Tag Archives: Zip Lines

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

The next step on my seat-of-the-pants tour of Costa Rica was Nicoya.

slideshow

Beautiful jungle, teeming with all manner of wildlife, including myself and a group of medical students from Minnesota, on some sort of exchange program. Don’t ask me, I have no idea how they ended up at the same place I did, but they were ready to have some fun….

I had booked this trip online, with no experience or advance information, and hoped that I had found the best zip-line operation I could. I wasn’t disappointed! There are 25 zip-lines, traveling nearly 2 miles in the air, and eleven of the cables went over waterfalls.

The zip line tour was an all in one operation. Adventure Park Hotel Vista Golfo, includes the hotel,  restaurant, and zip line tour all run by the same folks. I arrived about 5 pm, and my room was waiting for me, the restaurant was open, and the sodas and beer cold. It was actually the first time I’ve seen a glass Coca-Cola bottle in a very long time.The menu in the restaurant was varied, with everything from barbecued steak to typical Costa Rican fare. I decided to try the arroz com camarones, rice and shrimp, to see if it was as good here as back in San Jose. It was…..P1020479 (2)

 

Everything was run right to the second, from dinner, to breakfast, to loading the bus to get to the  zip lines, to our return time. I shouldn’t have been surprised, as the kind and efficient folks running this establishment are Germans. The whole place ran like a fine Black Forest Cuckoo clock. And the cuckoo’s? That was us, the collection of folks wanting to slide around the forest on cables, with our gloved hand being our only brake. Here’s a sample….

That was about a quarter mile…. fun, Huh???

All in all, it was a great time. Fun, safe, good food,  and great people. And, yes, there were lizards in the shower…….

Next stop, Baldi Hot Springs, near Mount Arenal, the local volcano.

 

Here we go!

Well, the supplies are bought, catalogued, folded, spindled and mutilated, bags packed, lists made and printed in triplicate, passport copied, and its time to hit the road! The trip is to Costa Rica, but I’m traveling on my own. No tours, no guides, traveling without a net, so to speak. I looked at what Costa Rica has to offer, picked my favorite 4 or 5 things, and I’m hitting the road! Should be a real Kick in the Pants!

The plan includes fishing, diving, surfing, zip-lining, and a visit to Baldi Hot Springs; the biggest collection of hot spring pools I have ever heard of.

Baldi is twenty pools of varying size and temperature located on the side of a volcano, with water slides, hotel, and all manner of interesting and provocative food and activities.

Fishing will be on the Caribbean coast for Tarpon, with offshore trips in the morning, and river trips in the afternoons. A bonus will be the possibility of seeing a crocodile or two, possibly eating a fish I hook.

Surfing? Tamarindo. Beach break with soft sand, friendly people, and great food. No reef to get torn to shreds on, just a bit of sandblasting if I fall too often. Oh well, thats surfing! I haven’t been on a board for nearly forty years, so I’m taking a lesson the first thing when I get there.

The zip-lining will be in the form of a Canopy tour. According to their website, I will be taking 25 zip lines, with 11 of them going over waterfalls. I’ll also be doing the “Superman” zip line, where I lay out like I’m flying. I hope my videos come out!

Diving will be on an as available basis. Maybe Pacific coast, maybe Caribbean coast. I hope to get to the worlds second longest barrier reef, off the Caribbean coast of Central America, but if it should come up when I’m over at the Pacific? I’ll go there!

Should be a really interesting trip.

I decided to go it alone, because I want to get off the beaten path. I’m renting a car, driving myself, and hoping to find the adventure that I’m looking for, after too many trips with planned side trips, staged luau’s, and non-original performers. I’ll see the real country, eat the food wherever I find something that looks good, and meet the people that live there.

Stay tuned folks…it should be one hell of a ride!!!

Oso…..