I am writing this on the 22—no time to write on the 21st.
During the night, I was awakened by rustling. Sounded like (and was) rats! Next to my bed, at bottom of the wall, was a large gap, clearly chewed through by critters. CaCa! After some thought about my options, I decided to move to the other bed, put in ear plugs, and try to sleep. Fortunately eventually I did.
We left the Arenal volcano area in the morning and went to Lake Arenal—the largest man made lake in CR. It supplies hydroelectricity to much of the country. We got on a small boat (just us) to go to the opposite side. On the way, the driver hugged the coasts and keep an eye out for sites. We managed to see some lovely birds. We saw only a couple boats…whereas in the US there would be lots of them, skiers, etc.
Once on land, we boarded a van to take us to Monteverde——on quite challenging sometimes dirt and always bumpy roads.
Once here, we went to a plantation that grows coffee and chocolate. Had a tour of the crops, informational talks along the way, and of course samples.
Arrived at hotel in Monteverde. Our presentation in the evening was most interesting. A group of Quakers from the US moved here in the 1940s to live where they thought life was more peaceful. They were evidently the first settlers of the area, so they had HUGE obstacles to overcome (no roads, no civilization). The CR wife of the first settler (American from Alabama) was our speaker. She’s in early 80s. Her husband died in 2022 at 99 yrs! So she told the personal story of how they settled (and named) Monteverde. A lovely presentation. She said at some point a documentary was made of them, called either “Sweet Home, Monteverde” or “Costa Rica”—-she couldn’t recall which. I’ll have to look it up.
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