Costa Rica Waterfall Repelling

Are you guys getting tired of hearing about Costa Rica yet? I hope not because I have a lot more to share! I’ve already talked about my disgust with Spirit Airlines and driving ATVs in the Jungle, I’m so excited to share our next adventure with you… Costa Rica Waterfall Repelling and Zip lining! I was so excited about this one. Funny thing is some of the people in our group were totally cool with the ATV adventure but completely freaked out by this one. I was totally opposite. I was freaked out by ATVs and Totally cool zip lining and repelling. I’m backwards I guess.

When we got picked up for the zip lining adventure we went on one of the scariest taxi rides yet. The guy was just plain old nuts. He’d slow down every once in awhile and we’d joke he was going to tell us to get out and find a vine to swing on or something.

When we arrived we were greeted warmly by our guides and told to go to the bathroom “one last time” and get our harnesses on. It was like we were suiting up for a Village People reunion or something, ha! I was ready to bust out the YMCA… or fix some phone wires or something. Also, canwe just agree that these harnesses are NOT flattering. Or comfortable. Just sayin…

Alright so we were all suited up and ready to go. Now we had to get out to the jungle. Remember how I told you we drove ATVs to the waterfall we were going to repel down? Well since we didn’t all have ATVs we piled in the back of a 1980 jeep and drove along the tiny trails. At one point I was absolutely certain we were going to flip into a ditch with a stream that we were trying to cross. So what do I do? Take a picture of my terrified (or terrifying) face!

What?! I was legit scared. Can you see the stream behind me?

Anyway, once we got to the point the jeep couldn’t go any further (thank the Lord…) we got out and walked to our first platform. It was absolutely beautiful. I guess I missed a lot of the scenery the day before since I was so focused on not dying while driving the ATVs.

When we got to our first platform we were told we had to climb up the ladder to get to our first zip line. I honestly wasn’t nervous at all, just excited. As I started to climb the ladder I was SO thankful that I CrossFit. I can’t imagine climbing that ladder 30lbs heavier and not nearly as strong. It wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be.

Oh, and lets just talk about these helmets. They are ALWAYS crooked. And make you look like you escaped special ed. And I look like i’m 12. Moving on…

Once up the ladder we were strapped in on the platform for safety and waited our turn to go on the first zip line. I watched a few people go before me and still wasn’t nervous at all. They strapped me on the line, gave the 321 and I was off!

Ok- this is my first time really looking at these pictures and I can’t stop laughing. I promise I wasn’t as scared as I look! Although I was going pretty fast headed for that tree… I don’t know. These are priceless though. and again, the crooked helmet!

There was another platform we stood on while we were waiting for the second zip line. What does one do while waiting for a zip line in the Jungle of Costa Rica? Selfie!!

The second zip line was even more fun than the first because you already knew what to expect. I was determined to try to NOT freak out about hitting the tree at the end. It was easier to relax since we already knew how it would feel. A few people went in front of me and then it was my turn, hooray!!

hahaha- oh these pictures. I look like a total nutcase! That last one I’m all like “I’ll get you my pretty! and your little dog too!” At least I was having fun!

After the first two zip lines came the suspension bridge. I had a bad run in with one of these before. I was a part of a Youth Leadership team in High School and we did a high ropes course one time. On the suspension bridge I totally hyperventilated and the ropes were shaking and I freaked out more and one of the staffers had to come “rescue” me. I was NOT going to do that this time. So I controlled my breathing and strolled across. Seriously, my heart rate didn’t even go up! It was fun!

uhm… can we be honest here. This is NOT a flattering picture of me at all. I almost wasn’t going to post it just because I thought it was so bad. But I wanted to post it to show you I am a work in progress. I have come a long way on my journey, but I have a long way to go. I still struggle with self image and how I portray myself on this blog, and you deserve to know that. I struggle like everyone struggles. So I decided to put it out there. This is unedited pure badunkadunk. Harness + Cuban Booty = Hot Mess. Ah well, at least my husband likes it 😉

Once we all safely crossed the suspension bridge (besides the hubs dislocating his knee… and popping it back into place…) One of our guides asked if we wanted him to take a group picture. We said yes gave him my camera and he did this:

That’s Alex and Genesis. Genesis is the owners daughter, she is 6 and started doing this when she was 4. Impressive!

and now for the actual group shot… we are a hot mess…. I’m telling you those helmets, SO hot right now. LOL.

After the suspension bridge it was time to repel the waterfall! Remember the beautiful one we saw yesterday during our ATV adventure? Yea, that realllly tall one… We were going to repel down it!

So they gave us a crash course on repelling, but made sure we knew that Armando would be on belay the whole time. So if we were to let go of our rope he would make sure we wouldn’t plummit to our death fall. To start out they flung us out over the waterfall and then slowly pulled us back to where we needed to be to go down correctly and then told us to start repelling.

Doesn’t that look so hard core?!

Unfortunately the video doesn’t look nearly as hard core. Nothing like the movies actually.

I didn’t notice for the first few minutes after I finished repelling because I was on such a high, but apparently I hit my shin pretty good on one of the rocks on the way down. I came away with a souvenir! It was a pretty good scrape and ended up bruising up pretty bad over the next few days. I wore it as a badge of honor.

After we all made it down the waterfall (mostly) safe we had a snack. The pineapple there was UNREAL. And they had these white cheese cookies that I swear were made with crack. So good. So NOT good for you. Pura Vida! <– the Costa Rican version of YOLO. ha.

I thought this might be the end of our excursion, but no… there is more. Are you still with me?! This is the best. We moved on to what they called the “Monkey Drop” So basically they strap you in and fling you over the edge of another waterfall where one of the guides had control of your rope. He would blow his whistle signaling you to lay back and put your hands behind your head. He would then drop you straight down into the pool of water (some he dunked, some he let land softly into the water). This was hilarious. and SO fun.

 

After we all collected ourselves from the fear and laughter of the monkey drop we had one more zip line to do. This one was so laid back and fun because we had already done all the “scary stuff”

To get down we just repelled straight down from the last platform.

This was seriously such a blast. For those of you who have the opportunity to zip line or repel, DO IT! It may be intimidating or scary, but it is just SO FUN.

Oh! The funniest part of the day… remember how I said my husband gave me a hard time about Roy (our ATV guide) being so “friendly” towards me? Well, the whole day we spent out here he had his own little fan being extra friendly towards him. Meet 18 year old Carin. She was VERY friendly towards him allll day. ha.

And he played it up. Touche, hubby dear, touche.

Have you ever gone zip lining or Repelling? Would you?