Just Another Day in Montezuma, Costa Rica - Ziplining and Montezuma Falls

One of the best things about my trip to Costa Rica was I didn't have to decide where to go in Costa Rica during my first week in the country.  Also, one of the worse things about my trip was that I didn't have a choice in where to go in Costa Rica during the first week because I won that leg of the trip in an online contest.   My third day in Montezuma, Costa Rica incorporated some of the adventure aspect of my yoga and adventure package through Anamaya – Ziplining. I remember when ziplining first became popular and always wanted to try it. So, what is Ziplining? Well, it's basically an activity that sees you harnessed into a contraption that hangs from a sturdy wire and you propel yourself from a platform while hanging hundreds of feet over the rainforest canopy.

People back home thought I was crazy. Why on earth would I want to strap myself to a harness, suspend myself hundreds of feet in the air and zip through the rainforest canopy at lightning speed? My answer to that was “why wouldn’t I”. I am not in the least bit afraid of heights. Nothing about being high in the air scares me. Flying, rock climbing, cliff scaling, jumping off waterfalls, hanging over the side of a 100-storey building to get a better view…none of these things scare me. Let's just say that when it was all said and done,  the thought that I should have never gone ziplining didn't cross my mind. But, I have to admit, I was a little scared of the ziplining and it wasn’t the heights that scared me, it was what I was being strapped to. It didn’t sound safe to me. I thought about it for a few moments and than the thought was gone. That’s the way I am. If I want to do something, I do it, no matter how afraid I am and those fears didn’t stop me from ziplining that day. My friends call me fearless but I’ll be the first to admit that I have been afraid many times in my life. The difference between me and most people is I don’t let those fears take over my life and stop me from living it to the fullest. I’ve rarely let fear stop me from doing something and each and every time I was afraid to do something and did it anyway, the results were always the same; no regrets! And I am still alive so I had nothing to be afraid of.

The walk to Sun Trails, the company offering the ziplining and waterfall tour, only took about ten minutes but, as with every walk I took in Montezuma, you just never know what you are going to see. This time, it was a family of howler monkeys with babies in tow hopping from tree to tree.

Upon arrival at Sun Trails, I was given a crash course on proper ziplining. How to hold on, how to slow down, how to stop, how to go faster and how to avoid spinning out of control on the way across. I was than given a hard hat, strapped into a harness and lead to the launching platform. It was a good thing I was harnessed in because the platform was quite shaky and there was a very high drop into the forest below me. Three people were launched off that platform before I was up and before I knew it, I was soaring over the canopy at top speed. What a view! And it was not in the least bit scary. The only thing was it was over too quickly. I thought the ziplining tour would be one launch and than a hike to the waterfalls for a swim and that would be it but once I was unhooked from that platform, I was lead to another one and launched from an even higher and longer zipline and than another one that was again higher and longer. When I reached the 7th platform, what was being built up on those smaller and shorter runs became apparent; this last launch was much longer and much higher than any of the other ones and, just to add that much more adrenaline, instead of just sliding off the platform, the guide hauled me backwards, spun me around in the opposite direction and pushed me off it with all his might. I was sent spinning at lightning speed towards the final platform. I was barely able to stop on the other side but someone was there waiting to help me brace myself from smashing into the trees. Now that was scary!

By that time, the midday sun was out in full force and the heat was almost unbearable so I was looking forward to the hike to Montezuma Falls. There were two waterfalls and the top one had a fairly large and deep pool that visitors could swim in. There are only two ways to get into that pool; jump 15 feet from the top of the smaller falls or walk over jagged rocks and slide in from the side. I wanted so badly to jump but I forgot to wear my contact lenses that day and didn’t want to leave my glasses behind and jump blindly into the water below so I took the other route. Apparently, jumping off the falls is like some sort of initiation and if you don’t do it, you suffered through the poking and teasing that comes along with not following the “rules” of the land.

Back at Anamaya, the hammock overlooking the ocean was empty. I had been trying to claim this hammock for days but every time I got to it, someone else was already in it. With everyone gone into town for the evening, I pretty much had the place to myself and there was no way I could pass up the opportunity to relax in that hammock and watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. I fell asleep and awoke many hours later. Everyone else must have returned from town and gone straight to their rooms while I was asleep because most of the lights were out and there was no one in sight. The two main doors were still open and I remembered what we had been told during orientation; The last person to leave the main house was to make sure the doors were closed because if they remained open, the monkeys would walk in, open the fridge and take any food they could carry with them. I made sure everything was fastened tight before heading to bed because I’m sure it would not have gone over well if there were no breakfast served the next morning.