Right now I am coming to the end of some slow time in Coco. Things are going to pick back up and I will have loads more to write about very soon. Here is what I am looking forward to doing and hopefully, what you are looking forward to reading about.
This weekend there is a festival in Liberia. Liberia is the closest large town, with roughly 40,000 inhabitants. I honestly am not sure what the festival is for, but I think it has something to do with a virgin and fishermen. They have bull fights and parades for a few days and generally throw a large party for everyone. I am going to try to go with Paul to see some of the festivities, but we will see.
Karen arrives on Sunday! We are only staying in Coco one night before heading off to Nicaragua on Monday. The plan is to take a bus to the border and then find our way over to San Juan del Sur, which is one of the first beach communities you come to in Nicaragua. Karen found that they are having a festival between the 16th and the 24th. I am almost positive they are celebrating the same virgin as Liberia (sounds like she gets around a lot for a "virgin") We are planning to spend a night there checking it out. The little I have read about San Juan del Sur seems interesting and the beaches there are supposed to be beautiful.
From San Juan del Sur, we are going to hopefully find a bus to Granada. Since Granada is a large city (125,000 people or so), I doubt we will have any problem finding one. Karen is a bit more adventurous than I am and that should be a good influence on me during her stay. I am not the type of person who would normally go to a town BEFORE I knew that I could find a bus to my final destination, but I am sure it will be fine. If not, at least I have someone to give a hard time to. If I am traveling alone, there is only one person to blame and he does not take being wrong very well. The more I read about Granada, the more excited I am for our trip. I had been reading a travel guide for Panama for the past couple weeks and finding myself more interested in my trip there in August than anything, but that has changed. Granada has a amazing history and the old architecture that I loved so much in Italy. There is something about a 450 year old building that blows my mind. I found a hotel in Granada that was built in 1524. It was restored in the early 1990's and looks stunning, but I do not see myself staying there at $100 a night. Karen has already sent me a couple links to hostels that she found for us to potentially stay in. We will have to find a happy medium between Karen's thrifty traveling itinerary and my desire to stay in a place with my own bathroom. Check back to see how that compromising went. Karen and I were always so good at compromising.
Fun Fact about Nicaragua: Lake Nicaragua is the 10th largest fresh water lake in the world and one of the only with fresh water SHARKS! How is it that I always find the fun facts to be about things that can kill you underwater. Needless to say, if you see a picture of me in Lake Nicaragua, Karen pushed me in.
There are many more things I could tell you about Granada that I am looking forward to, but I would rather tell you about them after I know more than what I read on a website or in a book. Expect a review in the coming weeks.
Our plan is to come back on either Thursday or Friday, since I am leaving to come back to New Hampshire on the 21st (Saturday). If we make it back on Thursday, I am hoping to do some white water rafting on Friday, before I leave. Matt and Xana went rafting on their trip to Arenal and I have been looking forward to trying it myself.
Return to NH: For all those New Englanders that miss me so much...... yes, both of you.... I will be flying back very late on Saturday night and staying for a week. My wonderful sister, who's birthday is today, is giving birth to my nephew on the 25th. I will be flying thousands of miles to see this kid, so they better let me hold him very soon after they clean him off. No truth to the rumor that Jill is going to name him Michael. I am sure she would love to name her first born son after her favorite (and only) brother, but alas, her step son is already named Michael. If you are not sensing the sarcasm here, please reread with a thick application of it. As much as Jill loves her little brother, she would sooner name him Satan.
Although I am not well known for planning ahead, my week is filling up pretty quickly. There will be no time for trips to Foxwoods, but I am planning on a night out in the Manchester area on Friday, the 27th. For those who want to see me, that is the best shot. For those who specifically do not want to see me, avoid Margaritas, Strange Brew and The Viper Lounge on that Friday night. Is the Viper Lounge even still there? I hope not.
