We woke up this morning to a rain filled sky and muddy roads. The wind was still banging our door open and closed ALL night which with my extremely uncomfortable bed, kept me up most of the night. Tonight I'm going to stick some magazines and paper under the crack in the door to hold it shut. That should do the trick. The wind is so strong though, it comes shooting through the door behind us and the shakes the front door with a jolt of energy. It's a loud and spontaneous noise and not fun to sleep with.
We're off to find some supper so i'll continue with the day when we return...
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We had an amazing dinner at a chilean run restaurant called Restaurante Lucia. We had an incredible bottle of Pinot Noir from Chil and I ordered Mexican Steak for dinner. Yummy! Before i even ordered, i scoped out the dessert menu (it would only be proper!) and my eyes grew wide when they spotted "Tres Leches" on the menu. Mmmmmmmm! The meal was very good and the Tres Leches was DIVINE! We had a really wonderful converstion that was very heartfelt and deep. I shared everything that's been going on lately in my life and my sister shared her heartbreak which lead to some warm family discussions. I love my family dearly! At one point we were speaking about things that make you smile in the morning when you wake up and things to take the ho hum out of your day and that made me reflect and think hard and smiles erupted from me. :-) What a wonderful saying and thought, it is so important to find something(s) that make you excited to start the day and even better if you can find something or someone that makes you smile each and every morning. Definitely going to store that one away for later.
On to the days adventure! >>>
We decided to skip the morning guided tour which started at 6:45am and have a more leisurely staet to our day. We ate breakfast downstairs which was absolutely delicious and homemade. It consisted of fried eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice, pineapple, mango and tasty homemade corn tortilla's which were hand-ground! Incredible!
So around 10:30 we headed out for our walk at the Sanctuario Egologico which our guide book recommended for a nice 2.5 hour hike at a leisurely pace. We arrived and paid our 5,000 colones entrance fee each and then off we went into the rain forest
We arrived at a lookout point with MASSIVE panoramas of tree covered slopes and the nicoya peninsula in the horizon to the west. The sun was partly out but there was a constant mist in the air. The green hillsides were amazing and had us all oooh'ing and ahh'ing as we stared out into the vast valley below. The trees covered every inch of the hills and surrounding area, completely consumed by a dark green. It was a marvelous sight and could not be captured on camera, but of course i tried.
Speaking of my camera, I started to have difficulties with it and focusing on objects and horizons. It has has consistent issues with trying to take panorama's or pictures of the distance which have always been my favourite to capture...poo! it became quite irritating especially as i experience it more and more throughout the day. At first i thought it might be because the sun was reflecting off the mist but now i think it has more to do with the camera and maybe the humidity and wetness.
Right, on to the adventure! We decided to hike down the slopes to a waterfall below. The train down was steep, narrow and slippery but brought incredible vistas and closeups of plans and wildlife all around. Ultimately (after a 30-40min hike down) we emerged in a dense forest of wetness and greenery with a damp mist surrounding everything. The thundering waterfall and flow of the stream next to us was intoxicating and relaxing. We hiked up the slippery rocks to find a 30 foot waterfall pouring over the edges. The sound was extraordinary and the wind gusted from the impact of the water on the rocks at our feet. Mist consumed the air around us as we all stared at the massive spectacle of nature.
Naturally, I was trying desperately to get photo's of the waterfall but the issues with my camera continued. Fortunately, I took enough to where i came away with 2 or 3 clear shots that weren't completely blurry and out of focus.
Seeing that brilliant force of nature filled me with smiles and wonder. I was gleaming with happiness as we trekked back through the dense, damp greenery and back up the steep mountain to the lookout above.
We continued along the trail and saw many different types of flowers, trees and mushrooms and noises all around. One extremely funny event was my mom and dad literally got ants in their pants that were biting them on their legs and thighs. SO, on the platform overlooking the edge of the vally and vast greennes, my parents stripped off their pants (trousers, mind you!) and looked for the ants crawling around on them. HAHA! My sister and I were in stitches!
One really interesting aspect of the rainforest is all the different smells. Different areas had varying degrees of humid, sweet, foresty smells to animal stinks like skunk to fungal smells that didn't smell terrible but definitely...distinctive. It was hard to describe these sense as the whole forest was just one massive sensory overload. Mix that with fatigue, sweat and thirst and we have quite a combination of feelings.
I'm lying here with the wind still blowing strongly and a kitty sleeping under my folder legs. I can feel her tail twitching against my calf and her paws burying themselves into my feet. This kitty is so funny and crazy but wonderfully precious! She has been nicknamed the Christmas Kitty as she's been our little treasure to have around while we've been here. :-)
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