Sunday, May 25, 2008

More News From Beth Anne-Day 12

Sorry it has been awhile since you last heard from me. We were in a place called La Ensenada the past three nights. I'm now in Monteverde sitting downtown, killing time in some internet cafe. The weather here is much cooler which is a good thing … LESS BUGS = LESS BUG BITES! I'm covered in them. We are only here for one night and then heading to the UGA campus in San Luis tomorrow afternoon. We will be back in Monteverde next week for zip lining in the canopies! I can't wait for that!!

Anyways, La Ensenada ended up being the anti-climatic part of our trip. It was very isolated which was sometimes nice, but got old after awhile. My alarm clock was not needed, because instead I was awakened by howler monkeys at 5 AM every morning. It was pretty annoying, but hilarious at the same time to think that it was monkeys waking me up, not birds/dogs/other things you might hear in the States. There was this ridiculous blue jay that decided to join in this morning ... right outside our cabin doors. He is also the same bird, along with a couple others that would sit and watch as we ate breakfast and lunch everyday waiting to see what sort of food they could steal. I heard today that one morning, one of the jays dived for some butter on the table -- yuck! I normally threw some of my toast, but today I was irritated at them for adding to the ruckus. They are huge blue jays too!

We touched a howler yesterday ... it was a young female, probably no older than 8 months or so ... she was swinging around in the trees reaching out to us. Not too much touching though, don't worry …and NO, I didn't smile at her and show my teeth. Ha! (For those of you who don't know, monkeys can find that threatening). We said goodbye to her this morning ... she was biting chunks of mango and then spitting them out.

Most of our time in the past three days was spent doing some hikes around the area and then several boat tours. Nothing too new to see, but we did finally see a bunch of crocodiles. As I implied earlier, bugs were a big issue there. The first cabin that Erin and I were assigned to was infested with these nasty ant-like bugs that fly ... there were hundreds buzzing around in the bathroom window. At night we kept as few lights on as possible. It rained the past two nights… A LOT. Rainy season here is really beginning to start. Not a bad thing though. Cools down everything and provides a nice break from the bugs.

I realized earlier that I eat these three things it least once/twice a day here:

1. eggs
2. tomatoes
3. rice and beans

You know, I worried about the food, but we eat great here! Who knows I may have even gained weight, but let's hope all the hiking and other running around works it off. I'm not a big Costa Rica dessert fan though. Flan just isn't my thing ... tres leches is good though.

Well, I miss you all, but can't believe I only have 9 days left! This trip has been amazing.

You will most likely hear from me within the next couple of days.

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