As extreme as I get

I am not into "extreme" anything, and certainly not sports. My style is more moderate hikes and long walks. But, we just could not resist a Zip Line through the rain forest canopy.

I did not know much about zip lining, other than it is a fast ride on a cable. So, let me describe it. To begin with, you need to have an elaborate harness. This consists of a wide belt around your waist. Attached are two more harnesses, one for each thigh. The three are joined by a large steel buckle. The staff begins by putting you in the harness. They then fit you with a helmet and hook a large pulley, which has handles on each side, to the side of your harness, and hand you a ratty pair of work gloves. Ours were those blue and grey kind that you see in the hardware store.

After our group (there were 8 of us) were all fitted out, we road a tram about a mile up the mountain. At the first platform we were at an elevation of about 3500' . It was a nice, slow ride up through the canopy. We then got off on the platform where the guides gave us a brief instruction on how to ride the zip line. Here is how it works. You step up on a riser and the guide takes the pulley off your belt and hooks it onto the cable. He then hooks it to the large buckle on your harness and tells you to 'sit down' and to hold onto the handles on your pulley. At this point you are basically on your back, hooked to the cable and supported by the harness. Yup, you are hanging in the air by harnesses around your waist and thighs holding onto the pulley. They tell you to cross your ankles and tuck your legs up, so you are in a fetal position. Then you are given a push and off you go! Whee! As you get near the next platform, one of the guides shakes the cable, letting you know to brake. You brake by stretching out your legs and gently moving the pulling back and forth. They have a rope attached to the cable that 'catches' you, and then the guide pulls you onto the platform. You do a very short 'practice' run, but then they put you on the first cable so quickly you don't have time to think about chickening out. After that you have one chance to quit. No one in our group did.

There are 8 lines. The shortest is 120 ft and the longest over 2300 ft. I don't actually know how fast you go, but I have read that it is up to 50mph. It is advertised that you can see birds and animals, but you can't really. You are moving so fast that you can't observes much of anything except the tree tops. On the next to the last line, it goes pretty low, so that you are going through a cut in the trees, almost like being in a tree tunnel.

I have never done anything that made my heart race so much. It was a great experience. I'm not sure I would do another zip line, but I might.

Lions and tigers and bears

I will have to settle for birds, butterflies and monkeys.

La Fortuna is one of the areas of Costa Rica with rain forests, so there is a great variety of flora and fauna.

On our first full day here we went to one of the (several) butterfly conservatories in the area. It was great fun to hike the trails through the forest. Our particular favorite was the Howler Trail, where we were very fortunate to see lots of Howler monkeys in the trees. I was quite pleased with the pictures I was able to get. And they do indeed, howl.

This particular butterfly farm has four butterfly houses and a full room where they capture and care for the chrysalis. The butterflies pictured here all have small numbers on their wings. A young American student has numbered each one and is studying their habits and life cycles. She was patiently watching them when were talked with her. I also saw the most beautiful bright blue butterfly. It was quite large, but so fast that I was not able to get a decent picture.

The bird was photographed at our hotel. It is undoubtably the largest hummingbird I have ever seen. Not the best photo, but it does show the size of this bird.

Again, we have seen a large variety of birds, but I have been able to photograph few of them.

We also spent some time wandering around La Fortuna. In recent years it has changed from a small town supporting the local farmers to a tourist town. All the shops support the tourist needs. Costa Rica attracts two main types of tourists: those interested in extreme sports and those interested in beach resorts. This area is for the sports, with hiking, whitewater rafting, zip lines, and the such. More on that in my next post.

La Fortuna

La Fortuna is about 75 miles northwest of San Jose. It is in the shadow of Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica.

Seventy-five miles is an easy 60-90 minute drive.

But wait, we are not in the US now. The roads in Costa Rica are, quite frankly, horrible. The drive took us nearly four hours. The maximum speed limit in the country is 80 kph, or about 50 mph. You soon understand why. But, the countryside is beautiful, full of blooming tropical plants and brightly painted houses.

Our hotel was a short distance outside of the the town of La Fortuna. It has beautiful grounds and each room is a small cabana. I wish I could say they were wonderful, but I can't. Here are a variety of the plants that surrounded us. I recognized a variety of lilies and yucca. Many things I don't recognize. Our first full day in La Fortuna we saw the bright blue sky. The only day of sun for the last week.

We have had a good view of Arenal volcano, except for the top which has been covered in clouds. It was the volcano that we came to see. Unfortunately for us, it has gone somewhat dormant in the last few months. Since its big eruption 45 years ago, it has constantly spewed and oozed, posing no harm to the surrounding area. Apparently at night you could see sparks shooting out of the top. We wanted to see that, but no go. It has stopped the fireworks. What a disappointment. But there is still a fair amount to see and do.

