Costa Rica, Day 6

Day 6: Up early, again. We were normally awake and kicking at about 6:30 or so most every day of our vacation. The sun was up, there were people doing things outside, and we usually went to sleep pretty early, too. I know it’s odd to think of 6:30 as ‘sleeping in’, but it seemed to work well for us. When it’s dark outside at 7:00 pm, it’s hard to stay up, especially considering all the adventuring we do. Of course, the other thing that usually woke us up were cows and donkeys. I’m not sure what they were doing back there, but when the sun came up, those cows got noisy.

So today was another, different zip line tour. This one was different, but we really liked it. Instead of blazing across the sky on our line, the lines were shorter and there were more of them, and they usually wound through the canopy as opposed to shooting high above it. It gave us more of an opportunity to check out the surrounding countryside. We also got to control our own speed to a greater extent. They gave us these thick, leather things that we used to brake and slow ourselves up on the line. It was a very different experience, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to do both.

The other thing that this tour had was the Tarzan Swing. That’s where they attach you to a cable strung high overhead, pull you to the edge of a ledge, and then drop you off. You get to swing back and forth a whole bunch and then they stop you at the bottom and you continue on, but let me tell you, that first drop is a thrill ride. We both really liked that part.

We made a stop at a local super market, it’s always neat to see what passes for normal and not normal in foreign country shops, and then filled up on gas for the drive the next day. Then we drove WAY out to El Castillo to see a butterfly conservatory. The book recommended we stay there, but I’m *very* glad we didn’t. I’ve determined I don’t like the Lonely Planet series of guidebooks very much. There seems to be, at least in the Costa Rica book, a certain ‘smarm’ that permeates all their recommendations. As if any place that is ‘popular’ or ‘accessible’ than it’s just not ‘out there’ enough. As if you can’t be enjoying a place unless you’re way out in the middle of nowhere, where people like...well, like you, don’t normally get to go. I, for one, like convenience on my trip. Especially on my honemoon trip. If I feel like going off the beaten path and really exploring a place, I’ll probably go do it somewhere where I speak the local language.

Anyway, El Castillo. It was a long and bumpy drive, but eventually we made it and got to see this really nice butterfly conservatory. They had huge, closed areas where they raised a wide variety of butterflies, from the common and popular ones to the deep-forrest ones that don’t like light and are nearly translucent. The area also had frogs, lizards, and a rhino beetle. Huge and cool. We also saw another battalion of army ants, this one marching from some preposterous distance, we couldn’t find the entrance, to climb a tree and chop away at some leaves that were too high up for us to see. Those buggers work hard!

On the way back we got this picture, which is definitely one of my favorites from the trip. This is what vacationing with Jessie is like, ending up at places so far off the beaten path that you have to drive back to the unpaved road that the GPS even knows about.

Would you like to see our movie menu? We have a delicious chardonnay.



-N