I fly down to Fort Myers on the 28th, on a mission to move the rest of my stuff out of my old place before Derek sets it on fire. I am sure he is tired of having his storage room filled with my junk, but I bet you he misses the 56" HDTV. By the way, if you know anyone in Florida looking to buy a killer TV, let me know! Four days in Florida visiting with friends and then I will be headed back to lovely Liberia on or around the 1st of August to enjoy my second three months in Costa Rica!
So now you know!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
4th of July
Much to my surprise, there was an international festival celebrating all the independence days, on Sunday. With so many Americans and Canadians, it makes sense to do it at the beginning of July (Canada Day was the 1st). There was music, food, dancing, fireworks, prizes, raffles and they even played the national anthems for everyone. Tons of kids, both Tico and gringo were running around playing field day type games and all the money raised went towards local orphanages.
Michael and Angela brought me along and we met up with a large number of Canadians that I am friends with. I also met a couple from Bethlehem, NH who were retired from teaching. At one point I was sitting with Harvey (friend from Calgary who is taking Charlie while I am back in the states) and Michael and it dawned on me that Michael is British....... we were both celebrating independence from him, basically! That ended up being the joke that would not die for the rest of the afternoon.
So here are my ideas for honoring our nations independence day from down here:
1. I could dress up like an Indian, sneak into Michael and Angela's place, steal all of their tea and throw it in our pool.
2. I could hide on Michael's roof with a bucket of red paint and wait for him to come out to dump it on him. Then I could hide behind a stone wall and shoot him while he just stands there trying to figure out what is going on.
That's all I have so far.....
Any good ideas?
Michael and Angela brought me along and we met up with a large number of Canadians that I am friends with. I also met a couple from Bethlehem, NH who were retired from teaching. At one point I was sitting with Harvey (friend from Calgary who is taking Charlie while I am back in the states) and Michael and it dawned on me that Michael is British....... we were both celebrating independence from him, basically! That ended up being the joke that would not die for the rest of the afternoon.
So here are my ideas for honoring our nations independence day from down here:
1. I could dress up like an Indian, sneak into Michael and Angela's place, steal all of their tea and throw it in our pool.
2. I could hide on Michael's roof with a bucket of red paint and wait for him to come out to dump it on him. Then I could hide behind a stone wall and shoot him while he just stands there trying to figure out what is going on.
That's all I have so far.....
Any good ideas?
Saturday, June 23, 2007
New Visitor!
If you want to make my day, just call and tell me you are booking a flight to come visit. That is pretty much the best news I could possibly hear from anyone. Just the other day, Karen called and gave me that wonderful news! Charlie has been doing laps around the place ever since. Yeah!
Karen is coming on the 15th of July and we are going to take a bus ride up to Grenada, Nicaragua. Grenada is supposed to be an amazing city with a huge amount of things to see, great restaurants and great architecture. Sold! Karen and I have both heard that they are not huge fans of Americans in Nicaragua, but we can always pretend to be Canadian, Aye?
I did some research on the origins of that dislike and shockingly we helped overthrow their government a couple times to install leaders that would be more convenient for us to take advantage of their country. Here are some highlights:
- US owned timber company paid off the dictator president, that we help install, to clear cut almost every commercial pine tree in the entire north east of Nicaragua without replanting anything.
- Kicked locals off the land they had farmed for generations in order to build cotton plantations and cattle farms. By 1970, Nicaragua was the #1 provider of beef to the US, by US owned companies of course, supporting the fast food chains mostly.
- We exported most of our newly illegal pesticides (DDT, endrin, dieldrin, lindane) to Nicaragua because hell, those aren't real people there and poisoning their water won't matter. In 1977, a study showed that women living in some Nicaraguan cities had breast milk with 45 times greater levels of DDT than what was considered safe for babies to drink. Again though, Nicaraguan babies aren't American anyway and McDonalds needs more beef for happy meals.
- We trained and armed a "National Guard" to help support our interests in the area. The "National Guard" eventually executes their president and helps control the country under a dictatorship for 50 or so years. Oops, our bad.
