Free falling

Hello all!

First, we are safe from any tsunamis that may or may not have hit Costa Rica. We went to a view point where we could see the Pacific Ocean and we didn´t see anything coming, so we figured we were safe. Very scientific of us, eh?

Yesterday we got up early and went ziplining through the cloud forest in Monteverde. Having never done it before, I was slightly terrified, wondering how I let Shaun bamboozle me into agreeing to being trussed up like a turkey and sent speeding down a thin wire tied between two trees. It´s just like when he bamboozled me into scootering around Roatan with him. In the end I did all the lines, didn´t get stuck halfway and only almost took out one guy once. I even did the superman line where you go ¨laying down¨ instead of sitting. The worst (maybe best?) was the tarzan swing. The entire trip Marianne (our group leader) had been talking up the tarzan swing. "Oh I love it, it´s the best" for two weeks. So we get to this swing, and literally all you can see is half a suspension bridge over a.... jungle canyon. The first person to go out? A 73 year old woman who was apparently not afraid to die. They sort of hook her to two ropes and then she jumps. And then nothing. She just jumped off a bridge. That´s when Marianne was like... yeah I hate this, see you at the bottom and took off. So here we are, one by one, jumping off the bridge, some with terrified screams and some to terrified to utter a peep (I fell into the second category, in case you were wondering.) Finally, it was just Shaun and I. I decided to go first, so that I wouldn´t back out. I took a deep breath and walked as confidently as I could to the end of the bridge. "Just don´t look down." I was about 40 meters in the air in a clearing. There was no padding, just... rocks. They had graciously cleared away some trees. They hooked me onto two ropes, put the ropes in my hand. At this point, I looked at one of the guys and told him I thought I was crazy. He agreed with me. Then he opened the gate. You´re just supposed to fall off of the bridge. I jumped. I free fell for what felt like an eternity, but was no longer than maybe a second or two before the ropes caught me and I was swinging like Tarzan. One of the members of group has a video of Shaun doing the jump after me. We´ll try to get a copy of it and post it somewhere. Shaun laughs when he´s terrified. When he got to the bottom he told me that he seriously considered backing out after he watched me jump off the bridge.

We also ate some cheese (Monteverde is famous for its beef and dairy products), visited a butterfly and frog emporium (there´s a picture on the flickr website...www.shaunmcgregor.ca) and drank some coffee. Some really good coffee.

Tomorrow we are going on a safari wildlife float down a river and to the hotsprings. These hotsprings put Canadian hotsprings to shame. There are waterslides.

Ciao!
Sirina

P.S. Shaun doesn´t want to write anything. He says he´s good.

Phew!

Hello!!!

We are currently in Granada, Nicarauga and have much to report. After leaving Copan we realized that Shaun had left the beautiful G11 Canon camera in the hotel. Thus we spent much of our free time on Roatan (gorgeous island in the middle of the Carribean) trying figure out how to get it back. Luckily we figured it out and soon the camera will be on its way via DHL back to Edmonton. That left us without a camera though. Luckily we managed to procure another decent camera, though not nearly as nice as the G11.

Roatan was beautiful. On our first full day on the island we went to the beach and despite many applications of SPF 45 sunblock both still got sunburned. Our plan was to snorkel on the second day, but given the severity of the burns we decided not to risk it and rented a scooter instead (like a vespa type motor bike). Turns out to be the best $35 dollars Shaun ever spent. I´m pretty sure we have to buy one when we get home. This was nice because we got to see the rest of the island and get away from the cruise shippers that had overrun our town. We also went for dinner at a Garifuna lady´s house. The best chicken we´ve ever eaten. Holy. She´d make a kiling if she offered cooking lessons the next day. I´d pay a small fortune to learn how to make that chicken. But we did learn how to make some delicious Guatemalan food while we were in Antigua, some of you may get to taste some.

After two long travel days (and one death defying cab ride in Tegucigalpa... video is forthcoming) we finally arrived in Granada. Today we went to a cigar factory where we each go to roll a cigar and we visited La Merced church. Tonight we´ll wander down to the lake and tomorrow is an adventure up the Masaya Volcano. Then we´re off to Ometepe. Which is being considered for inclusion on the list of the 7 great natural wonders of the world. Hopefully the scorpions don´t get us.

Sirina

I can´t beleive I left a camera in a hotel room...

-Shaun