Our first full day with our group. We began with a lecture by a local expert —a naturalist guide. He discussed some of the history of CR as well as eco tourism as it relates to CR. This was a good introduction for us And he was a good presenter.
Our primary guide, Raphael, then took us on a walking tour of San Jose. Merle & I weren’t aware of where he would take us when we went walking on our own yesterday, so unfortunately he retraced many of the steps we made yesterday. But of course he gave us the background that we didn’t have yesterday. We saw the national theater of Costa Rica which is a great source of pride for the locals. Fortunately yesterday we did see the gold museum on our own as he did not take us there today.
After our walking tour, we returned to the hotel to board our bus bound for the rain forest. On our way, Henrique took us to a private home of a Costa Rican woman —Wendy—who is also a tour guide of her own. She —with her mother and daughter —prepared an outstanding lunch for us on the patio of the house. It was partway up the mountain so we had a taste of what we will see in the cloud forest. The food included a lovely pumpkin soup, rice with chicken and refried beans, and fruit. I was very happy that the food was not spicy and was everything I would eat. I took a bunch of pictures at Wendy’s house outside & in as it was unique.
When we got back on our bus we began to climb the mountain into the cloud forest and ultimately the rainforest. In route we crossed the continental divide. There was a light rain the whole time as you would expect. Our destination was a place called Selva Verde Lodge & Preserve. We are deep in the rainforest! Thick, sooo lush, really magical. We had a bit of free time and then met as a group for a 6 o’clock lecture before dinner.
Speaker this time was a Biologist and Natural history guide. Her résumé was very impressive and her presentation was thoroughly informative. She showed fabulous slides and I will confess that some pictures I will be sharing were hers that I just snapped with my new iPhone camera! She told us that in the Sarapiqui area there are 6000 to 7000 kinds of moths and butterflies, over 2000 kinds of plants, 469 kinds of birds. In CR there are 1000 species of orchids & 11% of all the bats in the world. Staggering figures.
This lodge & preserve is very comfortable & well appointed situated in the middle of the rainforest. The dinner was buffet style and had a wonderful array of local and fresh foods. I could not be more surprised & pleased with the food. Water at resort is purified in dispensers but I am not doing tap water, tho others are. I’m being super careful!
I am writing this about 9 o’clock in the evening and the forest sounds out there are quite amazing. I wish someone would play me an audio tape and identify the various sounds that I am hearing. Or maybe I don’t want to know what all of them are? 😁The concierge at the hotel admonished us not to leave the main path when we are walking around the grounds. Particularly at night. Lots of critters!
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