Al Norte

I'm back in Liberia, as a necessary stop on the way to Nicaragua. I left Jenny in Montezuma, waiting for a shuttle to the airport. It was great to see her--I can't believe it's been almost a year since I said goodbye to her in Coria. We spent a long time reliving our Spanish experiences, talking about some of the intolerable people we knew there, missing the food; we probably bored Emily to with it. The three of us went to Monteverde and Montezuma on the Nicoya Peninsula.

Monteverde was amazing. When I was trying to figure out what to do when Jenny came, she told me the only thing she really wanted to do was go on a zipline. We did a canopy tour which lasted about 3 hours and consisted of 14 ziplines and a Tarzan swing. I was pretty terrified before we began (heights not being a personal strength) because I had no idea what to expect. We had picked the tour at random the night before, bleary-eyed after 5 hours on the bus (as I am at the current moment--what's new?). We got in to these ridiculous harnesses and helmets-- yeah, that's right, safety is ridiculous-- and worked our way up slowly, starting on small lines. The longest one was 750 meters long, spanning an entire valley. The wind is so strong up there and the whole experience is surreal, gliding (swinging, flying?) so high above everything. The scariest thing was the Tarzan swing. I didn't know what it was before we started the tour, and Jenny knew what it was but didn't know it was going to be on the tour, or we may have chosen differently. It's just a huge swing, where you jump (drop, plummet) from a platform and free fall before swinging impossibly far (and, in my case, coming very close to a tree). I'm not quite sure how I managed to step off the platform but the swinging itself was so much fun and I'm certain I had a -eating grin on my face. It sounded painful while others were doing it (screams, not of but of pain) but I think it was just the guys that had problems there (hah!).

That afternoon we went to the Monteverde National Preserve. We did a whirlwind tour of the area and unfortunately didn't see very much wildlife because we didn't go in the morning (no quetzals, alas) but the trees there are incredible. They're so tall and everything is so green. The weather was beautiful--ironic, that I finally have good weather in a cloud forest.

Next day we went to Montezuma on the Nicoya Peninsula, spectacular beach. Best one I've seen yet.

Tomorrow to Nicaragua!