Costa Rica – Pura Vida

Lazy start to the day in our luxury suite, well our very nice room anyway, no need for an alarm. Start with a coffee in bed thanks to ‘room service’ – i.ee me. Breakfast at about 8:30, there are hummingbirds buzzing around outside the window. We have a fairly standard rice and beans with scrambeld eggs and some slices of fruit.

Florence is zip-lining this morning – on the longest line in Latin America, I’m continuing the lazy start to the day, write a few e-mails, book a holiday etc.

The hotel garden is full with birds of many colours, they leave out fruit on a bird table and birds of all colours and hues descend to eat it. There is a pecking order, the woodpecker is at the top, the little yellow ones near the bottom.

Wander down to a cafe in town for a coffee about midday, research on Costa Rican coffee of course, edit some photos until Florence is back, she is buzzing and slightly shaken but all in one piece.

Florence has this to say about zip-lining:

“I think the worst thing you can do is over-think it. I booked this last night and it played on my mind… right until it was my turn to go.

Andy and I did dare each other to do things that were out of our comfort zone on this trip, and this certainly was one of mine.

If you’re into zip-lining – or if you’ve ever thought about giving it a go, this is the place to do it. The staff are friendly and helpful; and the course certainly gets the adrenalin pumping! The key to it is just to go with it, and trust the equipment.

After being geared up, we had a safety and instruction briefing. It was only a short walk to the first zip-line – a short one to get us started, and the lowest too (they build up from there on). The second line is a bit longer, and the nerves kicked in a bit. After walking on a wobbly rope bridge, the next challenge was the short rappel, straight down from the top of a tree. I initially refused to do it but built up the courage to do a slow one… and felt my heart jumping out of my body.

I had to be ‘rescued’ during the longest zip-line (1,590 meters) as the wind had picked up, and a strong burst stopped me in my tracks.

Aware that the option to drop out at any stage was available to me, I pushed myself. I did the seven zip-lines (where you’re sitting in your harness), one short rappel and the two superman zip-lines (where you’re literally in the flying position). I had enjoyed my experience and was happy to leave it there. The views were stunning, the feeling of wind on your face, of being out of control, the feeling of flying… yes, that was one of the most challenging things I have ever done, and certainly the most exhilarating.

You can check out some general pictures on 100% Adventura’s website.”

Time for lunch – poached eggs and fried potatoes for Florence, mozzarella, tomato and pesto pitta for me – very tasty.

The town we’re in is based around the adventure travel business, there’s a small central square surrounded by shops, restaurants and travel agents. It’s built on the side of a hill so nothing is flat. Check out a few souvenir shops but nothing is grabbing us, wander back up the hill to the hotel and wile away a few hours until our next outing.

5:30 is time for our night walk, a couple of hours in the forest looking for creatures that only come out after dark. By the time we get onto the path it’s almost dark, just a red glow in the sky through the trees, soon the stars start to come out. Our guide has amazing vision, it’s hard enough to see things in the day time but he finds us plenty to look at by torch light. First creature is a green Katydid that looks just like a leaf. We were warned before the walk not to touch any trees in the dark, our next siting confirms why, it’s a bright green viper, quite young, about 50cm long, it will grow to up to about 2m. It sits in the tree waiting for passing rodents but its poisonous enough to kill a human. We see a few birds asleep in the trees, they seem totally oblivious to us even when they’re only a few feet away. Scorpions are only visible in UV light, they glow green, by torchlight they’re practically invisible. Then we spot what we’ve all been waiting for – a sloth, the first one is a bit high and it’s hard to telll which part of the bundle of grey-brown fur is which, but soon after we come across a younger one that, for a sloth at least, is being quite active. It slowly moves through the trees about 10m above us, we’re all moving to get the best view from the ground. Strange sloth fact – they come down from the trees once a week for a toilet break. The walk was very enjoyable, there’s quite an atmosphere to a forest at night with wind in the trees and the mystery of darkness just beyond the reach of our torches.

Back to the hotel, no dinner tonight, early night – early start tomorrow.