On our last day together, Jerod, Becky, Kenny & myself all went zip lining at a venue called Witch's Rock. Getting there was half the battle though...

We agreed to let the Witch's Rock company send us a shuttle for a small fee. Unfortunately, because of the way Costa Rica's streets work, it was hard for us to give them directions. My neighbor Anthony had setup the appointment for us, and he speaks fluent Spanish. Even with his help they still got lost, and we were left waiting for almost an hour past our designated meeting time.

Once on location, we were setup with our harnesses, and briefly explained the rules. This setup was quite different than the lines my Mom & I did over at Arenal. Here, we were given thick gloves and told to grab the line and pull in order to slow ourselves down. This was also how we would keep ourselves facing the right direction.

At first I was told that I could not bring my big camera along for the ride, only point-and-shoots were allowed. I can only guess, but think this was a ploy to make us purchase their pictures rather than take our own. We just so happen to be friends with one of the owners, and after a quick name drop, they agreed to let me bring it. I'm glad it worked out, because we saw the pictures at the end of our tour and I was none too impressed.

The first couple of lines were tester lines designed to let us get used to the setup. We started by climbing up the hill to the first platform. This was a process that would be repeated several times during our tour. Witch's Rock has 23 platforms, 8,156 feet of zip line, and 4 hanging bridges. Each line is slightly different, and each platform varies widely. The hanging bridges are a whole other animal, which in truth really scared me.

After a couple of lines we all became a bit more relaxed. For me personally, my heart was racing and I was a bit shaky for nearly the entire time. However, there were a few moments that were almost too much for me.

The first overtly intense moment was climbing a latter that went straight up from one platform to another. It took everyone else a matter of seconds, yet I was left standing on the latter for what seemed like five minutes.

Mixed in with the scary situations where some really incredible experiences. The 14th line took us directly over a waterfall. At the top of the falls was a lagoon which in turn was being feed by a slowly snaking river.

The guides gave us one important piece of information for this line: pay attention to where you are. If you let yourself become too distracted by the falls, you could easily overshoot the finish and crash into the stoppers at the end.

By far, the scariest part of the tour for me was the hanging bridges. Again, while the rest of my friends walked effortlessly ahead, I was left suspended with fear for several unnecessary minutes. My feet simply would not cooperate, and my knees trembled in imaginary anticipation of a long and fast fall to earth.

This bridge in-particular felt extraordinarily unsafe to me. The lines holding it together were very loose, and in my opinion wobbled more than they should have. The floor would roll to such a degree that I could have easily slipped off the side and through the draw-lines.

Had I been ten years younger, nothing could have frightened me this way. At this point, my friends were starting to understand just how scared I was, and eased up on the teasing. I know I deserved a good hazing for my silly reaction to a statistically safe situation, but appreciated the unspoken support just the same.

Before we knew it, we had traversed all 23 zip lines expect one, and were now facing our last ride. We asked one of the tour guides to snap a quick shot, for posterity's sake. It was a beautiful, sometimes frightening, but extremely fun way to spend a day.

We were all so tired from the climbing, descending, more climbing, and all the adrenaline pumping through our veins for the past few hours. A quick trip through the gift shop, and we settled in for a relaxing shuttle bus back to our beloved Coco beach.