Wildest Day YET ! Arenal Sky Trek and Sky Tram

Wednesday a.m. I woke up to what sounded like the polar bear from the LOST series... harrowing sound... till I realised that I was just dreaming and it was actually a howler monkey, NOT a polar bear (NOT in Costa Rica anyway, hum). The howler monkeys are actually the noisiest animals in the world (for a ratio of body weight vs how far the sound will travel). They can sound around the corner and actually be over a mile away. Their throat is huge for their body size and they look seriously ugly... and their vocal cords produce the most horrible, hair rising sound. At 6am the volcano roared too and my brain was still puzzled (not used to the sounds of volcanoes just yet) so I didn´t get out of bed... some did and said it had puffed up a lot of smoke. Cool !

Anyway... after much debating in my head I decided not to go to the Rio Celeste. I am sure it was stunning but I didn´t fancy spending a small fortune ($150) nor hike for 4 hours up hill... been there done that often enough by now. Plus, since the weather can change any minute here I didn´t want to risk spending all this money and find I couldn´t even take pix in case it started to rain. Plus it now was my last day in the Arenal area and I really wanted to do the sky trek... well, no, I tell a lie, at this point I was not sure I´d have the guts to go ahead with it. I have a fear of heights and the thought of dangling 660 ft up in the air didn´t sound hugely appealing (this is the kind of thrill that you tell mother about AFTERWARDS, NEVER before). But strangely enough, everybody I met that day had already done it and they ALL raved about it SO much that I knew I´d never forgive myself if I didn´t try. Costa Rica has many such zip lines but I had only met one tourist who had done it before, in Mexico.

So, to start off with, I thought I´d walk to the butterfly centre, whilst the sun was glorious, and could enjoy some bird watching on the way. The centre was only 1.5kms away, so by my books, it should have taken me 40mns no more to get there (as I walk quite fast).

So I packed all my camera gear and blissfully set off into the sunshine... looking out for Fluo but he was a bit shy that day. After 45mns I was getting seriously hot and had stripped off as I went along... well, I was wearing a bikini on top and my shorts and there were so few cars that it didn´t look too revealing. I used my camera to hide my ´assets´ and would grab my T shirt every time a car passed by just to play it safe. Costa Rica is supposedly remarkably safe for women but you never know... after an hour, I started to have doubts about my sense of direction though... but then, there was only ONE way to go, only ONE main road, so surely I had to keep going... but it was getting hotter and hotter and I just had to plunge into the river to cool down because I could not take any more heat (my shorts dried up in 30mns flat). The little swim did me good but still did not cool down my brain...

At every turn I was still convinced I´d see the sign for the butterfly garden... but no... I ended up walking 1h20 and found myself outside the Sky Line ! i.e. I have walked 3 kms more than I had intended (my great plan, HAD things gone according to plan, was to get a cab from the butterfly centre to the Sky Line). I am still baffled how I could possibly missed my one turning... but I guess it´s because I was walking to the left handside and the signs were on the right (but none were facing me). I felt SO stupid... but I said before, getting lost in Costa Rica is SO easily done. I actually burst out laughing when I read an email from my sister today who said that the Prime Minister of Costa Rica actually got lost recently too and spent 48 hours in the jungle going round in the circles !!! There you go... serves him right, he´s going to have to invest more money in much needed sign posting !!! AH. Oh, sweet irony...

So, I switched my plans around and decided that, since I was there, I would start with the Sky Line experience. The chap at the gate managed to convince me that I just HAD to do it... but then added ´it is a further 1km up hill... you may want to wait for the next shuttle bus, it should arrive in 5mns´.... well, Costa Rican time being pretty much the same as Indian time ... 5 minutes turned into 25mns and still no sign of any shuttle bus so I told him I´d *have* to walk it, I could not sit around all day. It was nice practising my Spanish but I had a busy day ahead...

So, off I set off, and walked UP hill for what felt like an eternity, in blazing sun... but the views on the way, overlooking the Arenal lake in the background with the lush canopy jungle on the foreground were breath taking (not that I had much breath left to start with by then though !).

I eventually reached the top, exactly 2h30 later when my intention had been to only walk 45mns max... again, I asked at reception if it´d be scary, again, everybody raved about it and said: quite the opposite, it was addictive.

So, I signed up for the whole package, the aerial tram and the sky trek. The tram was the easy bit... just sit back and let yourself go slowly up above the jungle canopy.... the views were very impressive and we were all amazed by how very rich this habitat was. We didn´t see much in terms of birds or wildlife but the ground was so thick, every inch seemed to have 5 to 10 levels.

