| I was awakened several times during the night by students sitting outside
my window and talking. Some had seen a lava breakout on Arenal on
their way back from the bar. Nine of them went with Dani and Keilor
in the van to a viewpoint outside of town and saw several more events.
The local constabulary came out to tell them to be quieter (yes, Brian
was one of them).
We got up at 6:30 and had breakfast at the thatch-roofed restaurant. Then we packed up and were on the road by 9:15. We took a different route than our approach route. Our first stop was at a small restaurant by a stream that had at least 5 large iguanas in the trees. We continued on down the east side of the volcanoes to Siquieres, where we made a bank stop. No one was hungry so we skipped lunch and headed on to Limon where we first saw the Caribbean. I was sitting with Lindsay who had never seen the ocean, being from Kansas. She was asleep when we arrived so I awoke her. Her first view probably could have been better. We were passing through a rather depressed area where the architectural style was a chic corrugated sheet metal so her first view was looking between two rather dilapidated structures. The drive southward to Cahuita reminded me of driving down the east coast of Trinidad. Cahuita National Park is a coastal jungle park. As we drove in,
howler monkeys were hanging in the trees. Alex, Goldie, Scott, Judith,
and Marcela greeted us at our campsite. They had already set up the
camp and were starting to prepare dinner. Dani found a golden eyelash
pit viper almost immediately about 75 m from the camp; he later found a
Fer De Lance not 20 m from my tent (5 from his!). Most of us got
our bathing suits on and played in the surf. The waves were 6 – 8’
high and a lot of fun.
Rachel, Chris, Susie and I tried walking up to the point where reef begins but the tide was high and we couldn’t quite get there. We got mashed by the waves against some fallen trees. I tried out my headlamp for the first time, it was great! I wonder why they took so long to invent! Dinner was grilled steak, superbly done. The party had begun. The people from the Guide Company were great and I enjoyed talking with all of them. Lauren told me that phosphorescent dinoflagellates were present in the surf. Lindsay and I went out and sat on the sand, mesmerized by the glowing surf. I returned to the party for some guaro and more conversation before turning in at 10:30. It seemed much later because it had been dark since 6:00. I had decided to not bring a sleeping pad on this trip since I knew our one night of camping would be on the beach. I contoured the sand to fit my curves and was soon fast asleep. |
