MONTEVERDE
Days 17-18
A three hours drive up to 5,000 feet in the Cloud Forest bought us to the pretty little town of Monteverde, the 'Adrenaline Capital' of Costa Rica. So called because of the many hanging bridges, zip lines, canopy tours, and bungee jumps. It is a small and trendy village with a young feel, lots of folk in their 20's looking to do 'adventure stuff'. Along with us who are in our twenties times 3.5 (well me at least, Sara times 2.5 and a bit).
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The drive was amazing, such lovely scenery as we climbed. No traffic in the mountains, a relief after the road towards the main industrial port of Puntarenas which attracts monster trucks like flies to a pile of Coatamundi dung (a way a bringing in our sightings of packs of these lovely little things along the roadside).
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The views were spectacular, roads a little bumpy, weather a little chillier, and when we got there our family run hotel was lovely, massive room, duvets, and a great pizza place up the road where our hoteliers sister served us. Super lovely people who did all our laundry in 3 hours for a fiver (we did not complain when they shrunk Sara's Armani Lounge pants - if ever there was a sink wash only item - I ask you!?) The Villa Lodge was just $65 (incl bf) so great value.
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Of in the morning to our first adventure - The Hanging Bridges and Jungle Canopy tour. This area is a 'Cloud Forest' as it is so high and always damp and cold in the clouds. Luckily for us the sun was with us most of the day and the bridges were fun and gave a great insight into the canopy formed by the massive trees in this area.
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In the photos you can see bridges (basically) but can you work out what is happening in the shot of the tree?
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Well that is Sara climbing the equivalent of three floor up inside the trunk. And this is the girl who was deeply apprehensive about our next trick - Zip-lining!!
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We crossed our bridges as we came to them, until there were no more to cross at which point we had to gird our loins and summon our courage to face 11 zip lines, the longest of which was ONE MILE LONG!!!!!! Now for someone (Sara) who has a morbid fear of zip lines those loins take some girding and that courage takes some summoning. But gird and summon she did in spades.
I had my own demon to face, a seated bungee jump. I've always wanted to do one but always been too chicken. Well on this tour it was an option. Damn!! Hardly slept a wink (don't whatever you do tell Sara). Well we zipped up warm (geddit!) and set off into the wild blue yonder with great guides and surrounded by people younger than our children.
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A couple of trial zips, then bigger zips, then a naffing great sign saying 'Chickens, turn back now, it's your last chance!'. I simply stood in front of it and waved Sara past, like the true gentleman I am. From that moment on it got quite scary, especially for poor Sara who simply could not master the art of staying facing forward, so ended up zipping in all directions, at least she got some great, if unitended, views of the jungle God knows how many feet below. Finally it was the big bugger. And a whole country mile of zip is a lorra lorra zip! On these ones we went 'superman style' lying down face first. Mistake, it was bloody uncomfortable for a 71 year old with a buggered back (I had quite sensibly ignored the signs saying anyone with a bad back can't go).
In the video below of Sara coming in to land please do two things - First admire Sara's pluck, second look how strung up her feet are on landing! She was amazing, so much so she wanted to go back the following day to master her technique (but chose a spa day instead in the end, weird that). Then watch me fall a 100 feet!
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The top video is Sara, it is quite a big file so may take time to load. Once its loaded you might like to expand it to full screen with the two little arrows top left. I promise I won't take any more videos in portrait. Daft choice of narrow shot!
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The next video is of me. You may wish to skip this one, after all who wants to see a grown man squeal like a pig as he drops off a swaying ledge attached to a rubber band.
What most surprised me, apart from the fact I was daft enough to attempt it in the first place, was that in freefall you can't see anything. Not even your past life flashing before your eyes. Freefalling at 32 feet per second per second acceleration means all you see ahead is a total blur. All you can hear is a strange high pitched screaming sound, jungle monkeys I guess. All you can smell is ........... Why on earth I end up saying 'I'll go up again!' is totally beyond me. Must be the rush of blood to the head.