Me Tarzan, You Jane....

Ahh Costa Rica part deux. This was my second visit to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The first time we went we did the short zip line tour, which included 11 cable lines and one long 750-meter line. The newest line they built was the 1050-meter line. We didn’t get to do that line this time since we took the long tour where you take horses to the starting point and take 25 cables down through the canopies of the rainforest and over streaming waterfalls. We headed out bright and early since we had to be back on board at 4:30pm and we had about 25 or so people in our group (20 of which were doing the horseback riding). I saw familiar faces from the last time I did the tour as we trekked through the wilderness and hairpin turns along the mountainside. We arrived at Vista Golfo where we geared up, sprayed up for bugs, and saddled up. I named my horse babe and she knew before I did what was up and where to go. Before the gate was even open exiting the ranch, she was on her way over because the lead horse was headed that way. We got out onto the trail and I remembered the last time I was on a horse way back in my youth on a trip to Cincinnati and Kings Island. That was about 20 years ago and I remember being very sore the next day. This is what I was looking forward to. She trotted to catch up and I felt the hardness of the saddle and the difficulty in trying to keep myself on. I have a whole lot of respect for those cowboys traveling miles across the plains in the 1800s.I appreciate technology allowing me to have a comfy reclining chair as I make those trips now. We had some gorgeous views as we rode o the starting point and it was fun seeing how the horses reacted to each other. My horse and another horse one of the girls was riding on were in competition with each other. Every time my horse wanted to pass her horse, her horse wouldn’t allow it. He kept cutting us off. We arrived at our starting point and geared up into our harnesses. The course would take us through 23 zip line cables and 2 repelling cables. We followed this stream of water that trailed downward into waterfalls. It was absolutely breathtaking. I loved the speed and the sense of flight as I transversed the path. The repels were a little scary since we had to go into it backward and the incline on the cable was steep. The knot they used to secure us however made us go real slow so it was still fun and you could take it all in since we were repelling over a big waterfall. A couple points on the trip you could dip your feet in the water just before it went over the cliff as you were careening past. It was fabulous. Our longest cable was about 512 meters. That was really liberating to be traveling through the air and the trees for a longer time. I still wish we could have done the longest cable. 25 Cables later we were exhausted and hungry. We were using muscles I forgot you had to use like the braking hand and your abs to pull yourself up to the next platform. All the platforms were in little tree houses. It was like Tarzan in the jungle. We arrived at the tree lodge hungry and a good lunch was coming. Also included was a meal of Costa Rican influence. Mmmm delicious!!! I wrapped it up with a nice tequila sunrise and some ice cream. Because of the amount of time we had I didn’t get to swim in the mountain water in the pool out back like we did last time. It was pretty much eat and run. We had to get back to the ship. I did spend some time on the trampoline though. I always love bouncing on the trampoline. It’s so therapeutic. On the ride home I was out. Of course. Just exhausted. It was a relaxing evening afterward and I slept real sound that night. The next adventure coming up is Acapulco. I have a plan for something daring. I just don’t know at this juncture if I’ll follow through. Eeek!! I’ll see.