The next step on my seat-of-the-pants tour of Costa Rica was Nicoya.

Beautiful jungle, teeming with all manner of wildlife, including myself and a group of medical students from Minnesota, on some sort of exchange program. Don’t ask me, I have no idea how they ended up at the same place I did, but they were ready to have some fun….

I had booked this trip online, with no experience or advance information, and hoped that I had found the best zip-line operation I could. I wasn’t disappointed! There are 25 zip-lines, traveling nearly 2 miles in the air, and eleven of the cables went over waterfalls.

The zip line tour was an all in one operation. Adventure Park Hotel Vista Golfo, includes the hotel,  restaurant, and zip line tour all run by the same folks. I arrived about 5 pm, and my room was waiting for me, the restaurant was open, and the sodas and beer cold. It was actually the first time I’ve seen a glass Coca-Cola bottle in a very long time.The menu in the restaurant was varied, with everything from barbecued steak to typical Costa Rican fare. I decided to try the arroz com camarones, rice and shrimp, to see if it was as good here as back in San Jose. It was…..

Everything was run right to the second, from dinner, to breakfast, to loading the bus to get to the  zip lines, to our return time. I shouldn’t have been surprised, as the kind and efficient folks running this establishment are Germans. The whole place ran like a fine Black Forest Cuckoo clock. And the cuckoo’s? That was us, the collection of folks wanting to slide around the forest on cables, with our gloved hand being our only brake. Here’s a sample….

That was about a quarter mile…. fun, Huh???

All in all, it was a great time. Fun, safe, good food,  and great people. And, yes, there were lizards in the shower…….

Next stop, Baldi Hot Springs, near Mount Arenal, the local volcano.