The Time I Broke My Zip Lining Guide's Hand in Costa Rica

He placed his hands out in front of him as the sign to slow down... I pulled hard on the line, but something was wrong; I wasn't slowing down! He puts his hand on the line to stop me but there's nothing I can do to slow down. Everything happens in slow motion after that. He shouts for me to slow down, I close my eyes and crash into his hand; very, very hard. Upon coming out of my panic attack, I hear cursing and see the guide grasping his hand in pain.

The past few days in Costa Rica had been filled with adventure and thrill and the day in Monteverde started just as exciting. My group and I were going zip lining through the Cloud Forest. I had gone zip lining before in Mahogany Bay, Honduras and believed it would be similar. Boy was I wrong. You see, the zip line in Mahogany Bay was a joke compared to this. It's like seeing a baby bear cub in the forest and thinking how cute and adorable it is, only later to run into it's much larger and scarier mother, not knowing what to do or how you got into this mess. This zip line was on a much larger scale than the previous one I had done. Much larger scale is quite the understatement.



The start was simple, with a small line to get used to the feeling. I should tell you now, I'm terrified of heights and I try activities to overcome that fear. This was one of those activities. The farther along we got in the lines, the harder it was for me to continue. The small hikes in between lines was not the reason for my racing heart and cold sweat. My fear was overtaking my ability to enjoy this amazing activity and it only increased when I nearly broke one of the guide's hand. The lines got longer and longer the further we went along and this particular line was long and out in the open. The guide locking me in told me to begin slowing down when I saw the guide on the other side hold up his hands. As I began gliding across the line, I felt a release of fear. I was doing it! I looked around me and saw the openness and the ground below me. I LOVED doing this, I thought, I can make it through all by myself! I looked towards the other guide, waiting for my cue to slow down, as I felt I was hurtling toward him way to quickly. I even began slowing down before he gave me the signal. Finally, he did but I couldn't slow down quick enough, even though I had placed all of my weight in the one hand to slow me down, and crashed into the guide's hand (which was on the line anyways, so can it really be my fault?), which led to me crashing into the tree because, obviously, he removed his hand when I hit it. In my defense, WHY would the guides be stopping us with their hands that are only wrapped in a small leather piece, especially when they have big wooden blocks on the line for that?? Needless to say, the guide started using the big wooden block after I got off and continued to hold his hand at an awkward angle. I'm not sure if I broke it or not seeing as how he continued working and managed to get me off of the line. I know if I didn't brake it, it was probably seriously bruised and sprained (sorry dude, I screamed at you as I was racing towards you).

[caption id="attachment_4708" align="alignnone" width="669"] The line of doom. Me being to terrified to look at the camera. [/caption]

After that, I could barely get through the next line. I was shaking, seeing black spots and my heart refused to stop trying to find its way out of my chest. The last line was my breaking point. We walked about a fourth of a mile to get to the last line and once we got there, I looked up and immediately went back to my panic attack. Not only was this the longest, most open line we had to cross, we had to climb up about three stories of rickety old metal stairs on a mountain side. I couldn't control my breathing and tears began to drop from my eyes but I kept telling myself I could do this. I would do this. I'm standing on the stairs with my friends and try to get my mind off of what is about to happen. It's not working. Every step up I take is another screaming voice in my head yelling at me to turn around and bolt. It's finally my turn and the guide grabs my harness but I stop him before he latches me in and tell him I can not go on with a look of utter terror. He looks as me in amusement and tells me to stand in the corner of the platform until everyone is done, then he will take me across.

I felt like a failure but at least I didn't embarrass myself by passing out from fear. I breathe a sign of relief and immediately my heart stops racing, my hands stop sweating and I can enjoy the view from the rickety platform. At last, it's just me and the guide. He takes my gloves off, tells me to relax and hooks me onto the line with him. I am extremely happy that I waited for him because I was able to take a video of crossing over. The view is amazing and being able to enjoy it instead of being terrified made the experience much more enjoyable. We made it to the end and I felt very accomplished although I couldn't do the last line by myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-B2gzXCeo8&feature=youtu.be

This next part isn't going to make any sense considering my extreme fear of heights and my experience with the zip line, but we had the option of doing a Tarzan Swing, which is just being attached to a rope by a harness and jumping off of a platform and swinging. I chose to do it, of course, and just felt extremely excited, even after we found out one of the ropes broke during a previous swing from my group (it wasn't a major rope, but still), no fear; probably because I didn't have to worry about running into anyone or holding onto a line. It was exhilarating and I was so proud of myself for doing it!

I was done accomplishing my fear for the week and the rest of my trip went without a hitch!