When we got there, we walked up a path to a little shelter. There, we all ate breakfast (again!) :) We had fresh pineapple, watermelon, bananas, apples, bread, and a chocolate cake type thing. My teacher also brought brownies, but they seemed a lot healthier than the brownies I make! They didn't really taste like chocolate, but they were okay. While we were eating, the guide named Juan Carlos gave us information about the forest, in Spanish of course. It's his private forest that is about 20 acres large. He's been trying to inform people about how important it is to conserve the forest.
After breakfast, we walked in the forest for about an hour and a half. The humidity was about 100%, so there were tons of clouds and we were so high up in altitude that we were walking in the clouds. Irazu volcano is really close to the forest, and I believe the last time it erupted was in the 1960s or 1970s. When it erupted, it spouted ash for 2 years, and it killed a lot of the trees and plants in the forest. Some of the trees that died have another tree that started to grow on its old trunk. (Below is a picture). Also, there was still ash on the ground in the middle of the path. It was black, and when you picked it up between your fingers, it just felt like sand. I can't believe that ash is still there after all these years!
In the forest are toucans, quetzals (birds with 2 really long feathers for a tail, about 1 meter), monkeys, wildcats, etc. A pair or quetzals have a nest really close to the path that we were on. The guide looked to see if they were there, but neither of the parents were there for some reason. So we couldn't see the birds. There were also extremely old tree ferns. The forest reminded me of Jurrasic Park. Apparently, the plot of Jurrasic Park was supposed to be set in Costa Rica. It started to rain while we were in the forest, but there were so many trees I couldn't even feel the rain! But as we got closer to the edge, it started to pour. At the end of the trip, we planted 4 trees and a ton of seeds. It was a fun trip!
Today it was about 80 degrees F, with about 76% humidity. It was a really nice day! It wasn't too hot, and it didn't rain very much. But, it is the beginning of the rainy season here, so it usually rains every day or every other day for a couple hours. I've learned my lesson: bring an umbrella with me everywhere!
After our trip, we got back to school and Bethany and I worked on our presentation that we have to give tomorrow about the Virgin Mary of Cuba. It's our mama tica's 72nd birthday on Saturday, so all of the kids are going to be home tonight for dinner to wish her a happy birthday, since no one is really here on the weekends. Bethany and I stopped at a nearby bakery and got her a slice of chocolate cake. She's diabetic, so hopefully she can still eat a little piece! :) We also got her a cute little bracelet from the artisan market. She loves jewelry. We were going to get her a bouquet of flowers, but we can't find any shops with flowers here! I wish we had a Target or HyVee to just go in and get cheap flowers!
After that, I wrote my
presentation that I have to give tomorrow.
So we didn’t give Argelis her
present tonight because she made a great dinner with desert, but all of the kids were there so she couldn't eat with us because there wasn't enough room. We had chicken
chalupas (hard shell tacos with refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and chicken),
beans and rice. It was very good. I want to make them when I get home, they
seem easy! She also gave us pie/cake and some ice cream. Yum!
I paid for my trip this weekend. We still get to go with only 4 people, yay! We might also go white water rafting on Sunday.
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| Here's the tree that I described above. |
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| See how cloudy/foggy it was?! This picture doesn't do it justice. |
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| Look, I found a leaf as big as me!! :) (or as big as mom's hair! - Paliseades) |
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