Sunday was a big day full of all the things I needed and more. The things I needed: nachos (available at an establishment in Santa Elena called Super Pollo). It can be pretty dangerous when a craving like that hits, because oftentimes, the only readily available food is some variation of gallo pinto, or beans and rice. It is somewhat widely known that Ticos aren’t huge proponents of flavor. Most meals are bland compared to their American equivalents, and even the ketchup here has less flavor. Luckily, these nachos were the exception to the rule. Amazing!
Before the nachos, though, Buck and I spent the morning exploring the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.
We hiked to this small waterfall in about an hour:
We saw my favorite tree in the whole world, a HUGE strangler fig:
And made friends with this little weevil:
His name is Scout, and he’s the only bug I will allow to crawl on me:
Weevils move very slowly, which makes them far less terrifying if you ask me. Buck pointed out a bunch of other unique insects, and there are pictures on facebook. The other cool thing we saw in the reserve was the Santa Elena 7 mile foot race. Four of the Naturalists and 3 UGA Costa Rica Staff ran in the race, so we waited at the trailhead to cheer them on! Vamos, Vamos! Rapido, Rapido!
Frank was a champ and finished 18th out of 500+ runners:
(Bringing home a delicious cheese basket, no less!)
The remainder of the day was full of ice cream, tiger beetles, and TONS of walking. We walked from the reserve into Santa Elena, then took La Trocha back down to San Luis. There were mucho vistas bonitas, as per the usual. Still glad to be here in such a gorgeous place!
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