Blog 5: Zip Lining in Costa Rica

The van picked us up at the hotel and drove us deep into the heart of the rainforest. As we drove through the pot holed dirt roads, the laughter and conversations of all the passengers became impossible as our bodies crashed together. The multi-colored buildings and irresistible smells of cooking food from the town quickly disappeared and were replaced by the dark, muted greens and browns of the jungle. When we left the hotel the sky was ominous and rain clouds blocked the sun. An eerie silence filled the jungle, broken only by the strident shriek of a monkey hiding in the treetops.
By the time we arrived at the zip line base camp the sky had opened up and huge pellets of rain struck our bodies without mercy. It was noon but the darkness created by the dense treetops made it seem like twilight. The distant rumble of thunder smothered the sounds of my feet as I climbed the first forty foot ladder to the first zip line. Wearing oversized rain gear, helmets, and rawhide gloves, we all looked like shapeless yellow ghosts about to fly above the rainforest canopy.
My vision was blurred by the downpour and I tried not to look down to where the ground lay so far below me. As I was launched off the platform onto the zip line the only sound that I could hear was the shrill scream of my harness skimming along the line. Then, a squawking parrot rose up into the sky, disturbed and angry. I knew that the eyes of other hidden creatures watched me as I sailed through their habitat. I heard another rumble of thunder, closer this time and then realized that it was the pounding of my own heart.