Costa Rica

It's been a challenging day. Our flight was late leaving Panama. We then had a very loud and obnoxious man sitting behind us. Up and down the whole flight. Must have been some one important since the flight attendant would do nothing.

The road to La Fortuna is narrow, winding and full of potholes. My stomach was roiling. But, the country is beautiful. We are disappointed to find that the volcano has calmed down, so we probably will not see any red lava this trip.

Hotel isn't as nice as promised. Ah well, hopefully tomorrow will be sun and a fun trip into the canopy. I should have pictures too.

Casco Viejo

This is the Old Quarter. It's original name is San Felipe. It is often compared to Havana or Cartegena. It is on a peninsula in the southwest part of modern day Panama City. Most of this part of the city was built in the earliest days of European occupation of Panama, in the late 18th and early to mid 19th centuries. It was all but abandoned in the early 20th century as the wealthy residents moved to newer parts of the city. In 1997 UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site, which has helped encourage restoration of buildings. The Presidential Palace and the mayor's office are both here. But the restoration is slow, and gutted buildings stand next to restored gems.

The photo of the pink house above is a great example. It is lovely, but just across the street you see the ruins of the the building where Manuel Noriega's troops fought American forces in 1989. The building was all but destroyed. It is now for sale, and is a lovely old building with a beautiful view of downtown Panama City. The view of the city was taken from up on Casco Viejo. You can also sit along the water front and watch the ships waiting for passage through the canal.

Unfortunately the beaches surrounding Casco Viejo are trashy and rocky, but the views are spectacular. We did see some children playing on the beach, and we thought the piece of an old building was fascinating.

Many of the buildings have just the facade remaining. The have steel beams inside holding up the walls, and tin shed roofs to keep some of the water out. Panama receives an average of 16 feet of rain a year, so I imagine preventing water damage to your house can be difficult. (Raleigh gets an average of about 4 feet of water a year).

More about the canal

Our first two nights in Panama we stayed across from the Miraflores Locks. The picture of the tall building in the distance is our hotel as seen from the canal. We ate dinner at the Miraflores visitor center restaurant, which is the building with the balconies. You can sit at your table and look down at the ships going the the locks. The food wasn't great, but the entrainment was. So here are photos from both sides.

After two days we moved to a hotel in the center of Panama City. We can walk around a bit, but Casco Viejo, the old city, isn't really walking distance. Casco Viejo is the biggest tourist attraction after the canal itself. We can get a cab to most anywhere. The prices can vary and they will charge you double the going rate if your hotel calls the cab. Most of the time we can negotiate the rate.

We are not finding Panama City a particularly easy place to navigate. The places we want to see are spread out. Sidewalks are bad and often torn apart, resulting in mud everywhere (it has rained every day). There is a bus system, but it isn't designed for easy use by non residents. There are also lots of very seedy areas, which tourists are encouraged to avoid. It is also not a very clean city. There are many, many buildings either half finished or abandoned, and lots of trash everywhere.

More about what we have seen in Panama City in the next post.

Panama Canal

A full transit through the Panama Canal is something of a rarity for passengers. A partial transit is much more common, but the full transit takes place one Saturday each month. I was delighted to find that our trip with the canal trip, so I booked early.

There are three sets of locks through the canal. A full transit takes about 8 hours. Ships are charged based on the size of the ship, and the transit can cost up to $400,000, one way! Our boat was charged $3500.00. The canal is a much safer transit than sailing around Cape Horn, and saves an average of 22 days of travel!

Transit is 'first come first serve'. Ships dock either in Panama City on the Pacific side, or in Colon on the Atlantic side and wait until they are called for transit. The wait can be several hours, or several days. A ship can reserve a passages for a specific day, but they must pay in advance, and the fee is non-refundable. Cruise companies do this, of course, and any ship that has a tight time table.

A canal pilot boards each ship to pilot it through the canal. Depending on the length of the ship, one or two can go through at a time. We went through every lock with another ship.

Day transits are all one-way. The morning ships go from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and in the afternoon they go from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The large ship when went through the fist two sets of locks had to stop in Gatun Lake and wait, because it was too large and slow to make the full transit in the morning. The largest ships only go through the canal during the day. At night they allow smaller ships, and have two way transits. Each set of locks has two lanes.

Many modern ships, particularly oil tankers and some US military ships are two wide to fit through the canal. To accommodate them, a third, wider lane is currently being dug.

To go through the locks, a ships is guided into the canal. The locks (gates) behind it are shut, and then the ship is raised (or lowered at the Atlantic side). Once the water is at the right level, the locks in front are opened, and the ship goes into the next part of the canal and the process is repeated. The Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks have two sections and the Gatun locks have three.

So, today I sailed from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in 8 hours! Oh, and you can probably tell, it rains the entire day.