October 13th: Puerto Vallarta Zip Lining

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta in the morning. I had made arrangements for a Zip Lining shore excursion in the mountainous rain forest. The trip on the way by "bus" was interesting. The bus was more like a pickup truck with a passenger trailer attached. The ride into town was interesting. The driver said, "Enjoy the Mexican massage on the way up". I thought he was kidding. We soon learned the streets were cobblestone and there were no springs in the passenger trailer. After heading through a very old city with very narrow streets we started climbing up into the rain forest. A lot of switchbacks and narrow roads. The people we passed were very friendly and most waved.

The zip line location has a beautiful view. Well worth the ride up. As it turned out I was the only participant for this time. Dario and Esteban were my guides and they did a wonderful job. They had a good sense of humor and a lot of knowledge about the rain forest. There were 11 zip lines and they all were beautiful rides across deep ravines and rivers.



This is Esteban and me after I was "Suited up". He explained the ride and safety features and then we were off. Dario was a real character. If you look closely you can see Dario riding upside down with his feet in the air. Esteban told me, "He is mucho loco, don't even think about trying that."  I told him he need not worry, no way I was trying that!

I was amazed at how long the rides were, very fun with plenty of time to look around and down.















The rain forest was beautiful. We passed a termite nest that was 4 feet tall. The trees were amazing. It was difficult to get far enough away to get a good picture of some of the very tall trees. Esteban told me this particular tree is the oldest and tallest in the zip line acreage. I couldn't get a picture of the top of the tree because of all the other growth but you can get the idea.









We made it to the bottom and I wondered how long it would take us to climb back up to the top. Unknown to me, there were mules waiting at the bottom to take us back to the top. What a wonderful surprise! I climbed up on "Lucky", who was very friendly and sure footed and away we went.






When we got to the top there was another gorgeous view. Then it was another bumpy ride back to the ship.