Member-only story
Costa Rica — Travel with Abilities
Proem
Just stay in the middle. Stay in the middle? The suspension bridge was six inches wider on each side than my electric wheelchair. I’m good with my joystick, but am I that good? Gulp, I can’t see the bridge’s other end, but Juve knows what he’s talking about. Juve Acuna Sanchez is the grandfather of disabled travel in Costa Rica. He takes people with spinal cord injuries, limited vision, cognitive challenges, and me on guided tours. He says I can do it. I’m approaching the longest suspension bridge in Costa Rica, 984 feet (a tenth of a mile), stretching 230 feet over the stunning tropical forest canopy. That’s about 30 stories high. OK, I can do this. One hundred feet, so far, so good. Then the bridge starts swaying. By midway, it’s swinging about a foot and a half from side to side. OMG, I’m afraid of heights. There are people in front of me and people behind me. We stop and let the people in front of us finish, so the bridge sways less. But…
