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Swinging through the trees at 100 percent Aventura

Swinging through the trees at 100 percent Aventura

Swinging through the trees at 100 percent Aventura

Destination: Monteverde

This is Pam from Seattle, WA. She'll turn 70 this October. This is Pam's video jumping off 100% Aventura's 130-foot Mega Tarzan swing. Underneath her, a crowd giddy from the rush of their own jump, cheers her on.

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Then it's your turn and you're trying not to think about anything, especially not the bridge gently swaying in the breeze. Thankfully, the guides are there to take pity on you by speedily, strapping you in and dropping your feet (sometimes with a helping hand) before you have the chance to second-guess this misadventure.

But then you're free, swinging through the air like Pam. Below you, a crowd people who used to be strangers bond over your shared experience of re-creating a scene from a Tarzan movie.

Guests of all ages are seeking adrenaline rushes high in the mountains of Monteverde where 100% percent Aventura has 8 zip lines, two superman cables, a monkey bridge and the Mega Tarzan swing.

Not unlike an assembly line, guides prepare guests with harnesses and instructions before sending them off on the zip lines. Guides await your landing at every platform ready to get you from one cable to another as fast as possible sending you soaring between the trees. It makes for a fast-paced adventure; though at times you might wish you could stop and take in the views.

Luckily, there's a brief reprieve after the first few cables to cross the monkey bridge. Walk like a drunken sailor while one of your friends reminds you that they never really grew up by jumping up and down while you try not to lose your footing – or your lunch.

Blink and you're at the end of the first eight cables hiking up a trail leading to the first of two Superman cables. Now here's where the tour really gets down to business. The Superman cables, as the name implies, are setup so that guests fly like an eagle out across a valley over the rainforest. Guests line up and wait while the guide straps in the next superhero; giggling with anticipation as he or she soars out of sight.

The first superman cable is really just a warm-up for the second: a 5,200 foot-cable stretching like the finger of God across the landscape. Okay, maybe that's overdoing it, but I had a lot of time to think while flying across that cable.

After the second superman cable, it's time to face that nagging fear of heights that you've done so well to choke down over the last ten cables.  You'll watch as guests braver than yourself (or maybe ahead of you in line) walk the proverbial plank on a suspension bridge that ends abruptly in the middle of the valley. In the distance you hear screams of joy/terror followed by the cheers of an amused audience. And then it’s your turn for the swing.

Swinging through the trees at 100 percent Aventura in Pictures

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