We make ourselves comfortable in the harness that also serves as a seat on our high speed trip whizzing through the forest canopy. Between cables, we stand on small treetop platforms hundreds of meters above the forest floor, getting excited for the next zip line, maybe longer, faster or over a larger ravine. One of the American women in our group is afraid of heights, yet she is here with her family, determined to join in the fun. We yell words of encouragement to her from across the ravine and wait a while for her to get the courage before she comes screaming across to meet us. After the first cable, she's addicted, saying, "Let's do it again! Isn't there a faster one coming up?" And luckily there is. We spend about two hours in the treetops, hooked on Costa Rica's biggest craze, canopy tours.

It would be hard to go to Costa Rica these days and not do a canopy tour as there are numerous canopy parks, each offering bigger thrills, better views and more activities. The ladies at Solutions agency in Jaco recommended two tropical parks for us to try, and each one had special thrills in store. First stop was Turu Bari, a 500 acre park set in a transitional forest in the middle of nowhere. At this peaceful reserve with few crowds, the canopy tour was great, but it was the Sensational Cable that really blew our minds, as we zipped across a ravine for 1.2 kilometers in the superman position. A qualified naturalist then took us to learn about the foliage, how sugar cane juice and coffee is made, and to watch caterpillars become butterflies. We raced each other through the natural labriynth, pigged out on traditional foods at the buffet, and rode the aerial tram back over the ravine. Our next adventures were at Selvatura Park, high up in the cloudforest reserves in Monteverde. Huge crowds arrived with us, but amazingly, the canopy tour still went very efficiently with minimal waiting and very fast cables. The highlights there were the Tarzan Swing, which was an awesome thrill, the hummingbird garden, and the Bio-Art exhibition, with more insects than we ever imagined existed.

Luckily, we finished our canopy tour right before the daily downpours which were a big feature of our time in the Monteverde area. But despite the rain, we relished our time there, staying in amazingly cheap and comfortable rooms at Cabinas El Pueblo and Vista al Golfo, enjoying views all the way south to the gulf when the mist lifted, eating in great restaurants in the tiny town of Santa Elena, and rejuvenating ourselves mentally and physically with treatments at Complejo Atmosphera Natural Spa. Thankfully, the weather cleared as we drove out of Monteverde and up to Arenal Lake. We left our bags with the van and continued around the lake by horseback as part of our Desafio tour which also served as a transfer to our next destination. A nice American couple, Alan and Wendy, joined us on the beautiful ride, where we had perfect views of Arenal Volcano the whole way. After a ten minute boat ride across the lake and another quick van ride, we were already in La Fortuna, a quaint town near the base of the active volcano. The very next day, we were on another adventure with Desafio Adventure Company, paddling inflatable kayaks down the rapids on the Arenal River along with a Belgian couple, Yuri and Leen. The girls had double kayaks with our guides while the boys braved the rapids in single kayaks, overturning only once into the river's warm waters. Not only was it a unique sport and thrill, but we also spotted a monkey, lizard and tucan along the way. Back in town, we'd been staring at the imposing Arenal Volcano in awe for a few days, and it was time we had a closer look, so Noel at our backpacker style Hotel Dorothy booked us on a tour to check it out. Hiking in the forest at the volcano's base, we listened to the cries of howler monkeys and the expulsions of smoke from the crater above. At dark, the clouds cleared just in time to get a glimpse of orange lava trickling down, and the volcano wowed us with a rare fiery explosion (not eruption!). The tour finished with a soak at Baldi hot springs, a complex of shiny tiled thermal pools, where we drank cold beers and cocktails at the crowded swim-up bar, listening to an interesting mix of Latin and pop music. The beers hit home fast in those hot pools, so we were happy to retire early in our gorgeous volcano-view room at Arenal Volcano Inn. Of course, we weren't feeling ready to leave the country the next day, but we felt that we'd done a good job of soaking up the nature, adventure and spirit of Costa Rica's 'Pura Vida'.