Yesterday, I went on a day trip to Sarapiqui, which is about an hour and a half outside San Jose, through cloud and rain-forest. I went with a group of Methodists from Louisiana who are at the UBL for a mission trip. There are 11 of them, and the youngest is 21, so they're a bit older than I am. We all got up at the crack of dawn (really. when I got up, the sun wasn't up yet) and got in a minibus with our guide for the day. We took the bus up through the mountains, and then down to the lowlands, to a city called Puerto Viejo. We were headed for the Tirimbina Biological Reserve, which hosts a variety of tours as well as a local education program, teaching local kids about the rain-forest to help preserve it. At Tirimbina, we took a "chocolate tour."
We crossed an 800 ft suspension bridge to the small cacao plantation on the reserve. There we learned about the growth of cacao, and also got to watch/participate in the traditional chocolate making process, from opening the cacao fruit to grinding the roasted seeds. And we got to sample the chocolate at all stages, which was pretty sweet - not literally, since most stages are actually really bitter.
We then drove back to San Jose, and had several volcanoes visible for most of the ride. Volcan Turrialba is smoking, and has been for the last few months. No one really knows if that means that it will blow or not; it could just be letting off steam. I also saw Volcan Barva, which I am hoping to take a day trip to climb, because it has some beautiful lakes up top. Anyway, it was a pretty sweet trip, and I'll be headed back to the region at least twice - once to climb Barva, and once to go on a birdwatching tour at La Selva Biological Reserve.
Hart! Ben! I was at your stomping grounds! It was exciting! I thought about both of you all day long!
Hog-nosed pit vipers became our friends at La Selva after finding a couple babies while poking around in the dirt looking for seeds for a field project. Luckily, we were poking with sticks, not fingers. And by friends, I mean uneasy acquaintances.
ReplyDeleteVolcan Barva! If you remember, you can check out my Costa Rica blog at the beginning for my solo adventure up Barva, which involved lots and lots of rain, and transportation shenanigans. Rains or not, it's definitely a beautiful place.
La Selva! If you're there on the right day of the week, you can play soccer in the afternoon with the staff dudes! However, I have not a whole lot of other inside tips for La Selva, especially since it was my and Hart's least favorite of the OTS stations. But do look out in the trees for hard-to-see sloths! A rare spot, and their big pedestrian bridge can give you some excellent views.
Random restaurant recommendation: Lubnan! Some of the best Middle Eastern food I've ever had, and literally the best yogurt ever, and all in San Jose. It's in La Sabana, on the main drag, whose name I can't remember. It's hours are strange, but Lubnan equals super delicious.
Have fun!
Ben