Ziplining Adventure in Costa Rica

“Bye, bye,” said the young man as he sent me sailing through the sky over the treetops in the Costa Rican rainforest. The feeling inside of me was surreal! The thought of being thousands of feet in the air, looking down at the treetops was unbelievable.

I remained calm, trying not to focus on the height and trusted that the cable was secure while holding on with my arms extended straight, keeping my legs crossed and tucked close to my chest. While zipping along, I captured a birds-eye view of the rainforest and Lake Arenal in the distance.

Before starting our excursion, one of the workers gave us a demonstration along with important instructions. First rule: Remember to keep your arms extended straight up with hands grasping the bar hooked on the cable and legs crossed against your chest to maintain the speed. Second rule: Spread your legs wide when you feel the cable shaking, which means that you are near the platform and close to stopping. If you don’t extend your legs out wide before stopping, your legs will hit the cable, which could cause an injury.

We were nearing the platform where we would have a practice run, followed by two miles of ziplining. There were myself, my husband Bill, two sons Matt and David, daughter-in-law Colleen, and friend Patrick.

The young fellow hooked me up to the cable, and now it was too late; I was going to zipline! He gave me a push for speed. I held my knees as instructed, but when the cable shook, I didn’t extend my legs out wide. Therefore, I slammed to a stop, and sure enough, my legs hit the wire. I forgot that essential rule in my practice run. I came in for the landing screaming, which entertained the others. The young Costa Rican man patted my arm as I screamed and half-amused, said, “Don’t forget to spread your legs, OK? That’s the most important.” He said, “You have to spread your legs wider, OK?” I replied, “I forgot to spread them wide.” He chuckled as he unhooked my harness.

There was a total of seven cables and no turning back at this point. I was a bit nervous and said, “Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do this.” Matt said, “There’s nothing to do. You let them clip you in and off you go.” OK, sure, Matt.

Now, for the real experience, I had to remember to hold my legs out wide when I felt the cable shake. When it was Colleen’s turn, the man gave her a push, and off she zipped screaming most of the way to the platform, encouraging. I took a video capturing the sound of her screams traveling across the rainforest, the joys of learning to zipline.

After Colleen reached the end, it was my turn. As the man gave me a push, he said, “Bye, bye; don’t forget to spread your legs,” and off I went. When the cable shook, the man at the other end held his arms out, reminding me to spread my legs, at which time I did as instructed. Now, I overcame my uneasy feeling. This experience was going to be fun.

After the first two runs, I began to enjoy each ride from cable to cable. Ziplining gave me a sense of exhilaration. Bill felt apprehensive at first but realized that there was no going back. Colleen was happy to be alive to talk about it.

The fifth zip line was called big daddy that was one-half of a mile. After a few poses for the camera, my man gave me a push, said, “bye, bye,” and off I went sailing through the sky. I turned my head in both directions to see the mountains in the distance and treetops that looked miles below like a bed of greenery that would catch me if I fell. Then, I closed my eyes, relaxed my mind erasing any anxious thoughts, allowed myself to enjoy the ride, and held tight until the cable shook, which meant it was time to extend my legs out wide and came to a quick stop. I stopped so fast that I felt as though I slammed into the finish line, causing a jolt to my head! Never-the-less, a sense of thrill took over my mind; I survived the big daddy!

By Linda A. Egelston