Making our way home...

Well, like any trip, it must come to an end. Sadly, we leave Central America behind.We caught the last bus out of Jaco to head back to San Jose the evening of December 8. We got to the airport around 10:30 pm. Our plane didn't leave until the next morning, but it was Kyle's bright idea to spend the night in the airport rather than attempt to wake up early at a hostel and make it to the airport on-time for our flight. So we did just that...and what a restless sleep it was...I know I was up every hour until 4:00 in the morning of December 9.

Here is a picture of me next to a Christmas tree in the San Jose airport. I slept on the bench below the tree while Kyle spread out his surf board bag on the floor and sleep on that.
The next morning we ran into Tim (one of the Aussie brothers) and a girl we met at the Laguna, both of which were on our flight to Houston. Here we are, making our way back home...to Houston, Denver, Calgary, and Saskatoon.

One last journal entry...

I think this is of the Denver airport...almost home.

When we got to the Saskatoon airport, both our parents were waiting for us. They had a good laugh about wearing flip-flops in the middle of December in Saskatoon!

And here we are a couple days later, good to be home...until the next trip.

Jaco Sunsets - they do exist!

At the beginning of our trip, it was raining alot and we didn't get many chances to enjoy the sunset. But on our way back through Costa Rica, we saw many amazing sunsets! They were worth waiting for! They were all colors from oranges to pink to purples. Here are some shots, all taken in Jaco.

Zip Line Canopy Tour

Well, we've waited all trip, and now we're finally going to do it! We're doing a zip line canopy tour with a company in Jaco. We're super excited. We convinced Lara and Gareth to join us as well. We were originally planning on doing this when we went to La Fortuna/Arenal or Monteverde but due to our travels changes, we'll do it here instead. These tours originated in Costa Rica so we're pretty stoked for the experience!

Here's a a view of Jaco from the tour. Here is Kyle and I getting strapped into our harnesses. This tour was my idea from the beginning, the one thing I wanted to do while we were in Central America, but I was still alittle nervous.

The tour company shuttled us up to the pathway leading up to the first platform. There are 12 platforms on this tour, with cables to and from each one. From the drop-off point, we hiked to the first platform...
...and listened to the saftey lesson.

Let's do this thing! Gareth and Lara went first.

Still a little nervous, but no one has screamed yet so it can't be that bad. I'm just worried about the height. Kyle thinks it's funny that I'm a little scared of heights since I can fly a plane with no worries! But hey, alot of pilots are scared of heights!

I went first before Kyle.

And off I go...

And here comes Kyle!This is Kyle pretending to be scared. It was a fun experience, but not quick the adrelaline rush I was expecting. Seriously! It was a little slow for my liking! But the last two cables...faster ones...were super fun! The height didn't actually bother me either...it was fun zipping over the gullies and seeing the forest whiz by...there were however a couple trees that seem really close! (But they keep the lines and area maintained...but you sure try not to swing side to side when a tree is coming up!)

This is us on the second platform.
And Lara and Gareth.

Here is a full cable line with Kyle coming in. I'm standing on the next platform, and you can see the previous on at the far end of the cable!

Here's me coming in with another view of the entire length of cable. I guess the zip line in Monteverde has the longest cable in Costa Rica...kinda too bad we did miss out on going there! But I think if we do this again...I prefer tighter, faster cables rather than just longer.

It was super fun and really safe. You use your back hand as a brake. The guide who send you off tells you what type of braking pressure to use on the line. And the guide on the next platform lets you know if you're coming in too fast or too slow. I think Kyle stopped short on time, because he was alittle slow, and had to haul his butt to the platform...it's just not something you want to do everytime!

The tour guides hook you up and unhook you at every platform...so no worries for you!

Here's Kyle getting unhooked by one of the guides...what a fun job..well I mean doing the zipline all day.Lara and I all suited up and waiting...
After the last cable back into the office, we saw a toucan in the tree! How neat! Kyle and I saw one in San Juan but it was a pet kept in a cage...so not quite as exciting see one in the wild!

We're all done. We had a blast! But like I said the last two lines were the best because they were so fast!

Would we go again? Forsure, but to a different line. Can't see why you'd want to do the same one over and over again...it would lose it's thrill. But if we had the chance to do one again, we would!