The Best Birthday Present

For my birthday Papi gave me a coupon to go on a zip-line tour together!!!!! We didn’t do the tour on my birthday, because we wanted to go as a family, but we didn’t have enough time until my mom and I were back from Seattle. So when our friends from the states came, we decided to do it with S on his last day because he wanted to go as well.

We walked to Calle Calzada to hire a guide. After everything was settled, we jumped in a van and drove to the bottom of Mombacho Volcano to do a canopy tour!!!! Mommy just wanted to come and watch, because she is foolishly afraid of heights. The guide said that Mom could do the first wire, and then see if she wants to do the rest. I didn’t realize that my mom didn’t realize that he meant the tester cable, four feet off the ground, not the first one high up. Mombacho Canopy Tour has 11 cables and 17 platforms. It is 2 km long and takes about an hour and a half.

After getting into our harnesses, helmets, and gloves, we took another van to where we would start the tour. Mommy and I did the practice rope, then our group climbed up the first platform. We got harnessed in and took off over the trees! It was a little scary at first because you didn’t want to spin around, you had to brake at the end, and going down the line was fast! Our group stood on the next platform, and Mommy thought this was where she could choose to go down or not. She wanted down. But there was no way to go back! She really freaked out and had a nervous breakdown because everyone was on the platform and it shook some. She calmed down, and there were monkeys! Once I had left :( they started coming towards the platform. S was wondering what the barking noise was. We said that it was the howler monkeys we had just seen. He replied that he thought it had been a dog or something.

On the next line Mommy traveled with one of the tour guides again. The platform after that had an extension type bridge connecting it to another platform and cable. The bridge was a bit shaky, but it was FUN!!! The following wire was slow, so I tried letting go with my hands! AWESOMENESS!!!

The boys were crazy. There was one cable where daredevil S flew horizontally, like Superman. On another, Papi and S rode upside-down!!! When we got to the other end, we waited for Mommy, the last person to go. I couldn’t believe my eyes-Mom was getting ready to do an upside-down one too!! While we watched, she lowered herself down. “Aww!! Why didn’t she?” When she was on our platform, she said she was all ready, but then the guide told her to lean back more and she freaked. Again.

I wish I had gone upside-down, but it was too scary to do on my first zip-line adventure.

Sadly, the last line came too soon. The guides shook the wire on the way down, making us bounce. We got off and walked on the trail back while sucking the sweetness out of ripe coffee beans. I told my Papi that this was the BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to do that again!

By Sophia