Zip Lining in Costa Rica
Zip lining in Costa Rica! Sounds like a great adventure, right?
What could possibly go wrong?
Diane, Jeanne, Linda and I were on an exciting week long adventure in Costa Rica, March 2012, after working together at United Way in Milwaukee. We didn’t really know each other well at that point. But that all changed during our adventures in Costa Rica!
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| Jeanne, Barb, Linda & Diane |
I named our group ‘Team Costa Rica’ after that trip because we truly became a 'team' of best friends. We have traveled together as often as possible for the last 12 years.
More stories about those travels to Spain, Cape Cod, Nashville, Key West, South Beach, Miami, Naples, and Stillwater, MN.
Flight to Costa Rica
9:30 pm arrival in Liberia in the northwest section of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Very long travel day with two flights. Picked up our rental car at Adobe Rental and the roads were pitch black with very few street lights to guide us.
Guess who drove the car most of the days and nights on mountainous, winding, narrow, ‘no line in the middle of the road’, and often ‘unlit’ roads all over that country?
I was ‘volunteered’ to drive, you know ‘voluntold’. Everyone said that Barb can drive because I had lived and driven in Mexico, Dubai and Abu Dhabi!
Buckle up and hold on because the fun is just beginning!
I drove to meet Darryl who was our rental house caretaker. Then, I followed him about 40 minutes through these really dark, unlit roads to our rented house which sat on a steep side of a small mountain.
Thanks to Diane who heard about this great rental house during a random elevator conversation. She followed through and coordinated the details.
Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, living room, dining room and full kitchen, plus laundry and maid’s room.
But the best part was the large outdoor living space with patio and swimming pool for relaxing, fun conversations and wine!
We had the most spectacular view of the mountains and the Central Pacific Ocean near Playa Hermosa!
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| Playa Hermosa |
Time to relax, shake off the long flights, get into the pool, and have some wine!
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| Diane and Linda in our Pool |
Our first morning, we saw a few small wildfires burning on the mountain near our rental home. A bit of smoke, very windy and they seemed to be growing. Need to keep our eyes open.
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| Wildfire on the Next Ridge! |
My first challenge…
Just backing the car out of our villa’s incredibly steep driveway was an adventure itself because the driveway was at a 45’ angle.
Not kidding! Just ask my passengers who not only held their breath, but also held onto anything in the car as I backed up and out!
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| Super Steep Street |
I must have backed UP, OUT and TURNED the car to the left at about 20-25 miles an hour. I just said “Hold On” and put my foot on the gas pedal and gunned it. That’s really fast when you are driving backwards, uphill and turning left up another incline!!!
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| Backing Car Up and Out! |
Congo Trail Canopy Tour (Zip Lining)
Zip lining was going to be our big adventure in Costa Rica! We all had agreed to do this together.
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| Barb - Congo Trail Canopy Tour |
We drove about two hours to the Congo Trail Canopy Tour in Guanacaste which is the northwest province (where we were staying) to go zip lining.
Zip Lining:
Ride for recreation along a suspended, inclined cable or zipper line equipped with a pulley and a harness attached to the rider. Zip lining is done utilizing the decline of the slope thru a cable which starts from a relatively higher point compared to the end.
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| Diane, Linda, Barb & Jeanne |
Other words for zip line include aerial rope slide, aerial runway, flying fox, Tyrolean runway, zip-wire, and my personal favorite - the death slide! I think you know where this is headed.
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| Helmet Storage Area |
The young, friendly guides helped us get into our gear. We wore helmets and a pair of heavy leather gloves to slow our zip lining down by pressing on the cable to stop (the most important part).
But, more importantly, a full body safety harness which went over our shoulders and between our legs.
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| Jeanne - Ready to Zip Line! |
The first zip line was short and fun! Yay, this is cool. Then, we did another. What an adrenaline rush!
Flying above the breathtaking jungle wilderness was amazing.
However, I was a bit concerned about how the guides hooked you onto the pulley to launch you. You had to jump UP from the wooden tree platform. Then, they would quickly, and hopefully, grab your body strap and clip you onto the zip line pulley.
I did not like the jumping up part because I felt as though I might just fall off of the wooden platform before they could clip me in. After you were clipped on, they gave you a good push to get you going down the zip line!
Then after a couple of zip lines, we had to walk UP a very narrow bridge made of rope and small wood slats. This bridge swayed side-to-side and up/down.
Does not look very safe to me! Now, I'm holding onto the rope railing for dear life.
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| Bridge Close to the Ground |
This high bridge must have spanned about 60 feet between two extraordinarily tall trees. At this point, I'm starting to be a bit concerned about the height of everything. The trees, the platforms, the zip lines… (No photo of the high bridge)
Then we walked upwards on this swaying bridge towards a really, really TALL tree about 60-80 feet high. Is this really safe?
