Advertisement
Published: January 2nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
No photos cause this computer is the slowest thing known to man...
After a brief night back in Pangea in San Jose we woke with the bird to get the half six bus to Santa Elena in Montaverde. This should have been a realtively straight forward journey in a quite nice new coach, but...The coach, which was new, was slightly larger than the old variety. Too large to make the right hand turn across the bridge on the normal route to Montaverde. Not a problem, we think cause theres a new improved route. But, disaster, there has been an accident on the new improved route and we cant move, for about TWO HOURS! And it is hot, so hot that we end of spending a good 45 mins sitting by the side of the road cause its cooler! We finally arrived travel weary and hungry (surprise surprise). After some refreshments we went to book our adventures. A nighttime walk through the cloudforest, hanging bridges and ziplining through the canopy of the cloud forest. Our accommodation was cute, a very small room with a double and I single, I claimed the single this time as Sophies sheet stealing was too much to take twice! The only bad thing about the hostel was that to get to the toilets you had to go outside, I was a cold Hannah in the middle of the night!
The nighttime Cloud forest tour was pretty spooky and very exciting. WE each had a torch and without it you could see nothing. I was petrified as I knew you were guaranteed to see a tarantula and although the guide was informed of my all-consuming phobia and promiosed he would not show it to me I was still convinced that I would see one out of the corner of my eye. I therefore kept my torch trained on Emmas bottom which managed to lead the way quite nicely. We saw more sloths, which were actually cute this time as it was with a baby. There was also a teeny frog, some weird insects, raccoons and strange sleeping birds. Jose, our guide, also gave us fresh coffee beans to taste. They grow in a red shell and are white, sticky and very sweet to suck. WE were advised against chewing as apparently the caffeine content is extremely high! I stood to one side as the dreaded arachnid was exposed and put my fingers in my ears while the details were shared with the group. Unfortunately I still remember enough Spanish to overhear what I am sure were the words "red-kneed". It still makes me shudder to think I was walking round amongst them! I am pleased I faced the fear and went as it was a pretty incredinble experience.
We woke the nex t day ready for a full-on adrenaline rush, 100% Aventura beckoned. The day started with Javier taking us on a tour of another section of cloud forest with shaking, wobbly hanging bridges. He was hysterical sharing a very dry British sense of humour and made our billionth botany lesson really enjoyable. I have an amazing knowledge of plants now, although they still look all the same to me. My favourite was the plant known locally as toilet paper as it is smooth and soft and slightly fluffy on the underside. It is also supposedly good for the kidneys. We also saw many strangulating ficus trees that grow around another tree, stealing its nutrients and eventually killing it becoming a hollow tree, its like a cool super power!
After the walk we were strapped into harnesses and helmets and given a brief instruction session before heading off to the zip lines. It was the most amazing thing. It didnt seem to actually be that fast as you ahd time to look around and stare awe-struck at the vastness of the canopy below. However, I think this was just cause they were really long lines, not becasue you move slowly. You basically sit in your harness and float along. You can slow yourself down by pulling on the cable, but it wasnt really necessary, although I did have to make myself stop as I nearly crashed into Emma, whose light body needed more of a shove to get going! We then had to twist ourselfs round and haul ourselves in like monkeys!! We also got to do a rappell, which is basically like abseiling except someone else is controlling your speed. I wasnt too sure about this, especially following Emma who seemed a bit panicked, so i stood at the top shouting "lentamente" which I know means slowly in some language, thuogh possible not Spanish! It was actually great fun, but I do think I got an easier ride that others. The other challenge was the Tarzan Swing, which i completely chickened out of. I went as far as to get strapped in, took one look at the drop and ran away! You had to stand on an incredible huigh platform where you were attached to a bit of rope. The rope was attached even higher at some point in the distance. The guides basically pushed you off the platform and you free-fall till the rope holds then you swing a la Tarzan anck and forth several times before the guys at the bottom catch you with what looked like a giant balloon belt. No thank you! Sophie was the only one of the three of us to do it. Im not sure how much she actually enjoyed but I know she is very proud of herself for managing it, and quite rightly so. No regrets over here at all!!
We had a relaxed evening before leaving on the half six bus again - no dramas this time to return to San Jose for the final time...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0548s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Grandma and Anne
non-member comment
I fly through the air...
Hi Hannah, we hope you are having an excellent time... we have sent you some messages but not certain you have had them or not.... anyway, we have enjoyed very much reading your adventures - fancy meeting someone from cheltenham ! - (by the way Anne says she loves spiders, no really, espec. big ones tee hee) hope to see you soon, much love from us both xxxx