Day 10: Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Monday April 27th 2009 (wow, it’s been a while since the last post…trying to do better)

“Puntarenas which means “Sandy Point” in Spanish, is the capital and largest city in the province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica, on the Pacific coast. First known as “Villa Bruselas” in colonial times, Puntarenas was discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1519. Despite the use of the Gulf of Nicoya as an entryway to Costa Rica’s inland territory, the port of Puntarenas was not developed until 1840 when coffee production in the highlands reached exportable volumes. In 1845 the Congress of the Republic declared Puntarenas a duty free port (with the exception of Cognac and hard liquor). Originally, the coffee was brought to the port in oxcarts via a trail through the mountains. In 1879, a stretch of railroad track was completed which connected Puntarenas with the town of Esparza (one of the country’s earliest Spanish settlements, founded in 1554, a decade before the Central Valley began to be colonized) where the oxcart trail came out of the mountains. Eventually, the railroad was built all the way through to San Jose and service was inaugurated in 1910. With the railroad connection to the Central Valley, the Pacific port’s activities continued to be a major part of the region’s economy through the 20th century and into today.

The Port

The Dock

The Rain Forest

Our Captain informed us that we would not be able to dock at Puerto Caldera and would have to berth at Puntarenas, 7 miles into the gulf of Nicoya. This was actually a better port as we would not have to tender and could just walk off the ship. We are thankful for the extra hour sleep today as we cross into the next time zone. We got up and dressed for the day. We could tell it would be hot and humid today. we disembarked and boarded the bus for our shore excursion. Today we took the Aerial Tram with Canopy Zipline tour. I was not sure that Angie was going to follow through. I was afraid she would chicken out at the last minute.

The tour brochure describes the trip as follows:

Enjoy one of Costa Rica’s leading attractions—the Aerial Tram. Depending upon your arrival time, you may first attend view a video presentation introducing you to the Atlantic Rain Forest, or join an expert naturalist guide for the exhilarating aerial tram ride which takes approximately 80 minutes in comfortable gondolas designed for six passengers each and a bilingual naturalist guide. You will safely glide from the rain forest floor up to the treetops to observe majestic towering trees, lianas, giant ferns, hanging gardens and occasional wildlife. After the canopy ride enjoy a traditional Costa Rican lunch before you explore the rain forest from the ground up to the canopy and down again. The Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy has awarded the Ecological Flag to this eco-tour, declaring it of national public interest. Start your adventure at the canopy experience receiving top-quality gear and secure harnesses to effortlessly traverse the canopy from platform to platform. You will soar through the treetops of giant native trees just like a monkey as you fly across the magnificent Molinete River. Stupendous rewards of breathtaking views and occasional wildlife sightings add to your exhilarating adventure during this unique bird’s-eye view experience.

all geared up

The ride to the rain forest was pretty comfortable. Once we arrived, we were outfitted with our gear. The gear included a helmet, gloves and our rigging. Our guides helped us into our rigging. As you can see it’s a pretty basic harness. The zip lines are a set of two wires that are you attached to both of them. We were given a demo of how to use them. The nice thing about these zip lines is that you do not have to use your hand behind the pulleys to control your speed. They have safety brakes at the end of the zip line to slow you down. After the safety briefing and demonstration,we headed to the aerial trams. Each tram holds six people and our guide. the trip up the mountain was very quiet and peaceful. We could hear streams and waterfalls. As we neared the top of the tram, we could hear the first groups that went up zipping along their lines. It was a high buzzing sound like an insect. We didn’t know what it was until our guide pointed it out to us. At the top, we exited the tram and followed the dirt path through the rain forest. As we reached the 1st platform we caught up with the group of people in the tram ahead of us. We waited in line for our turn at the first zip line. I kept looking at Angie expecting her to say she would not do it.