Check this link for a video of the panorama

http://www.arenaladventures.com/sky.htm

We then got to a big platform and started practising our ´position´ for flying like a bird. You need to actually sit back (almost on your back) and cross your knees so that you don´t swing around too much. If you do, you could get stuck in the middle of the line as it will slow down your speed and then someone may need to go and get you... and no one particularly likes dangling 660 ft in the air, with nothing but a harness or two to hold you. It did seem very safe I have to say and they buckle you up twice, once around the waist and another time around your poulie. Each cable of steel can take up to 5,000 kgs in weight (so I had a safe margin there !), etc. So, we had our first practice run over a 20m cable, at a 3m height. Seemed easy enough. Next cable, 25m, also just 3m hight, where we needed to practise breaking. This is because sometimes people can go down the zip line a bit tooo fast and it helps if they use their body to break (swinging left to right) before landing... it kind of minimises the jerking motion on arrival.

I wasn´t good at breaking I have to say, never got the knack of it. So, it´s a good job I never had to do it ´for real´afterwards. The first two zip lines were tame... the next one was YEEEEK... 720 meters long and probably as high again!!!! I took a deep breath, felt a big push, and off I was.... it´s quite fast (55 mph) and I was trying to take it all in and keep my eyes wide open as the views were just incredible... a true bird´s eye view and I realised I may never experience that again. It was very freeing... and actually enjoyable!!! After we had all reached the 3rd platform we were already´into it´ already! All in all, we had a total of 9 more zip lines to zip down, ranging from 60 ft to 660 ft above ground and we covered 2.5kms in the air. The Arenal Sky Trek was only built 2 years ago so I´m glad I didn´t get to Costa Rica a bit earlier as I´d have hated to miss out. I think there is also one in Monteverde that might be 8 years old though.

I must say this was a HUGE thrill, the kind of day I will remember for as long as I live. I do rate this amazing and unusual experience as one of the top 3 most thrilling travel experiences of my entire life (No 1 would have to be cuddling cheetahs in South Africa and 2. snorkelling off Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef as the diversity of fish and corals was visually mind blowing).

It was over all too soon and we were all ready to do it all again... but I really wanted head off to the butterfly centre too and take photos of the giant blue morfo because I felt my photo album would not be complete otherwise.

Butterfly Centre

This time, I got a cab, because time was of the essence (the sun would go down at 4pm) and I wanted to make sure I got there whilst it was still quite sunny as butterflies tend to spread their wings more when it is.

The centre was smaller than I expected (no way to have lunch there, so in a way, it was a blessing in disguise that I *had* got lost as I needed to do things the other way in hindsight) but they have a few large tents with several butterflies and a small frog pond. The orange and yellow butterflies seemed more common but I eventually found myself in a tent full of blue morfos... maybe 150 of them in 15m2 and it was incredible. If they all eat fruits, they are so focused on their food that you can touch them and they don´t even fly away. The only way to make them fly away was to shake their feeding pot... and then you´d be surrounded by 25 x 2 pair of wings and it was visually striking. Such a beautiful blue, a cloud of magic. I could never get tired of watching them fly... I was in awe. But trying to take a picture of one with its wings open was a big patience game. I had to wait ONE HOUR before I managed to capture one... and then he paused for my camera for about 10mns, on some pink impatiences, which was picture perfect. I was delighted !

They only live 3 weeks each but take 3 months to become butterflies (2 months as crystalline and 2 weeks as caterpillar and 2 weeks as something else). What a process ! But what a result... I was so gutted for them that I ´incidentally´ freed one... just because I´m an idealist and I wanted one to be totally free before dying. Don´t tell anyone !!!

I also took more flower shots because everywhere I turned there seemed to be a picture opportunity. The garden had many angel´s trumpets (same shape as trumpets but white body and pink edges), Costa Rica really is the Garden of Eden.

I also took a peep at the frog area but it was being built so they only had a tiny one (as high and wide as my smallest finger nail). Half red and half blue (literaly: the top half is red, the bottom half is blue). It´s the most poisonous one they have in CR. If a dog eats it, he will certainly die. If a human touches it, gangraine will develop so fast that you might need amputation if you had not been seen at the hospital within 2 hours. Scary. One staff member opened the glass window so I could take a picture without my flash getting in the way, but I was glad when he shut it.

After 2 hours there (it was plenty to cover all ground) I went back to my hotel and enjoyed more fruit milk shakes and watched more birds fly away as I wrote a few more post cards.

Another memorable day... Another one that felt like a holiday (well, after the longer than planned morning walk, that is).