Monteverde, Costa Rica
6/9/19
It was another early morning. We left at 7am to Monteverde Extremo park for the canopy and bungee activities. I only signed up for canopy (which is basically zip-lining), I was too scared to bungee jump. First, the men that worked there put a lot of equipment on us in preparation for canopy, which was reassuring because it felt safe. Then we listened to some instructions in English. However, I couldn’t understand the guy super well because I could not hear him and he had a thick accent. But it ended up being fine. To my surprise, there were MANY different zip-lines that we made our way through. At times the hike was kind of difficult because there were lots of hills and some distance in between each zipline. Some guys working the lines were really friendly, others not so much. I was not really feel offended when they were rude though because I can imagine they are used to dealing with a lot of annoying tourists. We talk a lot about the different attitudes that locals have towards tourists in different areas of Costa Rica in one of my classes, so this concept is not super new to me. They did not really think I could speak Spanish, but I tried when given the opportunity as best I could nonetheless. There was even a “tarzan swing” included in the canopy, which is basically a super scary swing on steroids. It was really scary, but also soooo much fun. We did a few really long ziplines that extended across the entire valley. The experience was remarkable and unlike any that I have ever had in the past. To say it was beautiful is an understatement. The nature absolutely took my breath away. It was also really crazy being so high up, with only equipment keeping you from your death. We did a few “superman” lines. On the really long one, a guy had to go with me because I didn’t weigh enough to reach the end. He couldn’t have been more than 15 years old. When we reached a stopping point a little before the end, he pulled me the rest of the way. I was amazed at his strength. I kept thinking about how difficult of a job like this would be physically, but also I think it would be really cool to be able to be in nature every day for your job. Afterwards, I ate at the restaurant in the park (we hadn’t eaten breakfast). Then, there was a long waiting period for the people that wanted to bungee jump. Part of me wishes I would’ve done it, but I know that I would’ve been very scared to. I was able to take a couple pictures of the valley at this point. I was kind of sad that I could not take more during the whole experience, but I really did not want to drop my phone, losing it into a really far-down jungle. We finally left the park and went to the town for about an hour before leaving. We then made our (long) way back to San Jose.