By Siri
10/1/2019
HELLO, today I will share my experience with ziplining. Not just the short one at home, but the longest zipline in Latin America. First, we had to drive to the Monteverde cloud forest because, well, that is where the ziplining is. We went to sleep to the windiest night, but we woke up to the beautiful sun. In morning the bus picked us up at seven fifteen, sharp. I got on that bus and a rush of excitement woke me. After a short ride I stepped off the bus and someone told the group, including my family, about the place. We used the bathroom before getting our harnesses on. Then I looked to my left and saw a big screen TV Showing people doing the canopy tour. That is what we were doing. Then I saw the Tarzan swing, people dropping 100 feet. Seeing that made me want to do it so badly.
One of about ten guides told us what to do while we were in motion on the zipline. The first two lines were short just to get us warmed up. The shock of being in the air was different. Next we walked across a rope bridge or a hanging ladder bridge to get to the repel spot where we would repel 35 feet before touching ground. My mom’s face looked so funny; you should have seen it. Now after warming up, the ziplines started to get long. So, we hopped on the 600-meter-long zipline to the next platform that led us to the ATV ride, which I’d say was pretty smooth. An ATV can’t bring you up a narrow path, so we had to walk that part to, well, outside of my comfort zone. I got a small glass of water that they had waiting for us. Oh, I forgot we had to change our pulleys for some reason. So, I got on to the platform when it was my turn. Sadly, Haakon and I had to go with a guide because we were not heavy enough to go alone. In order not to get stuck 200 meters up in the air, in the middle of the longest zipline in Latin America; you have to be at least 120 pounds. So, for the last two ziplines I had a guide go with.
Now we had reached the Tarzan swing. One of the guides asked me if I was going on the Tarzan swing and I said, “I will check it out”. I got to it and I overheard some adults say they did not think we could do it. But that motivated me to go, even more. I walked onto the plank; all I could think of is the Tarzan swing. It was my turn and I thought they would push me off the platform, but then they told me that I had to jump off – so I did. I felt my stomach go to my head and my brain thought I was going to die. But then I was swinging wildly and felt great. Around me were trees and big blue Morpho butterflies.
That afternoon we had to head back to Samara. I did not want to leave but was looking forward to getting home. Just getting an opportunity like this was awesome and was more than a gift.
