We
had planned to stay 2 night at the Arenal Volcano and Kathleen had
found a suitable hotel. The first night here in Costa Rica,
neither of us slept that well for a variety of reasons, so a nice
quiet room with air conditioning was just what was needed.
We both slept in late which had the collateral impact of limiting
us as to what we did during the day. Most of the
hotel-sponsored tours left by 0800 and since that was way earlier
than our actual wake-up time, we ended up choosing an activity
that was offered multiple times during the day -- zip lining
through the jungle canopy. In retrospect, it was perhaps the
best choice as it was both fun and exciting. Plus, we did
not have to travel in one of the hotel's buses to the destination
and back.
The photos below are what we saw.
One
of our guides was kind enough to take our photo. Because of
our choice of time, there were only 4 folks total on the tour plus
2 guides. We got the safety briefing and suited up in the
harness and helmet.
We
hiked from the hotel to the top of the ridge to our north.
From the top of the ridge, we climbed onto the starting
tower. From that tower we had a commanding view of the
valley on the far side of the hotel. Our trip would take us
down to the river at the bottom of the valley. As you can
see from the photo above, that is quite a ways.
The
experience started out with a short run and then it was on to the
real deal. Above, the other fellow on the tour launches off
to the next station. The landing station is visible at the
end of the cable.
The
other fellow and his wife were from Chile, but I did not get their
names. In the photo above, he approaches the landing
station. The other guide is there to assist him on landing.
The
guide stated that he had been a professional photographer and was
nice enough to take multiple pictures of us and actually carried
my camera for me. That was good as managing the descent on
the cable generally required two hands for a novice like me.
Note the brake device on our right hands.
One
of the guides went down first and got this shot of me coming into
one of the landings.
Some
of the runs were quite steep and you came into the landing zone
"hot" which required a significant amount of braking with your
right hand. The longest run was something on the order of
1200 feet.
This
was a short hop, but allowed easy photos.
My
kudos to the guide for the photos. He did get a good tip.
Kathleen
is good to go. Richard: note her camera. Does that
look familiar?
This
is one of the longest runs on the course. The landing is far
enough away that you just barely see it. You were going
quite fast at the center, but since the cable droops, you have to
keep up speed to prevent being stranded before you reach the
landing.
We
came pretty close to that branch in the middle.
I
was enjoying the trip, but it was accompanied with a healthy
respect of the height. At one point, the cable is several
hundred feet above the canyon floor.
The
landing is just barely visible in the distance. The river at
the bottom of the canyon is visible as well.
Kathleen
comes zooming in to the landing station.
Portions
of the jungle were cleared to allow raising cattle. But, the
rain keeps everything verdant green whether the trees have been
cleared or not.
Look
at the right hand edge of the photo above and you can see the next
station on the cables. This was a long span.
Some
of the drops between stations are significant. Note the
cable to the previous station on the left.
One
of the stations was on a huge Cocobolo tree over 100' above the
slope. The tree limbs supported a variety of plant life
including various kinds of epiphytes that exist off of rain and
air.
This
epiphyte is called a bromeliad and holds water in its center core
like a vase.
Our
guide was holding my camera and took this photo of a jungle
waterfall. Neither Kathleen nor I saw it; we only discovered
it when I put the photos on my laptop and were able to view them
on a larger screen.
The
guide took this photo as he was coming into the landing.
This run took us over the river at the bottom of the canyon.
Kathleen launched off across the river but her speed left her short of the landing; she had to hand-over-hand into the station.
The guide got this on my descent.
The
wind was blowing pretty good and prevented me from maintaining
enough speed to reach the station. So, the approved recovery
method is to spin and then pull hand-over-hand until you reach the
landing.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2014, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.