There is much, much more, but I figure most people do not come to my blog for a history lesson. I encourage everyone to do some research on our wonderful history with Nicaragua and then check out our history with Iran. Maybe it would become more clear why so many people hate us if they actually taught students some real American History. Google, Operation Ajax if you want to understand why we have such a great reputation in Iran.
That was quite a tangent from, "Yeah, Karen is coming to visit." Anyway, I am excited and hopefully will have all sorts of great Nicaragua stories to tell.
-
Karen is coming on the 15th of July and we are going to take a bus ride up to Grenada, Nicaragua. Grenada is supposed to be an amazing city with a huge amount of things to see, great restaurants and great architecture. Sold! Karen and I have both heard that they are not huge fans of Americans in Nicaragua, but we can always pretend to be Canadian, Aye?
I did some research on the origins of that dislike and shockingly we helped overthrow their government a couple times to install leaders that would be more convenient for us to take advantage of their country. Here are some highlights:
- US owned timber company paid off the dictator president, that we help install, to clear cut almost every commercial pine tree in the entire north east of Nicaragua without replanting anything.
- Kicked locals off the land they had farmed for generations in order to build cotton plantations and cattle farms. By 1970, Nicaragua was the #1 provider of beef to the US, by US owned companies of course, supporting the fast food chains mostly.
- We exported most of our newly illegal pesticides (DDT, endrin, dieldrin, lindane) to Nicaragua because hell, those aren't real people there and poisoning their water won't matter. In 1977, a study showed that women living in some Nicaraguan cities had breast milk with 45 times greater levels of DDT than what was considered safe for babies to drink. Again though, Nicaraguan babies aren't American anyway and McDonalds needs more beef for happy meals.
- We trained and armed a "National Guard" to help support our interests in the area. The "National Guard" eventually executes their president and helps control the country under a dictatorship for 50 or so years. Oops, our bad.
There is much, much more, but I figure most people do not come to my blog for a history lesson. I encourage everyone to do some research on our wonderful history with Nicaragua and then check out our history with Iran. Maybe it would become more clear why so many people hate us if they actually taught students some real American History. Google, Operation Ajax if you want to understand why we have such a great reputation in Iran.
That was quite a tangent from, "Yeah, Karen is coming to visit." Anyway, I am excited and hopefully will have all sorts of great Nicaragua stories to tell.
-
Friday, June 22, 2007
Missing You
You just do not realize how important something is to you, until it is gone. Recently, Matt and Xana visited and it really reminded me of something. Then Elijah came and now that he is gone, I find myself missing what I had when they were here; a car. We rented an SUV when they were here and man was it nice to have wheels. Oh yeah, friends were nice to have around, too.
The first month here I had no car. Yeah, it can be a little annoying being forced to walk to restaurants and bars or down to the Casino and you cannot just make a quick trip to the store if you realize you need something for a recipe or really want some ice cream (by the way, I found the best ice cream down here). You get used to not having a car though. I write out grocery lists for the first time in my life because I call a cab once a week to take me to the store. I was riding a bike the first two weeks but you just cannot carry enough things back on a bike and I was worried I might get in good shape if I kept that up. Basically, I was getting used to not having a car. There was plenty to pass the time in Coco.
Then my friends spoiled me with car access. Now I find myself craving a burger from Jimmy's Burgers at night, but not quite enough to walk a mile there and back. (Jimmy's Burger is the closest thing in Coco to late night fast food. You are basically walking up to a trailer on the main strip and ordering from a window. They cook everything on the spot, but you are probably looking at frozen burger pattys and fries. Sometime you just want a burger, though and they stay open later than almost everything else around here.) When I have to call a cab to go to the store, I find myself more and more annoyed. I would love to shoot down to Tamarindo for some surf and a cheap hotel, but without a car it just doesn't make much sense.
