It is hard to believe today is our last day in the rainforest!!  We are all sad to see it end. 

Audrey and I began our day bright and early with a walk with Lyn to go bird watching on the main road in a big open field.  We left before 6am!—Even Audrey was up!!  Of course, so is the way in the jungle. 

We had a great walk, and discovered a lot of really great birds.  Many were non-descript, but many were full of beautiful song.  Another interesting thing about many rainforest song type birds are that when sitting on a branch they are plain, but when in flight they reveal beautiful colours.  Among the most interesting ones we saw was a turkey!  It looked like a mix between a peacock and a pheasant.  We also saw a pair of toucans that were not as high up as the other ones we had seen previously.  We also saw a cool hawk, that was grey, and almost falcon like with a black and white striped tail.  Our squirrel monkeys were still in the same vicinity as the day before. 

After a rather strange breakfast of pasta (our food supply was dwindling and we were trying to eat up what we had—and pasta was it!!  Then, Matt took the kids to the beach while I started to pack up.  They were not out there long, the tide had come in and the ocean was extremely rough.  Malena got pummeled and so did Matt—he will go back to work with battle wounds! 

We came in and had lunch before heading out to Spencer’s favorite thing to do—another HIKE!  This time we went up the mountain.  ALL the way up the mountain.  In the heat of the day no less!  It was an arduous hike, but worth it.  There were many cool things to see, we saw a family of these toucan like birds called Aracaris which were fascinating!  We found a dead howler monkey that was largely decomposed, but the skeletal remains were cool to examine—especially the teeth, which are quite intimidating!  But, I still love the howler monkeys in the morning!  We did see some resting in the tree, but didn’t see a lot of animals because it was the middle of the day.  That time of day they are quiet and sleeping, except the scarlet macaws who are always eating almonds! 

When we got back home, a couple from Brazil had rented Casa Bambu which is the house next to ours.  They spoke English very well, so we had a good chat with them.  They were really interesting and cool.  They had come to the area to surf.  We had no idea Matapalo was so famous for surfing!  And, on Friday they were expecting the best swells of the year.  We could tell it was going to be good, because in our remaining time we saw in influx of a lot of surfers.  Very interesting!  I am sure Cade would have had Rafael giving him surf lessons had we stayed longer...he discovered he could stand on the boogie board our last day and ride it over the waves. 

We stayed on the beach until dark, the kids playing a restaurant game they had made up using a lot of found objects from the beach.  Coconuts became water glasses, and rocks and shells were plates and food.  It was nice to see some real imaginative play happening!  We then came home and made leftovers for dinner.  It was a strange dinner...pasta with sauce, or butter, that coconut rice and chicken dish, and arroz con pollo.  We made it to 9pm, and decided (well, I decided) it was best to go to bed since it was POURING with rain and get up with the howlers in the morning!  So, that is what we did.  Cade?  Oh, he fell asleep at the dinner table by 7:15.  Nice.