Through the Trees in Belize

Zip-line course at the Jaguar Paw Resort

Turns out, I can’t get enough of rhyming things with “Belize.”  Thanks, “trees.”

On my recent travel bloggers’ trip to Belize, our group was treated to the thrilling Jaguar Paw Canopy Tour, a zip-line trek high above a lush green jungle reserve.  The Jaguar Paw compound is a few well-marked miles off the Western Highway, near Belmopan in the Cayo district.

This was my very first zip-line adventure, but it definitely won’t be my last.

The Jaguar Paw zip-line course involves two sets of steps (one steep, ones far less so), five wooden platforms of varying (and only rarely dizzying) heights, and firm, safe attachment to horizontal networks of cables and pulleys.   The goal is to zoom across said networks, ever longer and higher, through a verdant blur…until at last, you’re hitched to a vertical rope and rappelled (read: dropped) with little ceremony to the terra firma below.

Now, it’s not my usual m.o. to swing from ropes of any kind, but I figured if my Aunt Kari could celebrate her 60th birthday in Costa Rica by rocking a jungle zip-line, well…then I could rock one, too.  Or, at least finish the whole thing without too much embarrassment.  Whichever.

After applying insect repellent and hitting the tidy bathroom stalls near the entrance, most of our group (save Christine of Almost Fearless, 6 months pregnant at the time) were trussed up as though off to tackle Everest.

L: Photo by Kerrin Rousset/R: Photo by JC Cuellar

In the left photo above, behold the pure travel blogger glamour of being photographed by two people at once while you’re fitted for a sexy helmet.  In the cap is Belizean encyclopedia/photographer JC Cuellar, whose gorgeous work can be seen at Photoshelter.  In the right-hand photo above, left to right: Gennaro of Enduring Wanderlust; Kara of The Vacation Gals; yours truly; and Kerrin of My Kugelhopf.  In our group, only Kara had zip-lined or rappelled before; as the wife of a passionate outdoorsman, Kara often has the former set up in her Colorado backyard and the latter in her high-ceilinged living room.  (Needless to say, her kids’ birthday parties are a big hit.)

L: Photo by Kerrin Rousset/R: Photo by Travels With Two

The climb to Jaguar Paw’s first platform is the steepest, and not unlike heading into a green kaleidoscope.  In the fertile Belizean jungle, there are hundreds of different trees, bushes, vines, palms and epiphytes per square acre, so any path (or staircase) through it is a feat of engineering that should be appreciated…even if it knocks the wind out of you.

Our zip-line guides and the first line in the course

At the first platform, our guides — who made sure our gear was always secure and kept us laughing — split up, one venturing across the first, relatively-low line to receive us from the other side.  On our first zip across, there might have been some Tarzan-type yelling, and some of it might have come from me.

View from the second platform in the Jaguar Paw zip-line course

Platform by platform, the ground gets a bit farther away.  I’m not generally a huge fan of steep inclines, so I was surprised that there was only one moment when I felt truly nervous.  Atop the third platform, I readied myself to be hoisted up by my harness and then clipped to the line…only to look down and feel my head spin.  So. Far. Down.  But there’s something valuable to be said for giving yourself a minute of closed-eye quiet and taking a deep breath.

Just one slice of Jaguar Paw jungle

Before I could even mentally protest, I was sailing across the second-highest line in the course, feet first, gloved hands taut above me on the wires.  Landing safely on the other side, I was smiling like a ten year-old and deeply proud of myself.  I know this is a couples’ travel blog and all, but really?  Sometimes it just feels good to push your own boundaries, simply for the sake of self-esteem.

Videos were flying fast and loose on our zip-line day, so allow me to share my favorite, recorded by JC and uploaded by Christine.  Behold the intrepid Kara as she flies off into the jungle with the greatest of ease.

Rappelling down from the final platform, I held onto my helmet as instructed, grabbed the rope…and touched the ground ahead of my stomach and other organs.  But once the (brief) nausea subsided, my first words were:

“Aww, is it over?”

I can hardly wait to zip-line again.  Maybe in Costa Rica next summer, maybe at Kara’s house near Denver, and hopefully, on another trip to Belize.

See also
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle…the Coati Sleeps Tonight: The Jaguar Paw Resort