Anyway, I want a car and have been moving closer and closer to buying one. (I think my Jay, my Mom and Jill would have a collective heart attack if they hear I bought a vehicle here. They all tend to end emails with, "I hope you are having fun, but not too much fun," followed by some sort of mention that they would not mind me moving back. Considering the alternative is leaving the country and having people happy, I take it as a compliment.) Now that I have had no friends in for a few weeks and no more planning on coming for a few more, I am stuck thinking that I should have just bought a car when I first got here. Looking at my time table, it might not make as much sense to buy one now as it would have two months ago. Can you believe I have been here for two months?
Cars in Costa Rica: Older used cars are golden down here. That beat up 1991 Ford Truck you see for $1500 obo on the side of the street in Manchester is worth about $4000 here, if it runs well. If you want a decent car down here you are going to pay a premium to buy it in Liberia, but it will hold its value well. If I had it to do over again, I would buy a $4,000 car the first couple weeks I was here and then likely sell it for $3,500 when I was leaving. I have actually heard you can make some money buying cars in San Jose (capital, large city about 4 hours away) and driving them to this area to sell them. (Right now Matt is doing some calculations on how much he could make and thinking of paying for his next trip through a car sale or two) If I make another long stay in CR, I will fly into San Jose and buy something to drive to where I am staying. Lesson learned.
So as of now, I am without a car and a little bored. Online poker is not very entertaining. I really miss taking people's money right at a table with them. I have plans for doing that soon and I will update everyone on them in my next couple posts.
The first month here I had no car. Yeah, it can be a little annoying being forced to walk to restaurants and bars or down to the Casino and you cannot just make a quick trip to the store if you realize you need something for a recipe or really want some ice cream (by the way, I found the best ice cream down here). You get used to not having a car though. I write out grocery lists for the first time in my life because I call a cab once a week to take me to the store. I was riding a bike the first two weeks but you just cannot carry enough things back on a bike and I was worried I might get in good shape if I kept that up. Basically, I was getting used to not having a car. There was plenty to pass the time in Coco.
Then my friends spoiled me with car access. Now I find myself craving a burger from Jimmy's Burgers at night, but not quite enough to walk a mile there and back. (Jimmy's Burger is the closest thing in Coco to late night fast food. You are basically walking up to a trailer on the main strip and ordering from a window. They cook everything on the spot, but you are probably looking at frozen burger pattys and fries. Sometime you just want a burger, though and they stay open later than almost everything else around here.) When I have to call a cab to go to the store, I find myself more and more annoyed. I would love to shoot down to Tamarindo for some surf and a cheap hotel, but without a car it just doesn't make much sense.
Anyway, I want a car and have been moving closer and closer to buying one. (I think my Jay, my Mom and Jill would have a collective heart attack if they hear I bought a vehicle here. They all tend to end emails with, "I hope you are having fun, but not too much fun," followed by some sort of mention that they would not mind me moving back. Considering the alternative is leaving the country and having people happy, I take it as a compliment.) Now that I have had no friends in for a few weeks and no more planning on coming for a few more, I am stuck thinking that I should have just bought a car when I first got here. Looking at my time table, it might not make as much sense to buy one now as it would have two months ago. Can you believe I have been here for two months?
Cars in Costa Rica: Older used cars are golden down here. That beat up 1991 Ford Truck you see for $1500 obo on the side of the street in Manchester is worth about $4000 here, if it runs well. If you want a decent car down here you are going to pay a premium to buy it in Liberia, but it will hold its value well. If I had it to do over again, I would buy a $4,000 car the first couple weeks I was here and then likely sell it for $3,500 when I was leaving. I have actually heard you can make some money buying cars in San Jose (capital, large city about 4 hours away) and driving them to this area to sell them. (Right now Matt is doing some calculations on how much he could make and thinking of paying for his next trip through a car sale or two) If I make another long stay in CR, I will fly into San Jose and buy something to drive to where I am staying. Lesson learned.
