Of course, no matter how much I thought I was prepared, I wasn’t.  There was the usual scurrying around throwing stuff in suitcases at the end.  Somehow, we left stuff there...but we ended up with more stuff coming back.  Oh, not because we bought more stuff...no...I guess, maybe it was the rocks.  You know my people are crazed over rocks?  Well, that is our standard souvenir and gift for friends.  So, we have rocks.  Many rocks...and, we got to the airport and they said “no rocks”  So, they got one of them, and as I am on my way to Miami—we hope they don’t take the rest of our rocks!  (They didn’t—YAY!)

The day started just as I had planned.  4:30am the howlers started singing to me.  I woke up quickly and by 4:45 was out of bed on the trail to record their song.  What I wanted to get was them...because I love them...but also the spider monkeys were in the vicinity—they have a scream that sounds EXACTLY like a woman screaming.  It is sooooo cool.  I tried to get it on my flip, but think I was probably too far away for you to get the total impact. 

Then, I went down on the beach where I was joined by my little soy dog to watch a little bit of a sunrise.  It was still pretty cloudy from the rain all night, so there wasn’t much of a sunrise to see.  Still, it was nice to be alone on the beach in the quiet of the last day.

When I returned to Casa Linda Audrey was up and ready to go.  So, we set off on another journey to see the monkeys.  We went back up the hill we had walked the day before, since at the first bend is a mound of construction dirt.  Below is our quad of houses, and from there you are about eye level with the trees.  The spider monkeys were right at eye level!  We tried to make them scream...but suddenly we were in a terrific downpour.  So, our last shower turned out to be a natural rainforest shower! 

We headed back for Casa Linda, ate a quick breakfast, and I had to really make things fly to get us out of the house by 745.  Lyn was so kind to come and see us off, and Ephram was waiting promptly, and we piled in the back of the pick up for one last adventurous taxi ride!  We tried to take it all in, while not being too sad to leave.  We surely plan to return here some day. 

We got to Nature Air, and had to pay an additional 75$ (25 more than when we came—probably because of the rocks) and before we knew it, we were flying over the rainforest along the coast to San Jose.  Another taxi picked us up there and took us to the international airport.  And now, we are someplace over the Atlantic probably, on our way to Miami.  We’ll be there for two quick hours and home around midnight. 

The rainforest was an adventure like no other.  Animals abound, the house was primitive and yet, had every convenience you could ever truly need.  The beach was right outside our front door literally.  We can’t imagine ever topping this journey.  Yet, somehow, I can see this bit of international travel has given the kids a taste for it.  They are already making plans to visit our new Brazilian friends next year!  It was a truly amazing journey.

 

Back to life

Back to reality.