Ziplining in a Cloud Forest -average weekday stuff

Trip Start Mar 31, 2009
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Trip End Ongoing


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Where I stayed
Hotel El Toucan

Flag of Costa Rica  , Province of Puntarenas,
Thursday, May 14, 2009

After La Fortuna we drove to Monteverde, which is a natural reserve or cloud forest (so called because at the altitude of 1800m there is canopy level cloud cover) and stayed in the nearby town of Santa Elena. On the way the Daihatsu Bego and its massive 2L engine came into its own as some of the īroadsī were actually just narrow dirt tracks full of stones and potholes. However it was worth it as we were able to see some beautiful scenery of Costa Rica's mountainous interior. 

In Monteverde there are a lot of ecological and biological attractions so of course we went straight for the extremo (company name and now useful vocab) zipline canopy tour which is one of the best things we have done so far. 16 individual zip lines, the longest being 750 meters long where we got up to speeds of 60kph, some 150m above ground, some through the canopies. Also there was a rappel down 100m and a huge Tarzan swing. It was immense.
 
In the evening we went on a 2.5hr night walk into the forest which was amazing. We saw several 3 toed sloths, raccoons, a massive red knuckled tarantula, a funnel web spider and more other insects/beetles than I can remember. There were many more things we wanted to do including canyoning, mountain biking and the sky walks (canopy level bridges and viewing platforms), however time was of the essence so we decided to hit the road and find some beaches!
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