We had an early start at Santa Elena National Park this morning. We were greeted
the same Collared Peccary we saw the day before and it turned out to be very
friendly. He approached us and others at the entrance of the park. He seemed
nice so we pet him and talked the him. He really enjoyed rubbing up against
us and followed us up the trail. We hiked several trails through the cloud forest
and spotted lots of birds along the way. We walked down the road from the park
where we had booked a canopy tour and bridge walk.
The ¨canopy tour¨really has nothing to do with nature or the canopy and consist
of 12 zip lines, many several hundred feet long, that zip you through the rainforest
on. We got all suited up and joined about thirty other tourist. Of the group
only four of us spoke English and while our Spanish is improving, we felt instructions
in English would be best for this type of activity. After a quick orientation
we climbed a huge tower and we're pushed out over the canopy. It was incredible
to see the jungle pass by so quickly. As part of our tour we did a Tarzan Swing.
You start off standing on top of a high tower, then some guy hooks you up then
pulls you back while you bend your knees and hold on tight. While you are crouched
down another guy slides the railing over and you free fall off the tower and
swing out into the jungle. Shelley screamed and we both had a great time. This
was one of the highlights of our trip.
After our canopy tour we took another cloud forest trail that took us on eight suspension bridges. The bridges were a great place to watch birds. The longest bridge was 510 feet long. As we were walking on one of the last trails a large aggressive tarantella blocked the way. As we passed by it lifted its fangs and charged us. Luckily we were quick and we went on our way.
After our long day we headed back to our hotel where one of the many resident dogs found Shelley while she was playing cards.
