Screaming Across The Canyon

Morning sun in Bakersfield amid the orange trees.  I could have picked six bags of fruit, but I didn't want to be a piggy.  Really, you are allowed one grocery bag full.  That alone is almost worth the $50 a night charge.  It's full hookup, quiet (except for that generator in the orange grove next door to keep the oranges from freezing) with plenty of room.  For those afraid of covid, you never even come into contact with a single human.

 Heading back to Costa Rica, this is not your hotshot high end luxury hotel with room service.  If you want food, you go to the buffet every night.  Most nights it was the same food, usually some kind of pork or chicken, black beans, rice and plantains.  We did on rare occasion go to a restaurant, but honestly, there were basically none where we were.  This was not the French Riviera, it was better in my book.

The country and the views made up for everything.  Costa Rica is very proud of their wind machines that produce electricity for the entire country.  It's rather cheap compared to costs in the U.S. and the government gives everyone a cell phone ... as in free, it costs them nothing.  Not bad for an third world country.

 Yes this is the road ... the highway we traveled down in that big bus.  You could really hear the screams when we crossed over this.  I would say at least 50% of the roads we traveled looked like this.  I mean really, this is a jeep trail. 

 
These were the roads you had to travel to get to see this.  I'm sorry that most all of these pictures were bus window snaps.  They did not stop for photo ops.  See all those clouds?  That means LOTS of rain.

The scenery made up for the bad roads.  We are truly in the middle of nowhere.
 

See that tiny little fence down in the very bottom corner?   That designates the edge.  This was another scream worthy road that dropped off into the bottom of a huge canyon.  At this point, being a big rig driver, I can't even imagine they are taking us here.

 At long last we landed in a small town with a restaurant.  Again with the rice and beans which was at least recognizable.  Next up ... let's go zip lining!!

Surprisingly, this big group of really old folks donned climbing gear and helmets.  We climbed the side of a mountain, stepped up on a platform and were hooked in.  We all were given yucky worn-a-million-times-by-someone gloves which we had to use to control our speed.  This is not your fancy dancy zip line adventure.

 We stepped off the platform one at a time and slid down the cables, using one gloved hand behind us on the cable, pressing down as hard as we could in order to slow down.  If you slammed into the guy on the next platform, you just might kill him or yourself when you hit the tree trunk. 

 Time and again we went from cable to cable, gliding through the forest tree tops.  What a great adventure THAT was!!  At the end was a 60 foot tower.  No one seemed to want to climb up, so I went first.  At the very top we just stepped off into mid air, Tarzan style, to swing back and forth before landing on the ground below.  Woohoo!!  That was a RUSH!!

 Somewhere along the way we toured a mountain trail through the jungle that led us across this swinging bridge.  You can see we are at the very top of the trees, looking for gibbons and critters in the canopy.  This is a weird picture because the sky was almost completely white.  I'm guessing we were over 100 feet up.

This beauty, a coatimundi, was scavenging for food.  The wildlife in the jungle is just amazing to see.
 

Next up .. we are off to see the volcano.  Had I known we were really that close to an active mountain of lava, I might have drug my feet a little.  The adventures just never stopped on this trip.

Today I'll land in Tucson ... YAY!!! ... after a long 5 hour drive.  Not to make anyone jealous, but the temperatures are in the 70's.

I did step outside to see the Christmas Star last night, but I am down in a low valley.  It was barely visible on the horizon and no brighter than the six airplanes I counted crossing the sky.  As Patty said, maybe next time!!!