Day Eleven. zzzziiiippppp lining!

On the agenda for today is zip lining! You can't really come to Costa Rica and not at least attempt to zip line...seriously. We had to embrace the moment. A moment I was all too sure could be filled with a crying, terrified Claire, me shying away from the blatant displays of heights, OR even worse a line snapping in midair...Can that even happen?! Let's just say the closer we got to the actual event of zip lining the more nervous I became!

Closest to Ojochal, in the zip lining department, is Osa Canopy Tours. Osa Canopy Tours has 11 lines, one platform that requires you to rapel several stories, a monkey bridge, and a tarazan swing. They were quite sure that my just turned 5 year old would be more than fine and convinced me to come for the afternoon tour. So now that were sure she's going to love it...it just leaves me.

Since the zip tour wasn't until afternoon, we spent the morning at home. I took a hike up to the top of the hill that our house is on. The hike should have been lovely, but betwen thoughts on zip lining and even worse thoughts of what might be lying in the tall grass that I was wading through it was hard to soak up all the nature surrounding me.. I, of course imagined hairy tarantulas in every shady spot or then when the path turned to knee high grass I practically braced every step anticipating a bite from a deadly snake. I did manage to make it to a high point in the terrain where I stood among a patch of sensitivity plants and looked out at a river spilling into the sea.

The morning went by fast and before I knew it we were off to Osa Canopy Tours. The road to the top of Osa Mountain required 4 wheel drive, no question. And, I couldn't help but think if the road is this scary what are the zip lines going to be like. We geared up in our harnesses and helmets, and headed to the first platform. The first line is especially long. It requires a minimum weight to make it clear across and even I wasn't quite heavy enough. I immediately assume that my loving daughter Ella would tether up to me to zoom across. However, after one look at the line from her, she decided that my lack of confidence (she can see right through me) and inexperience wasn't going to fly with her. She chose going with a guide over me, which turned out to be a very good decision... Graham hitched up with me and we flew off to see what Ella, who had already left, thought of the ride. I was in charge of the break and after a zealous yank on the line from me, Graham and I fell short from the landing platform and had to be rescued by our guides. Don't worry, I didn't let that happen again. Graham ditched me after the first line, once we both saw how incredbily fun this trip was going to be. It was several more lines before we caught up to Ella and her guide Chris. Ella could have gone on the lines by herself...or with me...but after watching the fun her and Chris were having their was no doubt that she was sticking with him. Claire arrived with Eric on the zip lines with huge smiles on her face. We loved the entire thrilling trip! After zip lining on all the lines...sometimes even upside down, we went for a snack of smoothies and fresh fruit. At the lodge with the snack you can go on the tarzan swing! Ella was the first to jump up to do it while a few adults said no way to swinging into the horizon. And, as Ella swang, Claire immediately asked is she could go next, by herself! I was suprised but loved watching her confidently jump off and swing over the jungle! Zip lining turned out to be one of our FAVORITE moments in Costa Rica. If our budget was already blown, we would have gone for a second day of it, for sure!

After zip lining, we headed back to Ojochal. We decided to stop at a small local bar for dinner where we were surprised with some amazing gourmet food. A perfect way to end the day!






































































































VIDEOS!