Day 6: Zip Lining, Surfing Jaco, and hiking Mt. Miros

One of the “Had to Do” things when we were planning the trip to Costa Rica was zip lining.  Michael from Si Como No suggested we do it in Jaco, we ended up finding a place in Los Suenos (town just outside of town).  They picked us up right outside Hotel Kangaroo at around 830, for our 9:00 tour.  The weather was perfect and we did it early enough in the morning that it wasn’t quite muggy yet. 

Everyone that ran the tour was very helpful and super cool, we felt safe the whole time.  We ended up meeting up with another couple that were on their honeymoon that were staying at a resort in Jaco too.  They took us up on a tractor to the top of the canopy and showed us how to use the cabling system and a few safety pointers before sending us off.  We tried to figure out who would be the first victim, so naturally Jeremy went first. 

The whole tour consisted of (I think) 14 lines and the last one was one of the longest around.  It was an experience that cant be described…it was so much fun.  The first few lines were a little nerve racking, but once you get the hang of it, the nerves went away and I finally enjoyed the scenery.   We saw a ton of wildlife in the canopies, some weird wild turkey thing, toucans, bats, and a ton of creepy crawlies ( I could’ve lived without those!). 

About half way down, they had one line where you could go upside down with no hands or backwards.  Jeremy had a hard time deciding, but before he had the time to chicken out they let go and he flew down upside down with no hands.  I also enjoyed the view upside down…the other couple opted out.   Chickens!  The last one was the longest/coolest/fastest one they had, and it was such a rush.  Jeremy had the Go Pro on the majority of the time and it was a blast! 

We got down off the platforms and on actual soil, and they gave us some fruit before we left.  The shuttle driver had to pick up some other people in town, so we waited around for a little bit before leaving.  He made it back with a new group of people about 5 minutes later.  They opened the doors to the van, and out pop out are around 5 rowdy mid life crisis men with a beer in their hand.  Really?  Why didn’t we think about that?!  Im starting to wish we would’ve joined their group…they seemed like a fun bunch!

We made it back to the hostel and ate some left overs from the night before.  I convinced Jeremy surfing was a good idea, albeit frustrating at times, and prefaced this many times before we left because I knew he would have a hard time…not for lack of athleticism, but surfing is tough when your first learning.  We took the Go Pro cause I wanted to document this momentous event.  I haven’t done much surfing since I left the Central Coast in California, so I was excited to get up on a board finally.  Funny enough, its just like riding a bike.  I stood up right away.  Jeremy on the other hand, not so much.  He went in a couple time frustrated while I stayed out and caught a few more waves.  I did catch some surfing on the Go Pro, and when I mean surfing I mean eating shit for about 5 minutes, then getting frustrated and catching a wave in.  I was frustrated at that point, so I came in.  Good timing too cause I ended up finding around 20 bucks in the sand!  I could tell Jeremy was frustrated and I was tired so we called it a day, and I was fine with that!

We heard about Mt. Miros from a couple people, and we could see it from our surf spot (you cant miss it it’s the big mountain on the south end of the beach), so we wanted to check it out after we got done surfing.  The weather started to look like it was going to rain, so we wanted to make it up there before we got stuck in the downpour.  It also helped that it was really close to the hostel.  It was a short hike (as far as mileage went), but took us a little bit because it was a pretty steep incline.  The views at the top were awesome though, definitely worth the hike up.  On the way back down, we spotted a couple toucans too!  I was excited because we have been looking for them for days, but haven’t spotted any our whole trip.  No macaws though, we knew they were there, cause we could see them flying that way everyday from the hostel.  We were pretty excited!  Perfect timing too, cause it started to rain on the way down.

It started to rain a lot more, so we stayed in and washed clothes in the sink.  It seemed like a good idea at that time, but it turned out to be more of a hastle than anything else cause it really wasn’t hot enough to dry the clothes in enough time.  Once we finished washing clothes, we walked on the beach and enjoyed the sunset with beer in hand!  It was a relaxing night.  We walked into town a little more and had some ceviche, it was my first time trying it and all I can say is eh…it was a little weird, it didn’t taste bad or anything, but it was just weird.  We ate curbside while people watching.  There wasn’t lack of excitement, as a hooker just got dropped off at the ceviche stand while the guy cleaned the steam out of the inside of his car windows.  It took us a while to realize what just happened, but Jeremy and I seriously figured it out at the same moment, cause we shared awkward icky glances at each other once we realized what was going on.

We stopped by the liquor store on the way back and got a couple beers to finish off the night.  We played a couple games of cards, ate snacks (common theme on this trip) and drank the rest of our beers before turning in.  It was a great day

Mt Miros

Macaws!

Hotel Kangaroo