ATV, Zip lines, and getting scammed

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Woke up at 6:15 AM to make sure we arrived at our excursion meeting point at 7:45. Swim suit, walking shoes, cap, sunscreen, bug spray, breakfast eaten. All checked. Took a taxi to the meeting point and waited about 15 minutes.

While waiting for our tram to take us up the mountain to Canopy River, staff asks us if we want lunch up at the river and waterfall for $15/person. Seafood, guacamole, open bar. Sure! Why not sounds good and we have to eat! We pay for our lunch, receive our lunch voucher, the tram arrives and we hop on with four others who also paid for lunch. We rise through town picking up other passengers at various stops. This ride through town was an activity in itself!

We saw a 2K race!

Beautiful murals throughout. Always appreciate art.

Our excursion at the River Canopy included riding on an ATV, zip lining, and riding on a mule. The rainforest was hot, humid, and green. I didn’t see too many animals or hear too many birds. But maybe I was too engrossed in our activities. The ATV ride was quite bumpy and challenging.

I think it’s more fun being the driver. Staff suggested we switch to a jeep. I think they observed that Victor had to get adjusted to the steering on the ATV. The jeep was great and we both got to drive it.

We walked on a suspension bridge over the river. Surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling scared of the height.

Cool temps below at the river and waterfall.

No pictures of zip line and mule ride because we had to put our phones away

and I didn’t want to pay $50 for the pictures.

Zip line was super fun. We got to ride on 10 zips. Many of them were long. You are zipping across the rainforest. Super high up. It was my first time doing anything like this. To manage my nerves and fears, I kept looking at the staff who were preparing my pulley before I was released to go down the zip. I took in the scenes while on the zips. GREAT TIME!

We did hike from zip to zip. All with it and not too bad. Just walked carefully because I didn’t want to hurt myself.

We rode the miles back up to the top by now it was around 1:00. We were pretty hungry and I asked the zip staff about lunch and how to use our lunch coupons/vouchers. Staff seemed surprised and said they would check about this. (Mmm) A manager came to talk to us and explained that food was purchased at the restaurant and coupons/vouchers are not sold anywhere. He asked for details on what the man who sold us the lunch looked like who sold us the vouchers, if his shirt said “ River Canopy” etc

Well, long story short- we got scammed. The manager offered us beverages from the menu which cost about $12/each. Victor and I had virgin pina colada and I thought they were so delicious! . Must admit that I was bummed to have been scammed, but got over it quickly. Lesson learned. Be more careful.

Took the tram back to the resort area and by now we were pretty hungry in addition to being hot. Quickly ordered a burrito to share by the pool and I hopped in the pool right away. Felt so good to cool off.