Day 9 Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Hailed as the Switzerland of the Americas, Costa Rica occupies a unique position, lying between 2 oceans and 2 continents. On both coasts , tropical rain forests rise to the mountains of the interior, many of which soar over 13,000 feet above sea level. In the west a seemingly endless succession of white-sandy beaches forms the nations Pacific Coast. Puntarenas is the gateway to the wonders we saw there. We were escorted by bus through a very scenic countryside on our way to one of the rain forests for The Original Canopy Tour at Mahogany Park. This tour was to be one of our most exciting on the cruise. There were about 10 of us altogether. We first donned a climbing harness with pulleys attached, helmets and leather work gloves. We had a 10 to 15 minute walk to the first of eight stations. We climbed, one at a time to the landing of the first station. The first zip line was only about 15 feet from the ground so it was easy. From there we just kept zipping along, some 40 feet above the ground, from one to another through all 8. We had to try to control our speed and keep from spinning around as we zipped from one landing to another. At first it was a little scary but then much fun and a great exciting experience.
