This afternoon was the best yet!!! After the schools we had returned ot EARTH university for lunch! We had some free times so a few of us rented bikes (no cars are allowed on campus (even for students) and were checking out the place. We found the banana packing plant and watched the cool tram used for transporting the bananas from the plantation. We also wandered through the botanical garden with all of the medicinal plants. It was really neat to see as they were all labeled with what maladies they were used to treat in addition to their name!
Eventually we ran into this guy working on his project who was able to give us information about getting to the primary rainforest. . .. and then I think he thought we were going to get lost and he was going to feel guilty because just as we were stopping at the security place to get the directions (as he instructed us), he rode up on his bike and offered to show us the way! People here are SO friendly (people are always waving at the bus when we go by!)!!
So, anyway, we biked about 5 km through the banana plantation and finally found our destination—the primary rainforest and began our hike! It was sooooo awesome! Since their were only three of us, it was incredibly peaceful and beautiful! Initially we just enjoyed the ambience and the soothing rainforest noises! Shortly after I mentioned that I had yet to see a poison dart frog this trip and wondering if it was too dry right now (this is their less rainy season). . . .moments later we saw a “blue jeans frog”—a red frog with blue legs.
From then on we saw various things! We saw bullet ants that are over an inch long—with a major league painful bite was one thing. We saw a couple of spider monkeys and we heard and saw something on the ground moving but we could never see it well enough to identify it! Then, just as we were reading to leave, we saw a WHOLE TROOP of spider monkeys pass right over us! It was incredible!!!! Several of them were carrying babies on their backs as they swung through the trees! It was really neat to watch them! They made some incredible leaps from a higher branch down to this one palm and it was sooo funny! We just stood there in awe and laughed at them! We found out when we got back that it is very unusual to see a large group of spider monkeys as they are not as common so we felt REALLY lucky!!
But then we were afraid we were going to be late for dinner so we biked like crazy people (well, for me it was like a tired person who isn’t in that great of shape---but it was not the leisurely pace we took going in!) the 5 kilometers back to our rooms! An awesome, awesome day!!!
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