Ziplining & Coatis

Mon, 1/31/11 - Joel, Lizz and Neil went zip-lining in the morning at Selvatura Park. They hook you up in this harness contraption, attach you to a steel cable by a pulley wheel and off you go, zooming through the rain forest. It’s more fun than thrilling.

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There were thirteen cables in all and mostly you would land on a platform, disconnect from one cable and zip off on another. There were a few treks up steep forest paths in a couple of places but thankfully not too many. The total length is about 1.9 miles and the longest cable is about 0.4 miles long.


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That last long cable you go in pairs.



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Joel was paired up with Alex, a guide, and they got stuck about two thirds of the way across. Poor Alex had to drag Joel’s dead weight the rest of the way pulling hand over hand along the cable. Sometimes it is really nice to be the tourist.

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After the zip lining, Neil tried the "Tarzan Swing".
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Shawne: The coatis are really pleased with us and are coming around in greater numbers since we keep buying more and more bananas for them.The original male and an injured male are being kicked out by a family of about six females and younger ones – one quite a bit younger than the others. The littlest guy is pretty smart though – managed to carry off the mango seeds I put outside while the others ate the peels. The females gang up and chase the males away when they are around.

Rolf says the injured one probably got in a fight with another coati as they usually win in fights with dogs. The coati seem quite tame. They come right up to us, stand on their hind legs and gently put their long clawed paws on us without injury. I could only feel the padded paw not nails which look pretty fierce. Another animal we have seen quite a bit of is Rolf’s kitten, Bobtail. She is very friendly and loves to be cuddled. She is also a bit of a nuisance because she is always crying to get in the rooms.

Rolf has a nice cabin next door to us that we would like to use if we come back. It has a full kitchen, a bedroom, a Murphy bed in the living area and a single bed off the living area. It also has a large patio. If anyone wanted to come with us they could sleep in the living area or rent one of the duplex rooms.

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In the evening we had dinner at a "tree house" restaurant in Santa Elena. It was not really built in a tree but was built around one.