We woke up pretty early to pack the bus: our large duffle bags went on a truck bound for Monteverde, while our daypacks and smaller bags came with us on the charter bus. After breakfast, we boarded the bus and finally left the city. The scenery changed from crowded streets and building to fields and scrubby forests interspersed with tin-roofed dwellings. We stopped in Cartago, where the most famous church in Costa Rica stands- Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles. Many pilgrims journey to the Basilica each year to drink the natural spring's holy water and ask the Virgin of the Angels to heal them.
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| the Basilica |
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| inside the Basilica, all of the wood is mahogany |
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| the location of the holy spring |
Our next stop was Cerro de la Muerte (Hill of Death) to experience a high elevation (3000 m) wet forest. We walked up the trail a short way, stopping in a clearing to hear about several plant species and páramo habitat. The páramo consists of scrubby vegetation and grasses above the tree line. We also searched unsuccessfully for the mountain salamander (Bolitoglossa subpalmata). Back down the trail, we had lunch at the small tourist restaurant. I watched Green Violet-ear, Purple-throated Mountain-gem (my first top 17!), and Magnificent hummingbirds from the windows.
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| Alan lectures on the Black Oak (Quercus costaricensis) |
Back on the bus, the scenery changed from high to low altitude vegetation. Even though it was too bumpy to use my binoculars, I was able to spot the distinctive silhouette of a swallow-tailed kite.
Our next stop was a pineapple field, where we learned about the biology and agriculture of this domesticated bromeliad (a member of the Bromeliaceae plant family). I learned why it sometimes hurts your tongue to eat pineapple: the fruit's center contains meat-tenderizing properties, which breaks down the tongue muscle. If you simply avoid the pineapple's center, you can avoid a tenderized tongue. We also sampled some of the fresh, juicy crop.
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| check out all those Ananas comosus |
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| baby pineapple |
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| om nom nom |
We finally arrived in the tiny town of Sierpa after dark. Our hotel was...rustic. Alan warned us that flushing toilet paper would jam up the sensitive septic system. The showers randomly stopped working for a couple hours, and then would flip-flop rapidly between a drizzle and a downpour. However, the open-air restaurant was very tasty. We stayed in the restaurant for a lecture in preparation for tomorrow's mangrove tour. The professors let us order a drink from the bar, so we took lecture notes while enjoying cervesas in the warm night air and listening to geckos chirp.
When you say you watched the birds from the restaurant you mean you sat there with binos glued to your face and took forever to eat, right? :) Those darn bumps though! At least you were able to identify the kite. I find it super interesting that your professors are like here drink while I lecture!
ReplyDeleteyes, that's exactly what i mean :)
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