So as of now, I am without a car and a little bored. Online poker is not very entertaining. I really miss taking people's money right at a table with them. I have plans for doing that soon and I will update everyone on them in my next couple posts.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
More Canopy Tour
I have been doing a very bad job of blogging lately, with no excuse other than trying to play more poker now that I have Internet back. Oh well, check out some more cool pictures from the canopy tour.
The last part of the canopy tour was a visit to their butterfly farm. Since I know very little about butterflies or the poisonous frogs that I took pictures of, I will just post the pictures for you to enjoy. The butterflies were really incredible and were landing on us. Thankfully the poisonous frogs were not landing on us, but they were really amazing colors.
The last part of the canopy tour was a visit to their butterfly farm. Since I know very little about butterflies or the poisonous frogs that I took pictures of, I will just post the pictures for you to enjoy. The butterflies were really incredible and were landing on us. Thankfully the poisonous frogs were not landing on us, but they were really amazing colors.
Nevermind, all of my frog pictures stink.....Maybe I will steal one from a website and pretend I took it at some point.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Horsing Around
Riding a horse for the first time in my life was very high up on my list of things to accomplish in Costa Rica, as I have mentioned before. For some reason, I made it through 27 years of life without ever having done it. I love animals, think horses are incredible and like to do sporting activities, yet somehow avoided the opportunity.
With the zip lines complete, the five remaining members of the Canopy tour group (Elijah, Haylor, Colin, Beth and myself) all jumped on a horse to ride the remainder of the way down the mountain. (there was actually a presentation by a local tribe between the zip lines and horses, but it was just a scam to try to get you to buy their artwork and I probably will not write about it in any detail). Elijah, Beth and I all had never ridden before, but sucked it up and took the plunge. Elijah had actually expressed a fear of horses earlier on the trip, but cheers to him for saddling that fear! Short pause while you make fun of me for such a terrible pun……..and we are ready.
Haylor picked me out a gentle horse named Estrella (Star) and after a short talk with him about not throwing me off, I climbed on. (Yes, I look like a goober in that helmet, but I was riding a horse while most of you were at work) I was shocked at how easy it was to communicate with the horse and even though Estrella seemed to like the far right side of the path and did not take every one of my suggestions, things went really well. We all rode for about a half hour to the bottom without incident and while that does not lend itself well to an interesting blog entry, no one falling off was fine by me. I am not exactly ready to start taking jumps or playing polo, but I would be shocked if I do not ride a few more times before my six months is over. I can understand why people spend so much money buying and caring for horses now, they really are amazing.
With the zip lines complete, the five remaining members of the Canopy tour group (Elijah, Haylor, Colin, Beth and myself) all jumped on a horse to ride the remainder of the way down the mountain. (there was actually a presentation by a local tribe between the zip lines and horses, but it was just a scam to try to get you to buy their artwork and I probably will not write about it in any detail). Elijah, Beth and I all had never ridden before, but sucked it up and took the plunge. Elijah had actually expressed a fear of horses earlier on the trip, but cheers to him for saddling that fear! Short pause while you make fun of me for such a terrible pun……..and we are ready.
Haylor picked me out a gentle horse named Estrella (Star) and after a short talk with him about not throwing me off, I climbed on. (Yes, I look like a goober in that helmet, but I was riding a horse while most of you were at work) I was shocked at how easy it was to communicate with the horse and even though Estrella seemed to like the far right side of the path and did not take every one of my suggestions, things went really well. We all rode for about a half hour to the bottom without incident and while that does not lend itself well to an interesting blog entry, no one falling off was fine by me. I am not exactly ready to start taking jumps or playing polo, but I would be shocked if I do not ride a few more times before my six months is over. I can understand why people spend so much money buying and caring for horses now, they really are amazing.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Mine is Longer Than Matt's
Matt and Xana had amazing things to say about the zip line canopy tour they went on during their trip to Arenal. If you check back on their blog entry, they went lines that stretched nearly a half mile long. That sounded pretty incredible to Elijah and I, so as soon as we got to La Fortuna (town on one side of Arenal) we signed up for the canopy tour that our hotel owner recommended. We only had enough time to bring in our bags, set Charlie up with food and water and change our clothes before a driver picked us up for the tour.
