In one of my many previous careers, I was a program director at an outdoor education center. In that role, I have built high ropes courses, inspected high ropes courses, and trained high ropes course facilitators. I have put thousands of 5th thru 8th graders through these courses, with specific goals in mind. So, as you might imagine, I have a hard time removing myself from that role as I step onto ziplines and ropes courses in my personal life. I find myself examining the equipment, looking for flaws in the course construction or holes in their systems. So I was keen to see how the ropes course would go at El Porvenir. I was pleasantly surprised when we donned top-notch equipment at El Porvenir, and downright impressed when the staff began a very specific, and very detailed training session. I was also pleasantly surprised with the quality of construction and the backups involved with the course itself.
The key to any ropes course is to always be attached to the safety system with at least one safety line coming from your harness. So as you move from element to element, from one safety cable to another, one should only move one of his/her two lines at a time. Any good ropes course is going to have systems in place to make sure the very excitable participant doesn’t unhook both at the same time. At Porvenir, this turned out to be our very first lesson in Spanish. We had to specifically request, “Jorge, permiso para cambiar uno?” Or, “Miguel, permiso para cambiar uno?” Then we had to specifically receive an answer. “Kevin, cambio uno.” Or, “Jennifer, cambio uno.” (“Jorge, permission to change one?” “Kevin, change one.”)
What might have been the most impressive part of this course’s design, though, was the thought that went into the placement of elements. Some courses are just thrown together willy-nilly. This one built from easy elements to more difficult ones and gave participants options to choose harder routes or easier routes, based on their comfort. Of course, I had to try them all, but our friends from the Quito office were able to make different decisions based on their own fears, or lack thereof. There is a lower course for the kiddos, just high enough to induce some fear, but not so high as to cause the mental breakdowns that will leave a child hugging the pole for an hour with no hope for movement.
Of course, the views of snow-capped Cotopaxi in one direction and storm-covered Ruminawi in the other direction, with green pastures and high alpine paramo all around, certainly helped to make this an amazing experience.
Kelly and Rhenee were excellent to work with on planning our trip. The logistics all worked smoothly and everyone was friendly and on time. Our accommodations were very good, particularly the incredible Patagonia Camp in Torres del Paine! Our guides on every excursion were outstanding and made the hikes memorable! Overall we had a wonderful trip with incredible memories!
Scott Gibson
1 day ago
Adventure Life is definitely a first-class safari tour company, and our representative was Franny Friesz. First of all, she responded immediately after we contacted Adventure Life. We told Franny that we had never been on a safari, and she was more than eager to offer a mountain of information about the trip. She informed us fully about all the ups, downs, and all arounds! She even prepared a number of packages for us to review -- even after we made changes to the areas we wanted to explore. Friendly, helpful, professional, and extremely knowledgeable -- these words describe Franny, and what a wonderful trip she prepared! We couldn't have asked for better service than Franny of Adventure Life. We HIGHLY recommend her and her outstanding company! Bon Voyage!
Prima Burke
2 days ago
The staff at Adventure Life made planning my family's trip to the Galapagos Islands as easy as possible. They listened to what we were hoping to experience and made thoughtful suggestions about how to accomplish our vacation goals while meeting the needs of travelers ages 17-76! They patiently answered questions and follow up questions in the months leading up to the trip. They helped us trouble shoot and customize the trip in every way possible. The logistics involved in traveling from Boston to the Galapagos are innumerable. The Adventure Life staff helped us arrange every detail and the team they assembled in the Galapagos was tremendous. I have never done a trip this big before and after working with Adventure Life this time--would not hesitate one second in working with them again.
Jennifer Howard Schroeder
3 days ago
Kevin got right on our request and had us booked within the week