I made sure she was in front of me, so she had to go first. 😀

angie waiting in line

I kept checking with Angie to make sure she wanted to do it. She was sure and as we reached the head of the line, she hooked up and got ready to go. She climbed up and launched herself! She soared down the line and reached the opposite platform. Now it was my turn. I was a bit apprehensive to go, but since Angie went first, I couldn’t back out now. I would never live it down. 😉 I hooked up and launched. The feeling was incredible!!! There was very little pressure from the harness as it supported me and I just felt myself propelling forward. I kept my feet and knees up as we were taught. I wanted to make sure I didn’t stop and get caught short of the end of the line. I reached the end of the line and stood up on the platform. I was unhooked and moved onto the path. It felt fantastic and I asked Angie what she thought. She said it was great and I could tell she enjoyed it as well. The first zip line was now behind us and we had 9 more. The total distance of all 10 zip lines was about a mile.

Steve Waiting in Line

Steve riding another zip line

The line lengths were as follows:

Steve on LONG zip line

Steve making it to the platform

Line 1: 257 feet
Line 2: 219 feet
Line 3: 115 feet
Line 4: 112 feet (The shortest line)
Line 5: 1048 feet (The longest line)
Line 6: 704 feet
Line 7: 710 feet
Line 8: 580 feet
Line 9: 730 feet
Line 10: 739 feet

With each zip line, we had more confidence and about the 4th one we both really started to enjoy the experience and look at the scenery around us rather than at the lines. I was getting good at controlling my rotation with my hands so I could look left/right and end up back in line at the end. On the 5th line Angie got stuck at the end and had to do a hand over hand pull to get her to the very end. I didn’t know this until much later, as this was the longest line and I could not see her at the end.

angie on the zip line

The longest zip line

The view from the rain forest

The 5th zip line was fantastic. The view was incredible and the line went on for what seemed like forever and ever. We had a fantastic view and could see all the way to the ocean. Our guide made a point of telling us we had to look right as we went down so that we could see the view. I was able to take a photo as I was sailing through. At the end of this line, it was quite a rush and I was looking forward to the remaining 5 lines. Angie had a huge smile on her face and I could tell she was enjoying the experience. The grade on most of the zip lines is only 5%. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but it does the job and prevents you from going too fast. As we approached the last zip line there was a long line. Apparently there was a back up of people so we had to wait a few minutes for everyone to take their turn. They were supposed to have a camera on this line, but it was not working for some reason. A lot of people decided to let go of the zip line and lay back spread eagle as they sailed over the canopy. After the last zip line, we walked down the last hill and removed all of our gear. We gave back our gear to the guides and walked through the rain forest back to the hut where they were setting up lunch.

Iguana sitting on a tree

While we walked through the garden/forest we came across an Iguana just sitting on the tree. They also had a snake hiding in the rocks with a telescope setup so you could see it. Angie decided to pass on looking at this one. We got in line for lunch. I started to feel really faint and I had to go sit down. I sat for a few minutes and started to feel nauseous. I quickly headed over to the bathroom, but before I got there, I started to get dizzy. Fortunately, I was able to catch myself before I lost my balance. I sat on the ground for a few minutes. Once I sat down,

Angie unpacking from the long hot day.

I started to feel a little better and realized I was suffering from heat exhaustion. I was able to get up and walk to the bathroom and pour water over my face and neck to cool down. I immediately felt better. It’s amazing how fast it came on. I wasn’t dehydrated as I drank three bottles of water along the trail. I think the extremely high humidity and heat is what caused it. I came back from the bathroom and sat down with Angie. We rested and waited for the bus to get ready to take us back to the ship. There was a brief garden tour, but I decided to skip it and just sit and relax. Angie looked around in the gift shop. We boarded our bus and headed back to the port. The country side was beautiful, although you can see the poverty everywhere. We arrived back at the ship and unpacked. We headed up to the Lido deck and grabbed a snack, then we headed to afternoon tea. After tea we relaxed and read for a few hours. There was no pre-dinner entertainment tonight because they were doing a special Filipino Crew Show. This was a special show made up of Filipino crew members. We headed to dinner and chatted with our table mates about their days. Everyone had a fun-filled day and enjoyed themselves. Even though I was exhausted from the days adventures, this was one of the most fun adventures we have had. I would definitely do this again.