Elijah sporting a killer helmet
Early afternoon at this time of the year in Costa Rica can often mean rain and as the 15 or so people in our group started receiving the safety instruction, ominous clouds started rolling in and the grumbling of thunder was worrying everyone. Lightening would mean game over and I had the strange feeling that even though our guide spoke perfect English, “Refund” was not part of his repertoire. The group, including five daring children and four guides hopped on a tractor to take us most of the way up the course. The ride was incredibly bumpy and for the first time all day, I was really glad I had not found the time to eat anything. As everyone started putting on their harnesses, the clouds pulled overhead. Our guide (Haylor) gave us the option to start halfway down the course to ensure we made it to the longest lines and Elijah and I were both getting discouraged. We asked if going the next day was an option and Haylor not only agreed to let us, but offered to take us on a private tour if we showed up at 7 am the next day. As we rode the tractor back down the mountain with two others that decided on the morning tour, I considered the decision to wake up at 6 am voluntarily. This could be bad.
Shockingly, I was able to fall asleep at a reasonable time and actually made it to the tour 20 minutes early. A couple from Jacksonville on their honeymoon joined us as well as a large crew of guides. I think they were using it for training because there were more guides than customers. Safety, tractor, harness and a 10 minute hike up the rest of the mountain and we were at our first zip line. I was less nervous than I expected considering that we were over 400 feet above the ground and being held up by a small piece of metal with two runners in it. At least at that height you would die instantly on impact. With that in mind, I volunteered to go first. Trying to describe to everyone what it feels like to fly through the air 1000 feet on a zip line is impossible. Elijah followed right after me, which I have a video of and the look on his face is priceless. That was zip line number one of ten and the big ones were a few away. Thankfully they build you up slowly so that you do not pee yourself on the first line.
Highlights of the tour:
1) There was a travel agent on the tour with us and she was not exactly the thinnest woman in Costa Rica. She was taking the tour to see if it was worth selling to her clients, but did not seem too pumped about it. On the first zip line, she came screaming towards the platform (the heavier you are, the faster you go) and did not seem to totally grasp the concept of braking. You have a padded glove on your right hand set on the wire itself to slow you down when the guide gives you the signal. Apparently she thought that the best way to stop was to clobber the guide by not braking at all. My biggest disappointment on this entire Costa Rica adventure is not having my camera rolling as she bowling balled the 130 pound spotter about 15 feet from where he was trying to stop her. Concern for their lives kept Elijah and I from laughing at the time, but I cannot help but chuckle every time I think about it now.
250 foot high waterfall that we were above!
2) The longest zip line stretched 900 meters long. Since I have no Internet, I cannot convert that exactly for you, but that is about 2900 feet (over ½ mile). You might remember that Matt and Xana went on a zip line that was just under ½ mile. Also, you might notice that over ½ mile is longer than just under ½ mile. If you have not figured it out yet, I am rubbing it in that mine was longer than Matt’s. Top speed on this line reaches in the ballpark of 50 to 55 mph.
3) The instructors are completely insane, by the way. Two of them road the lines upside down while their spotters shook the lines to try and make them swing towards trees. I hope the pictures I took do some justice to how crazy they are. After doing these lines a thousand times I am sure the fear goes out of it, but to ride them upside down is still a little nuts. Open up a larger view of the picture below and zoom in on the guy on the line....you have to see it.
4) Almost dying from a poisonous snake was loads of fun. Somewhere around the 3rd or 4th line, we all climbed a set of stairs up to the next platform. After Elijah and I reached the top, one of the instructors mentioned spotting a snake behind us. Naturally, I expected it to be off the trail or in a tree somewhere, but no, it was right on the steps we just came up. I will do some Google searching to find the name of the snake again, but it is from the cobra family and could kill you with one bite. The good news is Haylor told us a bite on the leg would give you a decent chance of survival, while a bite above the waist could kill you within an hour.
