I've dreamed of visiting Costa Rica for several years now, and that dream was finally realized when I made it there on an costa rica adventure Life Journey. The trip from Missoula, Montana to San Jose, Costa Rica is a long one, so I decided to overnight in Miami on the way down. I found my Taca Airlines flight from Miami to San Jose to be quite comfortable, and could hardly contain myself when I realized the plane was actually landing in Costa Rica - I finally made it!
After making it through customs in justa couple of minutes, I quickly found my driver waiting to take me to Hotel Le Bergerac. The 40-minute transfer through San Jose traffic was a great chance for me to begin putting my out-of-practice Spanish skills back to work. I discovered that I'm a bit rusty, but still able to communicate on a basic level. The hotel was just as beautiful as I imagined it, and a tour courtesy of Federico allowed me to see several of the quaint hotel's unique and comfortable rooms.
The second day of the trip started bright and early when I was picked up for my two-day raft trip along the famous Pacuare River. The river would live up to all of my expectations…and more! I was blessed by being able to spend this time with a great group of friendly and fun people from several different places including California, Florida, El Salvador, and Cuba. My time on the Pacuare was wonderful, and I was amazed at the ability of the river guides to produce such great meals in the middle of the jungle. Many thanks to Rafael, Hector, Chino, Johnny, and all of my rafting friends for helping me have the time of my life during our river trip - I'll definitely be back!
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Do you remember the movie MEDICINE MAN, starring Sean Connery, and if you do, do you remember the scene where him and the other scientist (his romantic interest, of course) go flying through the treetops of rainforests hanging from harnesses tied to ropes, well, that is what canopying is all about.
This costa rica adventure sport is new both to Costa Rica and to the rest of the world, and if the fact of flying through treetops at 40 meters from the ground seems to you as both an incredibly frightening and exciting idea, just imagine what it must be like to do it among the tree tops (also called canopies, thus the name of the sport) of the tropical rain and cloud forests. The sport originated from rappelling, which is a sport derived from mountain climbing in that it also uses safety climbing harnesses and ropes to displace the person from one inaccessible point to another.
According to our research the technique was developed by scientists in the US to study the canopies of trees in forests there without disturbing the life in the limbs and trunk by having to attach ladders or climbing equipment to the tree. Apparently it was not until a few years ago that scientist were able to study the canopy ecosystems in great depth through the use of this technique, and once it was developed, the rainforest became the optimal target for its use due to its large and complex ecosystems. The technique has been successfully used in the Bilogical station La Selva in Costa Rica for this purpose.
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