On Friday, we spent the morning zip lining! We went whizzing through the canopy, occasionally upside down, via a series of elaborate zig zagging cables. It was a lot of fun. Our group joined with an Irush couple. The woman was very afraid of heights and her husband had seemingly signed them up to do some exposure therapy, judging by the sheer volume of screeching and amount of profanities shouted. At the end, we did something called a monkey drop, in which we zip lined a small distance over a pool in a river, then dropped us with honestly varying degrees of control. The heaviest (muscular) guy in our group made a serious splash, whereas the fear of heights lady was plopped in ever-so-gently.
On the way to zip lining we happened to spot a whole troupe of the endangered squirrel monkey, so I was pretty jazzed about that. We also saw men hard at work harvesting palm fruit that would eventually be turned into palm oil. The process was pretty interesting. They attach a machete to the end of a ten foot pole (at least), and used that to saw off first the palm leaves then the fruit itself. Once enough of those had dropped, they would be gathered in a wagon that was pulled by buffalo to a large container. At the end of the day, a large truck would take the container. Our guide said they made good money for that job, at $300 a week, more than he makes for leading zip line tours.
That afternoon, a few of our group found a tiny secluded beach for swimming. We paid an older man for "parking," but I'm pretty sure it was a bribe for him to not steal our car or belongings... It worked! The beach was great, and we stayed swimming til our fingers were pruney. Plus, there was a troupe of howler monkeys right at the beach, and at one point, they started howling in a call-and-response manner with several other troupes within earshot. So cool.
After another awesome fish dinner, we spent the evening, our last as our complete group of 6, playing charades and taboo using phrases from the trip as clues we collectively wrote.
This morning, a few of us went back to Manuel Antonio park. As just 3, instead of a large group with a guide, we went down less trodden paths and saw lots of animals, 2 species of sloth and 2 species of monkey. Plus, I saw what I think was a coati, in the same tree as a capuchin monkey, both eating Palm fruit! I had no idea they would do that side by side, or that coati could climb trees, frankly.
Later in the day, our group had lunch and did some souvenir shopping, then said some of our farewells as we had different airport departures and some had to leave for the airport tonight. Priya and I are spending the night in Jaco, a beach town famous for its surfing, but more built up and less quaint. (That's a nice way of saying I like the waves but I'm glad we are only staying one night.) Priya and I went swimming in the ocean before doing some poolside reading. We will head to the airport in the morning, and leave Costa Rica! It's been great!
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