It is raining steady by 7am, we are super 'sick' this morning and the idea of zip lines and rappelling in the rain is miserable at best. Vijay and I are committed to our goal and decide to rally despite our pounding heads. Frank decides to curl back up with.....his blankie. So soft and warm he couldn't leave her. Forget him!, we're going to rap a 300 ft line next to a raging waterfall in the rain after ziplineing 2000 feet into the fog at 30 mph. So get our shit and git on it! A little miss-communication got us a little later start and allowed for multiple cups of cafe con leche. After a safety check for all our gear: Wellman harness, Misty ARC harness, chest harness, ascension bar with jumar, extra set of jumars, Aspen Seating custom protector, rain jacket, and camera, we're on our way.We arrive at Mundo Canopy tours, gear up and we jump in the 4x4 transport Costa Rican stylie. We're going up to the start of the course and come to a steep part in the road that had 2 trenches about 16-18inches deep right in the wheel tracks. "No problem" says the guide. After multiple attemps and some full-on trackor pull excitment he didn't make it. I fall on my ass as I walk down to figure out how we are going to get Vijay up this steep muddy, slick hill with out dropping him. I do not think carrying him is a safe option, and it just so happens there are about 10 horses at the top of the hill. Vijay said he wanted to ride a horse. So the guide gets the horse and we haul all the gear and his wheelchair to the start of the canopy tour. We had one person on each side of him and he rode like a champ! His warm up is a jug 50 ft up to the top of the zipline sart. One of the things we were here to do was test and demo the Misty ARC harness. It is this new climbing harness designed to support the entire waist with a rigid seat. The harness worked great, but at the top Vijay switches to the Wellman harness. The Wellman chaps are more suited for the rappel which is apparently in the mist somewhere. It is pretty amazing, the zip line just disappears after about 1000ft. While we are gearing up on the top of this tower this tucan perches on this tree right next to the tower that is about the same height and starts talkin to us. Loud little guys! The view from the tower over looks this huge gorge, the fog is coming in and out and drizzel turns to full on rain. Now we're havin' fun! Vijay is rigged up and we are ready to do our first zip which disappears into the mist, it is pounding rain and I'm pretty damn stoked to be alive! Rain seems to be a non-issue for safety. I clip in and go. At first the rain slapping me in the face felt good, then I started hauling ass it was like a spa treatment or something. By the time we get to the rappel the rain has stopped and unfortunately so did my camera. One day I have some more pics of the rap I took with Vijays camera. We both rappeled down, but only went about half way. It was already 3pm and we still needed to zipline out. Everything takes a little time to set up plus we were setting up multiple 4-1 haul systems to get from zip tower to zip tower. We jug out together and have a moment hanging off this cliff next to a 278ft raging waterfall. This is what we came here for, right now, right here, hanging off the side of this cliff! It is kinda funny I sold all of my climbing gear this spring. I was purging.
We get back about 6pm and I go straight for the tequilla and a hot shower. We have dinner with the family that owns the hotel that night and tell them about our adventure of the day and overall our experience during the week. They are very happy and excited about working with us more and getting No Limit Tour up and running. They are really interested in Shaka Surf camp which is our destination first thing in the morning. They have decided they want to personally drive us there and stay a night with us at Shaka and go to the beach for the weekend. We are all about a free ride in a van, buses are fun and all, but not that fun. Enought of the rain, to the beach!
