La forêt tropicale

Okay, those are a lot of pictures 😅 but today we also experienced a lot. Last night, I asked for something to happen that would improve our mood. He wasn't in a good mood because he found the rain, accommodation, and especially the power outage annoying.

We then got up at 5 am on time in the morning (yes, the jet lag was still working, but that's not a problem because we planned to wake up with the sun) to explore the area. After about 10 minutes, we had a cat and 3 dogs visiting. Marco and Elia took them into the rainforest for the first time. You just don't know where to look because EVERYTHING is full of plants and flowers and fruits.

I have to tell you that we haven't had much luck with animals so far...

Then we had breakfast. The local breakfast is Galapinto. Rice with beans and egg. Very tasty. Fortunately, the boys like it too. Fresh fruits are also included. Bananas, pineapples, papaya, watermelon. Everything grows here on the property. He also made banana pancakes with homemade syrup for the children. It wasn't my thing, but the children liked it.

The evening before, we asked Steven for a morning tour. And that's what we got. I think there are 3 rooms occupied here, but we never see anyone, so we were alone with him. Well, alone with the dogs, they were with us of course 😂. I'm not sure if this is just the walking round or if they are there for protection.

Don't forget that there are jaguars and black panthers here. I always forget that, otherwise I probably wouldn't step outside the door.

The tour started with us seeing a stick insect at the meeting point. The picture shows Noah trying to save it from the dog 🙈 He succeeded. And then the most fun and impressive tour I've ever had began.

Yes, he said something about a swimsuit and shoes that can get wet, but I didn't really understand the seriousness of the situation. When he handed us the walking stick, we wondered, but it's quite practical on uneven terrain.

The way down was like a beautiful trail in the Black Forest, but with incredibly many different plants. He explained everything to us. We were able to remember a few. Then we went into the river. Yes, INTO the river. That's why we had the stick. Now it made more sense.

Then we walked to an incredibly beautiful waterfall and stood under it. In the middle of the jungle. The sounds were partly deafening. Sometimes I wish I had earplugs here. The loudest noise here comes from the cicadas. They make a sound like an alarm system and it's just as loud 🙈. You can hear the large kakadu bird, many other birds, monkeys, and many things that I can't identify. So they are here!! They just don't show themselves to me. Not yet.

Although we saw a kakadu bird yesterday at breakfast, but at the other end of the slope. So very far away. But you can see the colorful beak over long distances.

During the hike, we saw frogs and a dead armadillo.

Afterwards, we drove to the volcano and took another hike through the volcanic rock from the last eruption. That was in 1969. Until then, people didn't know they were living on a volcano. When it erupted, everything within a 5 km radius was dead due to the ash cloud. The last eruption was in 2010. A friendly ranger gave us a history lesson about the volcano and the animals here with pictures in the restaurant when we asked. That was very impressive. It started raining there again, as much as it could. On the way back, we stopped at a really nice Mexican place where they also had delicious pizza. I had quesadillas. We were home at seven. We tried to stay awake with games and reading until 8:00 and then gave in to jet lag. But we were all able to sleep again until 5:15. So it can stay that way.

Today we are heading to Sarapiqui. But before that, I would like to do a sloth tour here. We really want to see some animals now 😅. Then we will continue driving. About 2 hours drive towards the Caribbean. I booked a nice Airbnb yesterday. We're excited.