Retired Nomads: June 10 – El Valle, Canopy Zipline & El Nispero Zoo

Scott had been sick all night with chills and more. So, we got a bit of a later start, but they decided to power through and if he continued to feel bad we would have a low key day. (we had a free day at the end of their trip if we needed to do El Valle then)

It was a bit rainy when we took off so the drive wasn’t as pretty as it could be. We stopped at an overlook before arriving in El Valle. We stopped at a grocery store for them to get snacks and some Gatorade that seemed to help Scott feel better. He decided he felt well enough to try ziplining.

Golden Frog overlook

views in the rain/fog

windy road to El Valle

Since it was raining just a little we hurried to get there before it started raining too hard. We didn’t zipline since we have done it there before, but the guides let us hike with them to get photos. We had to wait for the rain to subside a bit before hiking to the first platform (about 30 minutes and a bit steep). As long as it didn’t lightening we could still zipline. The rain was gentle, but just enough to be a bit annoying. (cooled it off though)

Sonya & I

mushrooms

our guide showed them a termite mound in tree

mushrooms

Sonya was nervous (ok, scared crap-less might describe it better), but she was determined to try it. Scott went first and she followed. We walked down to the next platform where they would take the next zip and by the second one she loved it. The third zipline was pretty much downhill and they stop you in the middle to let you view the waterfall before releasing you to finish the zip. Here we got a surprise. The guides said that the walk was long and if we wanted we could take a “shortcut”. He let us use his gear so we could do the long zipline past the waterfall. So, he took off his gear and got me geared up and I went first. The other guide took off his gear and gave it to Greg to go next. Scott and Sonya followed and when Sonya landed she exclaimed “best thing ever!” I guess she got over her nerves. The guides took our gear and pulleyed it back to the top so the guides could get down. That was very nice of them. Scott & Greg got some great Go Pro videos of it all. (still editing)

getting geared up

Sonya: Am I really doing this?

a kiss for luck

Scott coming in for a landing

Sonya taking off

me taking off

weeeeee

She exclaimed "best thing EVER"

El Macho Waterfall

bridge

We walked a few of the trails after they were finished with the last zipline and walked to the natural pool there.

hey, what's up there????

map of the ziplines

It was lunch time so we drove back to town and stopped at Carlito’s for pizza and Argentina-style empanadas. We visited the El Valle Market for some souvenir shopping and to see the local veggies.

View from Carlito's

Carlito's

Then, we went for a drive around town and back up the hill to the entrance to some hiking trails to show them the chicken farms and where we often go birding. After that we went to the Nispero Zoo (really more of a rescue center).