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Published: August 4th 2011
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We just finished watching our final sunset for the trip and are getting ready to fly back to Portland tomorrow. We spent yesterday on the dock in the sun, with periodic swims when it got hot. It seemed a little hotter the past few days but tough to tell, and when you have A/C in the room and are always within a few steps of the pool or the Caribbean it doesn't much matter.
A couple nights ago we were worried that we hadn't seen a really good sunset, so we went down to the dock and swam as the sun dropped below the horizon. It was nice, but sharing it with two adolescent boys jumping from the top level into the water next to us kind of killed the moment. One of them either had a sinus problem or a case of adolescent boy syndrome and kept blowing his nose and spitting whenever he surfaced. Last night was a good sunset and we shared it on the end of the dock with our feet dangling off. The sun disappeared behind some clouds and just sort of faded away but still tough to beat until
... We are just returning
Gumbalina Park Canopy Tour
Getting ready for the zip lines now from a very nice sunset, our final one, and it was nearly a totally clear sky with just a few clouds rolling by at the end. Good way to wrap it up.
Yesterday we decided to put off Gumbalina Park until today and instead spent our time sunning like lizards down at the dock. This morning we got up, had breakfast, and around 10 or so we caught a ride to the park. (Philip from Blue Bahia set it up, just in case anyone thinking about staying here wants to tour the park - it appears that the park provides transportation so the place you're staying needs to coordinate or you get an expensive taxi to the entrance, and the park + canopy tour is $55us. You don't have to do both but save a bit of money if you do the combo.)
The road to the park goes up and along the spine of the ridge in the middle of the island. Very pretty to be able to see one side of the island around a bend, then get a vista of the other when you take the next corner. We started at the canopy tour on
Zipline Canopy Tour
Sean doing the Superman top of the hill, which was a rather unassuming booth on a platform where we signed a waiver and paid. Within minutes our guides - Brian and Jorge- appeared and got us outfitted in our harnesses. There were around a dozen platforms and they ranged from a few hundred feet apart (took about 10-15 seconds to get from one to the other) up to around a thousand or so (took closer to 30 seconds I'd guess, but when you're flying from one platform to the next you are looking at the beach views and the jungle instead of counting how long it took). We were both surprised how fast you get going. Canopy zip lines are a great way to see the land around you but it is also a bit of a rush as you fly from one platform up in the trees to the next. In Guatemala we heard people could see monkeys during their canopy tours, and on ours today we saw a large iguana about 75ft up in a tree. The first couple platforms were quite a ways up in the trees and gradually got lower and lower. On some lines we went through trees, on
others it was open and you could see the beach and far out into the sea beyond. We worked our way to the bottom of the hill and the last line ended next to the beach. (tourist note: if you plan to do the zip line it's best to wear athletic-type clothing and be prepared for physical activity and plenty of sweating.)
When we completed the canopy tour we walked into the park to explore some more. There weren't any maps so we began following a tour group in hopes we would end up at the monkey area. The guide led the group (definitely all "cruise-shippers") to every single attraction. We started in the insect room (a kind of lame collection of cases with insects pinned in them), then to the hummingbird garden, before going to the pirate cave, which had a narrow manufactured tunnel that led to a statue of a pirate surrounded by fake treasure and weapons. Everyone else took their tourist pictures while we rolled our eyes and waited for the monkey section. After leaving the cave we saw a sign for parrots and monkeys so we discreetly left the tour group and started off on
our own. We got to the birds first and had our photos taken with a large parrot. None of them said "hello" or "hola" like at Blue Bahia, but they also didn't do a cat-call whistle at my wife like the parrot at our resort, so....
After the birds we followed the trail a few more minutes and came to the monkey area - I think it was called "Camp Monkey Lala". There were some houses on poles (
each one had a little monkey hammock!!!) and over a dozen little monkeys roaming the area. Some were lounging in their houses, others were walking around on limbs or wires, and 2-3 were with staff/trainers meeting people and getting photos taken. We walked up and he put the baby monkey on each of our shoulders. It was equally photogenic and mischievous, and immediately took a liking to Lauryn's hat. Very soft, very cute, and gives Oscar a run for his money. We love monkeys and could have spent even more time there, but eventually wandered back and found our driver hanging out next to the air conditioned pirate cave.
When we got back to Blue Bahia we prepped for another dive
and by 215pm were on the boat. The site we dove at today was Fish Den. It was our third and final dive of this trip (and first time as certified divers without homework or practice skills in the water). We saw a lot of fish, a stingray, a lion fish, and an angel fish. Very neat experience and we look forward to diving on future trips (
Thank you so very much to everyone who contributed to the honeymoon registry and helped make this happen!!!).
Tonight we are packing stuff up and will leave for the airport tomorrow morning. It's been a great trip and we look forward to posting pictures, and sharing even more stories when we get home.
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