This was the first time I discovered that I began to feel afraid of being up this high without a real support system in place or a parachute! Up, up, up I trudged on this swinging rope bridge with too much space between the wood slats.
I looked down. Bad idea! I should NOT have done that. My stomach flipped with fear. Feeling queasy. Feeling some real terror now.
Finally arrived at the end of the long line to wait for the next zip line experience. But, now I am sweating profusely. Waiting, waiting, waiting to zip again.
Do I have to zip again? What choice do I really have?
Now my gloved hands and legs were literally shaking! I was actually ‘shaking in my boots’. Never happened to me before. Oh, oh… Not good.
This is the exact moment I discovered that I have a ‘Fear of Heights’.
So, I asked the guide on this platform when we would touch terra firma again. Lucky for me, he said after the 5th or 6th zip line. Thank goodness.
Then, I asked him if I could go back to the lodge. He looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head. Why would anyone want to return to the lodge and not do all of these awesome zip lines?
Well, fear of heights for one thing!
But yes, he would radio the lodge and have someone drive the jeep out into the jungle to pick me up. I would need to wait about 20 minutes or more. Fine by me… I had done enough zip lining to last a lifetime.
So, two or three more zips through the forest canopy. But, wait, all is not well just yet. I have not yet crossed my personal finish line!
This newly discovered ‘fear of heights’ caused me to pull down on the next zip line too hard as I was flying far too fast through the air heading towards the tree where I might crash land. Well, I did not want to crash land into the guide waiting to stop my zip lining flight.
So, I pulled down harder, harder, and harder on the line!
Guess what? Bad news! I pulled down so hard on the zip line that I literally came to a complete STOP way before the tree landing platform! Oops…
Now, I’m in between two very tall trees at the top of the jungle canopy just dangling and hanging on the zip line. People behind me waiting to do their next zip line and here I am stuck in the middle. Everyone was watching this nightmare unfold. Now what?
Can’t move forward and can’t go backwards, obviously.
Isn’t momentum supposed to do its job? This is basic physics, right? Well, not with me apparently. So embarrassing!
So, the guy who catches you at the next tree landing had to come out to RESCUE me on the zip line.
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| Barb being Rescued by Guide! |
Yep, he went hand-over-hand with his feet crossed over the zip line because I was stuck in the middle of two trees about 60-80 feet above the jungle floor.
Tourists ahead of me were super annoyed as they waited to get hooked into the next zip line.
And yet, here I was just hanging above the jungle floor. I can’t even look down.
I am truly petrified.
I just focused on my new best friend, the zip line guy, who came out to rescue me. It took him a while to reach me, obviously. Finally there, he attached his carabiner to mine.
Then, he began to reverse his movements to laboriously pull me to the tree landing.
This dragging took a while, but he was super strong, very supportive and calm. There were a few 'eye rolls' though.
Of course I felt like an idiot. My three girlfriends had already arrived at the tree landing, so I had quite the audience watching my humiliating performance! Oh well…
Have they not heard of the Bungee Brake? Guess not…
There were 11 zip lines in total. That many? I originally thought that there might only be about 5 or 6 of them. Imagine my surprise when they told me that after the first couple of zips!
Well, after I completed the 6th zip line, we landed on the ground in the jungle. I couldn’t get out of the harness, gloves and helmet fast enough.
Goodbye to zip lining! I’m finished. Done! Waved goodbye to my Team Costa Rica as they left for the last five zip lines. Good luck!
Whew… But then, there I was standing alone in the deeply shaded jungle with who knows what wild animals around? About 25 long minutes go by.
Finally, an old beat-up brown jeep pulls up. No roof. No windshield. No seat belts. Rusty doors.
But, I was thrilled to see the driver and the jeep! Very bumpy ride thru the jungle on worn paths back to the lodge and safety.
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| Barb - 'Survivor' T-Shirt |
Guess what?
I bought the ‘Survivor’ T-Shirt as my prize because, by golly, I did it!
I went Zip Lining and I survived!!!
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| Congo Canopy Tour Lodge |
Back at the lodge, I saw a young woman bleeding profusely from a large laceration on her finger.
She and her boyfriend were holding her hand up and applying ice.
I hoped that they were going to get some sort of medical attention or at least a large bandage.
"Zip Lining"
Exciting? Yes.
Dangerous? Sometimes.
There’s more…
When my girlfriends finally returned from zip lining, Linda also had a story to tell. She nearly had her middle finger severed during one of the zip lines.
Her hand slipped down and halfway out of her heavy glove during one of the zips, fortunately saving her finger.
