Hello, Bugs

Today was a major travel day. Five hours on the bus. We needed to navigate around lake Arenal towards the north-west of the country. There was a rest stop on the way. There were several souvenir stands along the road, selling inferior items at high prices. Luckily, there would be better shops later in the trip.

There are four types of forest, cloud, rain, transitional, and dry. With our arrival at Buena Vista, we have now seen all four. We're in a dry forest. Not much of Costa Rica is this dry. But in case you think we're in the clear, we are sitting at the foot of another active volcano. (Costa Rica has seven which are active.)

There was time for a small hike. All hikes are optional. Well, all activities are optional. If you don't feel like doing something, you don't have to. But with five hours on the road, it was good to get out in the forest. If only I had remembered to put on the bug spray. I'm afraid the bite count went way up on this hike. Besides the many birds we see on all of the hikes, Pricilla pointed out an interesting species of plant which clings to well-established trees. Once it has completely climbed the tree, it strangles it to death and takes over the spot, having used the tree as a scaffold.

The day ended at the Sunset Bar. You can guess how it got its name. And then, the stars came out. During the night we learned there were still Howler Monkeys nearby. They liked to eat fruit in the tree which hangs over the bungalow and drop what they didn't want onto our metal roof. The result was a big bang!