A fairly lazy start this morning ready for the activities ahead. We had breakfast in the hotel bar which was nothing special but it allowed us to have a lay in ready to be picked up at 1020 for the trip up to 100% Aventura to go zip-lining up in the cloud forest. We did the rounds picking everybody up and then it was up into the mountains where upon arrival we paid, stored our bags, suited up with all of our safety gear and proceeded through to be given our instructions for the day, where we saw there was a large group of school kids from the US ahead of us.
The $40 we paid included zip lines, a rope bridge, rappelling and an optional Tarzan swing and was a lot cheaper than the other operators in the area while offering the same things. The zip lines weren’t as bad as I expected – I’m not scared of heights just the idea of falling from them so I could stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon or walk across a tall bridge perfectly easily but things like glass floors I hate. The only scary bit was the rope bridge after the first zip-line when somebody a little bit behind me made it start swinging! They started us off on slower zip-lines with a lower altitude before moving us up to the faster, higher ones that offered us a great view of the cloud forest. We were given the opportunity of doing the final zip-line “superman style” – attached to the line from our back facing down rather than sitting like we had been. This made me a bit nervous but I had come so far and decided to follow through with it which I’m proud of myself for.
Both me and Kelly decided to chicken out when it came to the Tarzan swing though as the idea of being dragged off of a platform and swinging down to the ground just wasn’t for me. I decided to head down to the base of the swing to chat to the others and take photos instead.
After returning to town we stopped for lunchtime crepes at The Orchid Garden before I broke away from the others and ran errands such as buying batteries, sending mail etc. Then it was on to The Frog Pond, which was another item on my must-see list, to see some of the endangered frogs that are native to Costa Rica and Central America as a whole.
When I arrived at The Frog Pond which, despite its name, is actually rather large I was told that my ticket was valid for 2 visits within the week and that I could either wait for a while for a guide to become available or take a torch and walk around myself. I decided to start walking round on my own and wait for a guide to become available although during the time I was waiting I wasn’t able to see much as I didn’t really know what I was looking for. I heard a familiar voice coming from the entrance after maybe 15 minutes wandering around – it was Gary who, along with Gina, had decided to do exactly the same as me. They said a tour would be starting in another 15 minutes so I showed them what I had seen so far before heading back up to the entrance to wait for the guide.
The Frog Pond is much better with a guide as you’ll be taken on a 45 minute tour that shows you all of the frogs that are around and provides you with a lot of biological information into the species. We saw all sorts of frogs of various sizes and colours from the common frog, to the cane toad and finally to the famous Green Tree Frog that appears on the front of many guide books. I found it fascinating and well worth the entry price although I was getting a bit dehydrated by the end so on the way back to the hotel we stopped at the supermarket to pick up supplies for that evening and the following day.
Dinner was, as predicted, back at The Tree House again like yesterday and it was just as nice as yesterday – I had exactly the same meal as before although I figured I liked it so much so why bother changing it. Some of the group weren’t as impressed with the place but their loss! There wasn’t enough time for another Team Breakaway gossip over win tonight by the time we got back to the hotel for the evening so I decided to just relax in my room and write the notes for this blog. I was going to read but we need to leave early tomorrow so I might just head to sleep.