Rainforest Adventures

I got my wish! Feeling much better now. However, I was in so much pain that (1) I researched GI pain to verify that, yes, plain ol' gas and diarrhea can make you feel like you are going to die, and (2) I wondered what I was going to do if I needed to go to the hospital in the middle of the night when (a) I did not know where the hospital was, and (b) I did not know who to call to find out. Yep. Pain was that bad.

I did learn in all my researching that acetaminophen is the painkiller of choice for GI pain. However, the symptoms of acetaminophen toxicity are, beautifully, the same symptoms you would take it for. You can, though, take all the acetaminophen-combination drugs, too, like hydrocodone. Unfortunately, I (1) did not have any, and (2) was not going to put anything into my system unless I was guaranteed relief. I mean, what if it made it worse??

Anyway, I was well enough to go on our rainforest tour. We went to the Manuel Antonio National Park. It was, of course, beautiful, and our guide knew just where to look to show us the animals. He had a telescope, too, so we could see them "up close." The sloth was my favorite. Very cute.

The capuchins were cute until one of them snatched Olivine's carrots. Kat was sitting with her back to one of the monkeys, trying to shield them from seeing her open the packet of carrots. I turned to her just in time to see one of the monkeys dart forward, leap into Kat's lap, snatch the packet of carrots, and run back to his perch. Took maybe 2 seconds tops, certainly not enough time for me to get out a warning shout. Kat was a tad surprised and from then on, the capuchins were my enemies. No one takes carrots from Olivine! The damn monkeys didn't even like the carrots, either. They each tried one and then threw them on the ground. Stupid monkeys. The raccoons were aggressive about stealing bags, too, but they were easier to scare away. And really, raccoons?! I don't need raccoons in my rainforest. Got those at home. :-)

But the best news of all -- I got to go ziplining today!! It was awesome. I almost threw up after the first line simply because of all the adrenaline, but, as you know if you've read my previous post, I don't remember how to throw up, so I didn't. We took 12 ziplines total to get down the mountain, and it felt fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that I thought I'd have a lot to write about it, but I am finding I do not. It was fantastic. Just ... fantastic. Liam liked it so much he told me he's going to move to Costa Rica after he graduates and work at the zipline place.

A couple of our guides had some fun with us. One of them hollered, "Hold on!" and then twisted the platform. The platforms are hung from the trees by thick cables; they're not nailed down. So when he grabbed the cable and pushed with his feet, the whole platform twisted -  not a lot, but certainly enough to surprise us. The same guide gave me a friendly tap on the shoulder as I took off on the last line - just enough to set me spinning slowly around all the way down the line.

Tomorrow: a yacht out to Tortuga Island.