But, the glove didn’t quite make it! The middle finger of the glove was ripped off, gone, bye bye… Thank goodness it wasn’t her hand. How scary was that?
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| Storage for Gloves and Harnesses! Yikes! |
Diane, Jeanne and Linda totally loved their zip lining experience! They were exhiIarated! And, I was thrilled for them.
But, also happy that I made the decision to go back to the lodge after six zip lines! Good choice for me!
Who oversees the construction of the zip line jungle places in these countries? The Zip Line Union or OSHA?
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| Another Odd Storage Area for Equipment! |
What I found curious was that I had never had a fear of heights prior to this. I skied at least a dozen different ski resorts/mountains in Colorado during my 20s and 30s. I rode up to the mountain tops on open air chair lifts and gondolas.
I rode in a large cable car in Switzerland to the top of a mountain and back down just to have a close up view of the Eiger, the Munch and the Jungfrau peaks! Amazing!
I also parasailed in Mexico when I was young and foolish. No fear of heights until I went zip lining. Go figure…
After our exciting zip line tour, we relaxed by playing with the howler monkeys in the Monkey Sanctuary.
This was a giant cage with lots of monkeys freely playing and jumping all around you and on you!
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| Diane Playing with the Monkeys |
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| Jeanne Monkeying Around too! |
Zip Line Causes for Concern:
Safety equipment that appears tattered and worn or if the only braking mechanism provided is a heavy glove used to squeeze the cable.
Well, that was exactly our zip lining experience with braking. Hence, my 'stopping' fiasco above the jungle floor.
After our zip lining adrenaline rush, we went to an off-the-beaten track restaurant on a beautiful beach. But, getting there is half the fun. GPS? Paper map? Right, you know.
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| Las Catalinas |
Time for lunch. Mountainous roads with lots of potholes.
Gas tank is running low and I’m worried about finding a gas station.
Now is not the time to read ‘Empty’ on the gauge. Filled the tank on the way home later that afternoon. Whew...
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| Interesting Beach Chairs |
We finally found Las Catalinas and had a lovely lunch at a cute little restaurant on the beach. Time to relax, have a Margarita and eat our tacos.
Beautiful white sand beach, picnic tables, lovely ocean breeze, cobalt blue water and swaying palm trees. Idyllic!
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| Hand Carved Wood Barstools |
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| Tables in the Sand |
Playa del Coco
We drove to Playa del Coco the next day. Sweet little town. Lovely walk on the beach. Sipped fresh coconut juice through a straw out of a coconut shell which had just been sliced open for us.
Shopped at the outdoor market. Lunch at Casa del Mar.
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| Barb & Diane Sipping Coconut Juice |
Returned to our house late this afternoon. We saw more wildfires burning in a few different locations with smoke filling the air. Very windy too. We were somewhat concerned, so we called Darryl to ask about the fires.
He said that winter is the dry season, therefore small wildfires are common. Don’t worry… Easy for him to say because he lives about 30 miles away.
Dinner at Villa del Sueno on the beach.
The locals didn’t seem too concerned about the fires either.
Next morning showed us sunny, clear skies, but a super windy day.
But, there were still some wildfires burning on the mountain across the valley from our place. Not large fires, but nonetheless, didn’t like the smoke or odor.
We had scheduled a private four-hour afternoon sail with Captain Ferrit and his first mate, Pablo. Found the marina and made contact with our handsome Captain who informed us that it was too windy and choppy to actually put the sails up!
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| Captain Ferrit |
Bummer… No sailing. But, he said he would motor us across the bay to a small, quiet cove where we could swim and snorkel. Sounds good.
It took quite a long time to cross the bay because of the waves, wind and just the small engine to move this 40-foot sailboat.
Finally arrived at the cove and dropped anchor.
The Team was ready to swim and snorkel.
We all jumped into the clear blue water which was really, really cold. I lasted about 20 - 30 minutes, if that long.
But, the snorkeling was lovely. Stunning marine life. Colorful tropical fish that were brilliant blue and yellow, manta rays, starfish, sea urchins and more.
Lots of tourists swimming and snorkeling off of several boats. And the cove was very calm because we were off the main channel and out of the wind.
I was happy to climb back on the boat.
There were delicious snacks and wine on board!
We had such a great time talking and laughing with our delightful First Mate, Pablo, and of course, our fascinating captain who shared some of his interesting sailing stories.
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| Pablo - Our First Mate |
Motored back across the bay watching a stunning, bright orange sunset. Lovely adventure.
Back at the house and the wildfires continued to burn, but now closer to our house. Also, there were a few more fires on a few other ridges.
