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Faster, higher, scarier: In a country where canopy tours and bungee jumps are practically old hat, companies are constantly vying to up the activities' thrill factor. TuruBaRi Tropical Park is no exception and has started Sensational Cable a zipline stretching across a 300-foot gulf that whizzes the rider 60 mph over forest and river.
Sensational Cable compounds the traditional seated zipline experience by positioning the rider belly-down simulating flight, Superman style. TuruBaRi, located halfway between San José and the Pacific coast, installed the 3,500-foot long cable just over a month ago at a cost of more than $20,000. “It's unique. It's a way of literally flying,” said TuruBaRi spokesman Rodrigo Saborío. “You can't feel your weight, and you feel totally free. We've seen something like it in France, but there's nothing like it in Latin America.”
“We spent a lot of time doing research to get it working, to calculate everything,” Saborio added. “It took two or three months of testing.” Claribel Chaves, a 23-year-old worker at the park from Turrubares, was the first person to ride the cable. She's done it more than 10 times since. “It was very fun,” she said. She admitted that she was hesitant at first, but the management was able to convince her to be the guinea pig.
This reporter may not have been the first Saborío estimates that more than 100 visitors have ridden the cable since its opening but apprehension still took over when it was my turn to fly like Superman. The adventure began with an easy climb up a few flights to the Sensational Cable tower, my heart beating harder with every step (and not from the exercise), my grip on the metal railing tightening.
The attendants plopped a helmet on my head and strapped me into a body-length vest. I lay on my stomach on a cushioned table, trying to breathe evenly and enjoy the view east over the park, to the opposite tower below. The attendants hooked the back of my vest onto the cable and then lowered the table, so that I swung gently like a rescued dolphin on a Discovery Channel special, I imagined.
My friend Jen Rowell giggled and took photos, but I was too excited to be embarrassed.
The attendant counted down from three into a walkie talkie, letting the operators on the other side of the chasm know I would soon be racing towards them at the same speed cars drive on many U.S. highways. Three, two, one, and the attendants let go of my feet. My front end tipped forward a bit, my feet lifted, and I began to slide slowly away from the tower.
I heard a “Good luck!” from Jen, and then I was flying. I rode smoothly over the edge of the cliff, coming within arms' length of some branches on the way. The cable zipped loudly, a vibrating buzz that got louder as I gained speed. The speed was exhilarating, but not terrifying; I had time to look around, to admire the view, even to wave to friends who were riding the gondola alongside me.
I quickly left them far behind, however, as the opposite tower grew closer. The muddy Tarcoles River (one of the most polluted in the country, our guide said, and home to some very large crocodiles) was below me, green hills sloped in front of me, but I felt disconnected; I couldn't really be flying over them at 60 mph, could I?
There was wind in my face, the dirt road through the forest looked like a hiking path and the trees looked like brush, but I felt like I was watching out of an airplane window. There was about a minute in all to peer around before the cable's braking mechanism slowed me down with a thump. Then I reached out to grab the attendant's proffered hand. Reeled in a bit like a fish, I was lowered, laughing, onto the table.
A few minutes later Jen came off the ride with some abrasions on the side of her neck from the body harness, but with a grin on her face nonetheless. The cable is “surreal, the closest to flying humans can achieve,” she gushed. “The ride gives an adrenaline rush after take-off, which for me has yet to subside and left me wanting to go back and do it all over again,” she said later.
This addiction is a side effect Saborío predicts for all who ride the cable. “The tourist is always looking for more adventure, and this is like a drug. You want more, and you do the canopy [tour], and then you do the cable, and because on the canopy you are sitting, the sensation is completely different.” Cesar Sun Nino, 26, another cable attendant who was the second person to ride the cable, agrees.
“I had never done something like this,” he said. “I rock climb and I do canopy, but this cable is completely different. I don't think you can compare it with anything, except maybe skydiving.” Having done a skydive, I admit that it now takes quite a lot to get my adrenaline pumping.
The Sensational Cable is a thrill ride, but not one that left my stomach in the dust; the ride was long enough that I forgot how fast I was traveling. Unless one is afraid of heights, I would predict that the ride will induce more pleasure than terror. TuruBaRi Park, which opened to public in July 2003, is a 495-acre tropical paradise with gardens, rivers, adventure activities, and restaurants.
Located 75 kilometers west of San José, all-day tours can be arranged, including transportation, a personal park guide through butterfly and flower gardens, lunch, canopy tours, horseback rides, and of course the Sensational Cable. According to TuruBaRi tour guide Luis Carlos Brenes, the park was converted to a tourist destination to protect the land from development. The company put in trails, restaurants, gardens and the gondola.
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