LWer ziplined in Puerto Vallarta, shares memories of the thrill
by Leila Claudio
LW Contributor
On the last leg of our Panama Canal cruise, in Puerto Vallarta, my buddy Magda Bellis and I had signed up for a ziplining tour. Ziplining is something that I thought was interesting, but not something that I would deliberately do.
Here I am, 70 years old, not too many years left to try something extraordinary. In spite of my fear of heights, I said, “Let’s do it!”
What the tour description didn’t mention was that there was more than ziplining involved. The name of the company was Extreme Adventure, which should have given us a hint of what was to come. We started on the zipline, gentle and smooth. “Not bad, I can do this,” I thought. Next came the roller coaster. It started out like the first one, but soon after, the line dropped about one story and did hair-raising turns with four more drops. I was so glad I didn’t eat lunch, otherwise I would have to throw up. The rappelling came next. You jumped off the edge of a cliff until you reached the platform below. The jump was the scary part, but it slowed down before reaching the platform. The lady before me got panicked and hysterical and decided not to go on this part of the tour. Once started, we couldn’t go back because our bus would be waiting for us at the other end.
At this point, the guide talked to us about the next three consecutive tasks: the first one was climbing a rock wall covered in plastic with holes for climbing. When you reached the top of the wall, they had rigged two ziplines: one for your arms, the other for your legs. We had to shimmy our feet to get to the other side.
We tried not to lose our balance as the workers there couldn’t help since people would be on a ravine. The third part had upright posts one and a half stories tall and about about 2 feet apart. You had to balance or skip posts to get to the end. Needless to say, Magda and I decided to skip this part.
To get to the next adventure, we had the option of ziplining there or walking. We chose the former. Now came “The Pendulum.” You jumped off the edge and the line swung you from one side to the other in big arcs about five times. We then hiked up the mountain to get to the next ride which was called “The Superman’.” All of a sudden, we heard this bloodcurdling scream and a crashing sound, then nothing. We were told the photographer was delayed but they wouldn’t tell us more. I found out when we got back on the ship that our youngest, most experienced adventurer had an accident. Apparently, the brakes on her zip line were defective. As the ride was ending, the brakes didn’t take hold and she kept going, hitting a photographer who was taking her picture. The young lady injured her spine. She wore a brace but at least nothing was broken. The photographer however, fractured her pelvis. I assume our photographer was late because he had to come from another site.
On to “The Superman,” which entailed lying prone while the workers pushed you off the platform. You had to keep your legs straight and arms close to your side, lest a branch hit you and cause an injury. That ride was fantastic! I rode through tree tops and greenery whizzed by so fast, I wished I could have slowed down to enjoy the view.
The last ride was a water slide with steep turns. I was supposed to follow behind another lady when her hip hit the wall on a fast turn. She yelled and I changed my mind.
That was the trip. As you can read, we weren’t that brave, but we had a hell of a ride!