Great quote from Beth (honeymoon couple): “That would have totally ruined my day if that snake bit me.” Haylor and I laughed for about 15 minutes on that one. We both agreed that it would have totally ruined our day. Oh yeah, and the rest of my lives, too.
I asked Google for some information on this snake and found out it is a fer-de-lance Viper. Enjoy this little Animal Channel moment on my blog.
"The most talked-about snake in Central America is the fer-de-lance, much feared for its aggressiveness and lethal venom. One of several Central American pit vipers -- another is the bushmaster -- the fer-de-lance can grow to a length of three meters and is abundant throughout the country, particularly in overgrown fields and rivercourses in drier lowland regions. Costa Ricans call this lethal creature terciopelo, Spanish for "velvet." As juveniles, fer-de-lance are arboreal critters that feed on lizards and frogs, which they attract with a yellow-tipped tail. As adults, they come down to earth, where they move about at night and, by daylight, rest in loose coils of burnished brown on the forest floor. Give the fer-de-lance a wide berth! Unlike other vipers, the fer-de-lance will bite with little provocation. The snake's powerful venom dissolves nerve tissue and destroys blood cells and artery walls; those fortunate enough to survive may suffer paralysis or tissue damage so massive as to require amputation of the bitten limb. "
5) If you brake at all while you are riding the zip lines it slows you down too much to get to the other side. I did my best not to brake at all because I am slightly nuts and wanted to go as fast as possible. As I approached the end of one of the longer couple lines, I noticed my speed was not jiving with the distance I had left to cover. I was now coming to a stop about 100 feet short of the platform dangling 300 feet in the air. Crap. I must have had my brake pad on the wire awkwardly. Sadly, no one took a picture as I spun around and started pulling myself hand over hand towards Elijah, Beth, Colin and the spotter. One thing that I have not mentioned that is important to know now is that you can hear this crazy loud buzzing on the cable even as someone just starts zipping. The sound gets louder as they approach, but even 3000 feet away, the line still transfers the sound much stronger than you would expect. Knowing that, the last thing I wanted to hear as I was pulling myself slowly towards the platform was the buzz of another person on the line…….there are radios and signals between the guides telling them that the line was clear and the next person was safe to send, but as I was now frantically pulling myself closer to safety, the buzz was getting louder and louder. To say I was relieved when I discovered it was just my spotter coming out to pull me the rest of the way is comparable to saying that Jaime was relieved when Matt and I finished our best men speech at her wedding. I am guessing we experienced a similar heart in our throat feeling of impending doom.
6) The proper zipping form is knees up, legs crossed, left hand on the rope line in front of you and right hand back with your brake pad gripping the cable. You should basically be in the same position as the old people in the Craftmatic Adjustable Bed commercials, except with one hand back and not wearing a diaper. Elijah decided on two different occasions that the right hand was not an integral part of the equation and let go of the cable with his brake pad. No brake hand = no braking. During our safety instructions Haylor told us that if you lost your brake hand grip, you must lie back flat in order to make it easier for the spotter to stop you with the rope backup brake. Elijah was obviously not paying attention both times that we went through the safety instructions because he came barreling onto one of the platforms head up and whacked his head on the cable when the spotter brought him to the screeching halt. The best part? I WAS taping on this particularly interesting landing and the two of us got to watch it over and over again after reaching the hotel. My feeling is if you are going to crash land, trip over something, slam your head on the surf board or anything else that combines pain with embarrassment, you might as well get it on tape. Thankfully, Elijah agreed and we have a good visual on what not to do next time.
I could go on and on about how cool the canopy tour. My guess is by now the picture is clear that we all enjoyed ourselves. If you want me to send some of the video clips I took during this tour, post a comment or send me an email and I can email them to you. Warning, they are very large files and a tiny bit shaky. You try to ride one of those lines, jump off, grab the camera quickly and not have your hands shaking a little!
The tour did not end with the zip lines. I will post about the rest of it later!
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