Thursday, November 17

Woke up to a sunny day in Monteverde. We booked a day of zip lining and a forest walk on hanging bridges. After breakfast we walked in town to buy some water and then came back to wait to get picked up. We also made the decision to go to Lafortuna on Saturday so we booked that. A van picked us up at 10:30. There were already 7 people inside. We then picked up five more and we were at capacity. Thank goodness we only had about a twenty minute ride, up the mountain. When we got there we showed our voucher and headed back to be fitted with a helmet, gloves, and a harness. We are 18 in the group along with 4-5 guides. These guides are young, fun, and very helpful. We are shown what to do, given safety directions and we are ready to go.

Ron's ready to go.

I look a little buzzed, but I'm ready to go.

We climb to the first platform to begin out flight through and above the forest. There are 17 platforms in total. After every 4 or 5 zip lines, we walk about five minutes to another area. There are varying heights and distances for the lines. We actually went in pairs twice. This is when I get ready first, then Ron is hooked up behind me, with his legs up around my waist and we go. This was for the longer runs. The longest and last run was one km so Ron was attached to me. It lasted forever. It was so cool. We are quite far above the trees for most of the runs, but for once in a while we go between the trees. 

Ron ready and raring to go.

Off he goes.

My turn.

As we couldn't get our own picture of us together I took This picture of a couple from Québec to see how we set up as a twosome.

There were also two other options on the tour. The first was a Tarzan swing that neither Ron nor I wanted to do. The second was a Superman run. It was the last run at 1km and you are place in a supine position. Your arms are spread out, like Superman flying. A few people in our group paid the extra money for this experience. I was so busy watching that I forgot to take pictures.

This part of the tour lasted a little over two hours. It was after 1:30 when we started our hike. It was still nice out, but in the forest you don't get much sunlight. In here you really get to understand the term Canopy. That's what they say when you are above as the trees are like a big umbrella covering the earth.

This is one of the longer hanging, suspension bridges. 

It got a little wobbly even with just the two of us on the bridge. They have a maximum capacity of 40 people. I would not have been on one of there had been that many people. Two was a perfect number for me. 

The trees are enormous as it is a rain forest. This doesn't really show the dimensions. We saw some birds and even a green toucan. It was hard to get a good view as he was surrounded by foliage. 

This was a very good tour as we were gone for five hours. When we got back we were hungry. Only a granola bar for lunch so after some time planning the rest of our trip we headed off to ding supper. We ended up at Morpho's. My aunt (tante soeur) would have liked it there as there were butterflies painted on the walls, the napkin holder had butterflies, etc. it was really nice and the food was awesome. 

Ron reading the menu 

Butterfly light shades 

Mural of a beautiful tree in the restaurant. Great atmosphere even though we were the only ones there at first because we were early birds. 

We will have an early night and an early morning. Tomorrow will be a hiking day.