July+4,+2011

July 4, 2011 It seems very strange to be so far from home on the Cuatro de Julio. We had an early morning wake-up where we had to get to the bus by 615 AM. Everyone on the tour seems to be a very good traveler with very few complaints. Of course, we do get to spend a lot of time on the bus, where we can take many catnaps. We left our cloud forest home in Mesaverde. While leaving we passed the Children’s rainforest and the Mesaverde dairy. The Children’s rainforest is a preserve created by money raised in the United States by one dollar at a time from children. I am fairly certain that I “bought” some rainforest for my children at some point during their childhood. I wonder if this was were the money went?

It took us 1.5 hours to drive out of the cloud forest to the Pacific Ocean. Around halfway down we hit the paved highway. Again, we are so impressed with Jorge (George’s) driving. He is driving a full length bus on roads that I would be hesitant to drive with a 4-wheeled drive Jeep!

Once we got to the lowlands, the temperature was warmer and the sun was hotter. Mario explained to us about CR reestablishing the Scarlet Macaw. Much like our bald eagle, the Macaw was almost extinct in the 80s due to loss of habitat. However, putting blue barrels high in the trees (for nesting) and planting more teak trees (for food)has brought the population back to acceptable levels. They also mate for life - which can be very long.

As we crossed the Tarcoles River, one of the parents noticed 2 crocodiles along the bank. I guess we will see some crocs!! We arrived at our Jungle Safari cruise where we loaded onto a canopied boat. Almost immediately we were treated to some beautiful exotic water birds and crocodiles. We continued up the river and saw wood storks, roseate spoonbills, boat-billed herons, great blue herons, snowy egrets, tiger herons, black-bellied whistling ducks, turkey vultures, mangrove black hawks, scarlet macaws, and mangrove swallows. We saw a lizard that runs across the water and saw over 20 of crocodiles in a very small section of river. I can not imagine the multitude of life that is in this bio-system (mangrove forest) to maintain the large number of crocs that we saw. At two different times, our boat driver actually got out of the boat and “hand-fed” chicken to some of the biggest crocodiles I have ever seen. Whoa! Brave and crazy.

After the river cruise, we stopped at the CR version of Walmart primarily to purchase bottled water. Mario doesn’t recommend that we drink the water in Jaco (our beach town where we are spending the next 2 nights). We arrived in Jaco and drove through a nice looking town with many American fast food places. However, Mario feels that this town in really not the safest and so the students must always be with an adult when they leave the confines of the hotel. All of our students were happy to stay here at the hotel to enjoy the 3 pools and hot tub. Just before dinner we walked across the street together to watch the sunset over the Pacific. The colors were spectacular. The beach has very rough surf without any lifeguards, so Eftours does not allow swimming here. However, tomorrow we head to a National Park that is 1.5 hours south to enjoy a safe white beach and hiking trails. After dinner tonight, one of the father’s from the West Virginia group bought 2 large cakes to help us celebrate the 4th of July. Mario was a very gracious host and congratulated us on our 235th birthday. Then another local hotel set off of few fireworks. We didn’t feel so far away.