitely be a next time) a Batman cape is totally in order. Maybe a Zorro mask too…
🙂
Awesome.
YES, YES, YES!!!! That would have been the funniest damn thing I had ever seen. I’m actually picturing it in my head right now, and I can’t stop laughing my ass off.
~Nick
We TOTALLY should have thought of bringing a cape with us! That would have been AWESOME! (and hilarious) LOL Maybe next time we will think of it. 🙂
i wouldn’t trade looking like a fool for an experience like that. it would have been even better if i had a batman suit and cape.
BTW… the joke is not on you, it is on me because while you were in a tropical paradise, I was stuck in Chicago with $hitty weather.
Hey, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you I was just making an obersrvation… wait no… I was trying to make fun of you. In all serious though, those pictuers were awesome. It looked like the excursion was a blast… I really want to try that waterslide (with the power boost!!)and the hot springs. Some things are worth looking “special” for, and that trip into the jungle would be one of those things.
~Nick
Nick, I could not have said it better. Andrew, you look downright special in that picture.
oh man. i never thought of that. i suppose that i do. joke’s on me.
Hey,
I haven’t looked at the pics yet, but I wanted to get this down here before I forgot… that picture of the two of you in your zipline gear?? Drew, you look like that Mike Meyer’s character when he played the kid in the helmet tied to the merry-go-round!! Sounds like it was an absolute blast.
~Nick