eXtremo

Zip lines seem to be the can't-miss activity in Monteverde, Costa Rica and there was no shortage of options when I pulled into town on the bus this morning. One zip line in particular leaves such an impact on it's riders that many people, myself included, hear of it's reputation long before coming to Monteverde. I didn't consider any of the other zip line providers for even a second. My first priority this morning was to book a ride on... the “eXtremo”.

I first heard of the eXtremo from the four Swedish girls I met in Guatemala. I was intrigued by the talk of a zip line that not only runs through the rainforest like the others, but is also built for speeds that will leave a rider's legs shaking for hours afterwards. One of the girls spoke of looking at the landscape below, in an opening in the forest, and seeing cows that were barely recognizable because they were so far down. Another girl told of being absolutely terrified and taking the rest of the day to recover from the experience. My mind had been made up and I placed one solid item on my agenda for Costa Rica. With a classy name like “eXtremo”, I knew this zip line wouldn't let me down.

Now for some cold hard facts. The eXtremo was built by a local Costa Rican landowner in response to the plethora of pansy zip lines operating in the area. The series of fourteen lines crosses several times over a wide canyon and winds through the rainforest on each of it's ends. The forest is impressive and the canyon dotted with grazing cows, albeit barely recognizable ones, could pass for a snapshot from Switzerland. The scenery in itself is spectacular enough to draw visitors, but of course the real draw is the anticipation of wild thrills while soaring through the air and dangling from only a thin cable. The zip lines of eXtremo reach up to a half-mile in length each and tower 450 feet from the base of the canyon.After suiting up in a harness, helmet, and pair of leather-padded gloves, I was off to the eXtremo with nine other riders. An employee briefed us on how to brake and how to stay in control while on the zip lines and within two minutes my body was barreling down the first cable. One by one an employee clipped each of the riders onto a cable, put a second clip on for safety, and gave them a hard shove that began their rapid acceleration downwards towards the next platform. As I waited for my turn I listened to the clip riding against the cable. The sound conducted all the way back to the platform and made the cable scream like a banshee, the pitch rising higher and higher as the rider flew further down the line.

When it was my turn I crossed my legs, leaned back, and waited for a good hard shove. Screaming through the air was one of those surreal experiences - one of those moments when I asked myself if this actually was for real. As I descended from the platform I clung to my harness with one hand and with the other I looped my thumb and fore-finger around the cable in back of me to keep from spinning out of control. I looked down to see that the cows were barely there just before soaring through the rainforest at the other side of the canyon. I jammed my right, glove-covered hand against the cable and came to a sudden halt just as my body rested above the next platform.

The fourteen zip-lines would have been well worth the forty dollars I paid for the experience, but leave it to the good people at eXtremo to throw in a few extras. About half-way through the series of zip lines each rider took a turn rapelling ninety feet straight down through a narrow opening in the forest. When it was my turn I clipped in and dropped about seventy of the ninety feet in pure free fall before an employee quickly stopped me, beleeing from below. The second extra was called the “Tarzan's Swing”. I clipped into a rope and stood backwards with my feet at the edge of a high metal platform. One of the eXtremo men held me by the harness and tilted me away from the platform before dropping me into a free fall.I fell backwards about fifty feet before Tarzan's Swing caught me by the harness, gave me a good jolt, and sent me flying hundreds of feet into the rainforest. After a few good swings back and forth two eXtremo guys caught me and I was off to the next zip line.

At the last zip line, as each of the riders went on his way, clouds started to gather in the distance. The eXtremo guy started clipping couples together in tandem and sending them down two at time so that we would beat the coming rain storm. As the last rider I rode together with the employee and pulled into the last platform just as heavy drops of rain began to fall from above.

The eXtremo was a fine introduction to Monteverde, Costa Rica. I enjoyed Guatemala because it felt like authentic Central America, but Costa Rica is fun because it is so tourist-friendly and because there are so many wild ways to experience the country. With my fix for thrills satisfied for the time being, I can spend the next two days exploring the nearby cloud forests, hiking through wet, canopy-covered trails and searching for exotic rainforest wildlife.