Days 24-25 (Jun 4-5) Miravalles to LaTigra

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My Monday started out with a drive through the countryside - from Holstein dairy cows to fields of pineapples (seeing pineapples never gets old…sorry for the lack of pictures…it was raining) to bananas. It’s not every day you end up behind a dump truck full of pineapples or see the box of a pickup truck filled with bananas!

I arrived in LaFortuna early afternoon and spent a bit of time wandering around, checked out another old church, had some very delicious quesadillas for lunch! Then I made my way further south to LaTigra to a hotel that Jon and I discovered on our last trip here - LaTigra Rainforest Lodge. I had been hoping to include it in my travels, and I booked myself 2 nights so that I’d have ample time to enjoy the rainforest surroundings. Each “room” is an individual cabin/tent - there are walls on 3 sides but open to the outside with just tent flaps on the 4th side, and the whole thing is built into the hillside and on stilts.

My first night was a bit more intense than I expected. Huddled in my bed under a mosquito net, in complete and utter pitch-black darkness, with no sounds other than those coming from the outside creatures. I wasn’t afraid, but I wasn’t comfortable…but I had a good sleep nonetheless and woke to a rainy day. The hotel is very remote up on a hillside, so I had planned to just stay put: some extra rest, and then getting started on some of the budgeting work we’ll be doing next week. Most of the day was spent in the hammock on my little veranda, my laptop, a beverage, and the distractions of the jungle next to me. I think I need a hammock for my office back home! After dinner up at the lodge, where I met some new travelers from Germany, New Zealand, and the US, I settled in for another (less creepy) night in the jungle darkness.

Birds seen today: Passerini’s Tanagers and Blue-Grey Tanagers

Tomorrow, the Caribbean!

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Photos

24-1
Might be a bit tough to see, but there are the tops of pineapples sticking out of holes in the truck - a truck full of pineapple!!

25-1
My room, looking out on the rainforest!

25-2
Hard at work (yes, really!)

25-3
A view of the rainforest

25-4
A view of the rainforest