We were beginning to be concerned about our safety. So, we called the caretaker again explaining the fire situation. He said he would check it out and call us back with any instructions.
He called back to let us know that there was no reason to be worried. Small fires like this popped up during winter which is the dry season. The local fire department kept an eye on these fires. Not to worry… OK? Hmmmm…
Rincon de la Vieja Volcano National Park, Guanacaste Province
I drove about two hours to the Volcano National Park. Again, driving on curvy, narrow, mountainous roads.
And, towards the end, when I turned off of the Interamericana Highway 1, we drove on extremely bumpy gravel roads to UNPAVED roads with countless potholes.
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| Man with Oxen & Cart |
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| Unexpected Traffic Delay |
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| Rough Roads |
But the road trip was definitely worth it. We hiked the Sendero Las Pailas Trail or the ‘Boiling Mud Pots Trail’ for about 2.5 hours. Hiking through the dry tropical forest, up and down, over big boulders.
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| Foot Bridge over Stream |
Finding breathtaking waterfalls and other natural attractions including sulfur springs and fascinating boiling mud pots (springs) that were hot and bubbling like crazy.
One area looked like a little lake (laguna fumarolica) and bubbled every few seconds. Further down the trail was much more curious.
This area was called Volcanito or little volcano with very active mud pots which are constantly bubbling!
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| Caution: High Temperatures! |
They were boiling so violently that they reached up to at least a foot and you could hear the splattering of mud several feet away as the sulfuric smell slowly penetrated your senses, especially your nose. Ugh…
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| Boiling Mud Pots |
Really interesting to see the boiling mud pots, especially since Costa Rica uses this geothermal energy as power.
Rincon de la Vieja stands over 6,200 feet high and nine miles wide. This giant is called the ‘Colossus of Guanacaste'!
It is a 600,000-year-old geological wonder with nine volcanic craters and at least 32 rivers flowing down its sides which bridge the Continental Divide. Totally fascinating!
We also saw several Guanacaste Trees or Elephant Ear Trees with unusual ear (orejas) shaped pods. Impossible to miss this flowering tree known for being very large and characterized by a spherical crown. The Elephant Ear Tree is Costa Rica’s national tree.
NOTE: The last eruption of this volcano was April 2023. Whew… Missed that one!
Another two-hour drive returning to the house. Had a late dinner at Hotel el Valero. Then, back home to sit by the pool, have wine and enjoy the very black sky full of bright stars. No big towns are near, so the stars are very bright out here.
Also, the wildfires are nearly extinguished now. No more worries.
More beach days including lunch at Father Rooster Restaurant at Playa del Coco. Dinner near our house with a spectacular view of the Central Pacific Ocean at La Finisterre Restaurant.
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| Father Rooster Restaurant |
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| Tree House at Father Rooster Restaurant |
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| Cat Napping on Pool Table |
Church of Canas and the Wedding
On our last day we visited Canas which is a small town with an unusual looking Catholic church covered in mosaic tiles - Church of Canas.
Otto Apuy, a famous local painter, designed this amazing church.
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| Church of Canas |
An unexpected architectural landmark in this otherwise innocuous town.
The church and its 30 meter belfry is covered from top to bottom in psychedelic mosaics taking the form of vines and colorful starbursts.
I speak just enough Spanish to get into trouble. So, I congratulated the mother of the bride and told them how pretty the flower girl and bridesmaids looked.
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| Groom and his Mother |
Then, the handsome groom and his family arrived dressed in their wedding finery. Again, more congratulations.
So, I asked if we could stay for a while and watch the wedding.
Yes, of course, you can! Please sit and enjoy!
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| Wedding Rings! |
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| Flower Girls & Ring Bearer |
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| Cute Ring Bearer |
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| Bride and Her Father |
Last, we met the lovely, young bride dressed in a traditional, exquisite white floor length gown with a 15-foot long train.
She was just beaming with happiness and a bit surprised to see us at her wedding.
So, we sat in the last row and enjoyed the special wedding ceremony. And the language barrier was not really a problem.
A wedding is a wedding in any language!
After the wedding, we took a drive on the Pan American Highway to check out the countryside. Passed over a small river with people in canoes and kayaks.
Then, we stopped at the Cementerio de Canas which was unusual in that there were full length rectangular marble burial ‘boxes’ above ground with the names of the deceased on their headstones.
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| Cementerio de Canas |
Very interesting cemetery similar to those in New Orleans with crypts, vaults and above ground tombs.
The water table here was most likely high which prohibited the digging and underground burial process.
It was a beautiful cemetery with colorful crypts and small mausoleum structures.
Time to say Goodbye to Costa Rica! Great adventures and memories with my new Best Friends!
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| Linda painted this Still Life after her return |
