Ziplining at Selvatura Park in Monteverde

With our first morning in Monteverde free, we could have explored El Establo's optional tours.  Birdwatching, Cloud Forest Hike and Treetop Canopy Ziplining were all available without leaving the hotel's property.  El Establo also sells other excursions around the area at their tour desk.  The hotel could be a very nice one-stop destination.

Our tour company offered two tempting optional excursions for purchase in advance with our official itinerary.  Julie and I purchased their Canopy Tour, a ziplining adventure in Selvatura Park.  The other optional excursion was a Hanging Bridge Tour in the same park.  We could have opted for both.

Ziplining was the more physically difficult choice, so more people opted for Hanging Bridges.  At lunch the prior day, our new friend Barry mentioned that they had signed up for every optional excursion, because he didn't want to miss anything.  Even as we rode the bus to Selvatura Park, Harriet expressed doubts that she would actually try ziplining.

In the end, she went for it, and they were part of our subgroup.

At registration where we signed waivers, Julie and I passed on renting GoPros and also on purchasing photos.  The photographer nonetheless took some photos.  With our phones carefully tucked away --- we didn't want to search the thick rainforest below if we dropped one --- we couldn't take any photos ziplining.  In the end, we bought one printed photo and digital downloads used in this post.

This was definitely the most physically challenging zipline course we've ever taken.  We hiked uphill between platforms.

During one particularly long gap, Julie, Harriet, Barry and I got so far ahead of the rest of our group that after waiting five minutes, I hiked back down a hundred yards or more to make sure we hadn't missed a platform.

I finally saw the stragglers (our guides and most of our group, actually), and they said they were simply struggling with the climb.  One of the other couples from our group were maybe ten years younger than us, but the husband had bad knees.

He told me later that before he booked, he revealed that he had knee problems, and "they" told him that it would be no problem, because ziplining was just laying back and riding.  I don't think that has been the case anywhere we've ziplined.

To get to the zipline cables, we climbed a total of 27 flights of steps up to platforms where we would then lay back and ride down.  It was exhausting.

For the guy with the knee problems, the climbs were nearly impossible.  By the end, his knees wouldn't bend at all, so he kind of climbed the stairs like Frankenstein.  Somehow, he made it through.  The next day, he surprisingly seemed no worse for wear.

All the hard work was worth it --- for us, at least --- because Selvatura Park truly has a terrific zipline course soaring over the dense jungle and occasional rivers.

At one platform, one of our zipline guides pointed out majestic Arenal Volcano, which we had missed the day before on our hike in La Fortuna.

Our favorite zipline ride was when we were allowed to go tandem.  Julie and I hooked on the same line to ride down together as a couple.  I would really like to do the whole course that way.

Near the end, we were given the chance to try the Tarzan Swing.  I did it, and it was great fun.

The guides hooked my harness onto a hanging "vine," and like a bungee drop, I stepped off from a perfectly good platform to go flying through the air with the greatest of ease.  I swung out over a cliff with scenic canyon vistas beyond, then at the top of the pendulum arc where my momentum took me, I swung back the other way.  

It's good that Julie couldn't dig out her phone to take a video, because my Tarzan yell was much diminished from when I was a little boy who loved watching TV re-runs of those old Johnny Weismuller movies.  Sadly, I knew how pathetic I sounded as soon as I started bellowing, so I soon stopped, but the swinging action was a blast.  I went back and forth a few times.

When we finished, we could probably have still signed up to join the Hanging Bridges, but Julie and I were happy to be going back to our eco-resort instead.

Barry and Harriet had signed up for every optional excursion, of course, so they soldiered on.  Signing up is a good way to compel yourself to push forward.  Later, they revealed that the zipline was much better, but I didn't sense they regretted doing the Hanging Bridges, as tired as they were.

Harriet, who had done the entire zipline course tandem with an instructor, said that for her, ziplining was a one-and-done experience.  It can feel scary, and this time, it was physically demanding.

Julie's only photo. That's me with my back turned on the right.

As it turned out, we were not taken back to our resort until over an hour later.  We had assumed the bus that dropped off the Hanging Bridge participants would take us back to our hotel.  Not so.

Instead of going for a nature hike at our resort, we just waited for transportation back to our resort, biding our time sitting in a waiting room and standing outside near the driveway.

Had we known the bus would take so long to retrieve us we might have called a taxi.

In any case, it had been a great ziplining adventure in Costa Rica.