Day Four: #YOCRO

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… but really only the best of times.  I’m Patrick, a senior biology major from Hooksett, NH living the dream in Costa Rica this winter break! 

Starting with the fast break in the morning, a delicious coupling of rice and beans (a staple in the Costa Rican fine cuisine) with a flour tortilla and sunny-side-up fried eggs.  The sunny side of our day was yet to come, as visions of zipping through the canopy and a pitch-black stroll through the jungle crossed everybody’s minds with each bite.

The zip lining adventure started promptly after breakfast.  Our good buddy Christian (see Marc… er… Eric’s post from yesterday for more information on the legend) waved us a friendly hello and goodbye, a goodbye we hoped wouldn’t be our last.  Each zip line held beautiful views of the scenery, including some of the canopy bridges we would later walk over, and quite the adrenaline rush.  Before each run, the guides made sure to give us a hearty Costa Rican “¡Pura Vida!”  The best, most impressive zip was the final kilometer zip done in tandem.  Nick and I screamed the whole kilometer as the adrenaline bubbled over.  Some of us tropical ecologists (myself NOT included) decided to do a Tarzan Swing, essentially a 10-meter drop where the guides whack your ankles and spin you around while you pretend to have a blast.  Eighteen lines and hours of hiking later, we had successfully zipped our way through the canopy of Monteverde.

 Marci coming in hot!

 Professor Lewins too

Nick and Eric about ready for takeoff!

 The rest of the gang eagerly awaits their turn

 Kelsey's zippy run

 Amanda on the Tarzan swing

When our adrenal glands finally calmed down, we hiked through the canopy.  Although we saw no really interesting critters, not even a black guan, it was very interesting to witness the cloud forest through a different perspective.  The paths between each bridge reverted us back to the understory where we saw many floor species that weren’t easily spotted from high up in the canopy.

Crossing one of the bridges

 Stephanie kissing some hot lips

Tropical Ecology bridge-crossing exam...  Everybody passed

n the early afternoon, we made our way over to the hummingbird garden.  “How could hummingbirds not make you happy?  They’re like birds on crack!” ~ lady at the hummingbird gardens.  And happy they made us!  You could literally come within inches of touching the birds to take a picture.  Sometimes, the birds would perch on your fingers while they fed!  A picture’s worth a thousand words:

 A hummingbird on my finger!

 Jared plays the role of hummingbird perch

 Brianne helping the hummingbirds feed

After the sunset, we went on a tour with our new mother-figure Dulce (perhaps spelled Dolce…).  She was fantastic guiding us around the jungle in pitch black.  It was remarkable how she would be able to find the smallest of baby frogs, hidden spiders, camouflaged walking sticks, sleeping birds, and, wait for it… more trees!  It turns out the Dulce is a professional sloth tracker and offered to take us sloth tracking tomorrow (January 2).  Of course, Stephanie was all in on this idea, having a deep passion for the slothiest of sloths.

The cloud forest at night… Perhaps a picture of the rarest animal in the world?

On our way to dinner, we saw Dulce pulled over on the side of the road.  It turns out she had spotted a two-toed sloth chilling on the underside of a branch hanging over the road.  Dinner was a feast of soup, tilapia, and apple pie and an amazing watermelon juice leaving us both tired and desiring more…

It looks like tomorrow should hold many interesting surprises in the cloud forests of Monteverde!

#goldennugs #YOCRO