Rest in Costa Rica Day 3

The boys back home had a rough start to the day. You probably saw that picture in the last post. But it happened on Monday, we just used it as the DMZ for those with arachnophobia.

Our day started early, with a 6AM departure time. We had to place our breakfast order ahead of time and pickins were slim because we were on the go.

Our tour guide this day was a very cheery man named Isidro. His English was very good and he was both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Even at 6AM.

We drove nearly two hours to the Cano Negro Wildlife Preserve (here’s a second link) that was so close to the Nicaraguan border near Los Chiles that Adrienne’s phone gave her an automated “Welcome to Nicaragua!” greeting. We hoped out of the van, visited the banos, and hopped in a covered boat for a ride. This tour, as most of ours on this trip are, was a private tour. We probably wouldn’t have opted for that, but it ended up being much better that way. Once we got to the boat, the guide and driver (and now the boat captain) were there ready for us and had a small table with our breakfast set out for us. We had a “ham” breakfast sandwich which Adrienne asked if it was raw – it was cured and looked rather like prosciutto. There was coffee in a French press which was much needed for some of our crew.

Cano Negro encompasses a large, slow moving river (Rio Frio) with plenty of flora and fauna about – mostly on the banks but certainly otherwise, as well. We came upon an amazing orange Iguana and Chris’s lens cap fogged up – the move from air conditioning to warm humid air caused the problem and it quickly dried out.

There are three types of monkeys in this area: howler, spider, and white-faced Capuchin monkeys. Chris mistakenly misheard Isidro the first time as “white-faced Cappucino monkeys” and misunderstood for about the next three hours of the trip. The howler monkeys make a very loud and distinctive cry that Isidro was eerily capable of imitating. The spider monkeys were easy to spot (once spotted) because they were very active. We saw one jump from one tree to another, and otherwise swinging all over the place. The white-faced Cappucino monkeys were described as the Costa Rican mafia – they apparently can be brutal animals and they always eat with their pinkies out.

Joseph was very concerned when he heard we were coming here because, now keep in mind he’s nearly 5 years old, he believes we’re going to be eaten by crocodilians (which he then usually follows with the onomatopaeia CHOMP CHOMP). The crocodilians they have here are called Caimans which are considerably less aggressive particularly towards humans. They are also considerably smaller than crocs, and Chris even said he thinks he could take one, later clarifying “in an arm-wrestling contest”. He had a great sighting of a caiman sunning itself on top of a rock.

This little dude is a common basilisk. Chris finds it humorous how often the Costa Ricans name something “common” which isn’t really common at all! Although, maybe they’re quite common down here, but certainly not where we’re from! The common basilisk is also known as the Jesus Christ lizard (or as Chris calls it, the Jesus H. Christ lizard). This little guy can move so quickly and has those light-weight but broad hands and feet that he can basically walk on water. Chris says he has a great meme about Jesus (the person, not the lizard) walking on water and if you’re interested in seeing it to send him a text.

While we were out, we saw a toucan very briefly, and the little bugger flew away just as Adrienne was getting her eye up to the spotting lens. Isidro had a neat trick (similar to Yahaira) of using his spotting scope (this is specifically what I think he was using, if not this then something very similar), then putting the smart phone up the the lens, starting a video, zooming in, and taking photos during the video. Chris tried doing it after watching Isidro and it was surprisingly more difficult than it appeared. Any of the photos you see on this post that have very heavy vignetting (like these below) were taken in this manner.

We got to see a green parakeet building his nest into a termite nest. His plumage was precisely the color green of the surrounding foliage and was tough to spot, even after Isidro put his spotting scope right onto the bird.

After about two hours on the river, we made our way back to the point where we had started, hit the bathrooms, and got in the van for the long five minute drive to our next destination: Domingo’s. Isidro pulled us out of the van and led us over to a fence and into what looked like a farmer’s field. He pointed out a few plants, all crop plants, and then found a cacao pod. He shouted something in Spanish (Canterbury really only taught French when I was there, so I was lost), and a voice called back, so Isidro pulled the pod off of the tree and handed to Adrienne and said, in English, “he says to bring it to him.”

This is the part where Dan Brown would have a chapter break and not come back to this part of the story for a few chapters, leaving you hanging. But do I look like Dan Brown? (that’s a rhetorical question, no one knows what Dan Brown looks like, he’s so mysterious!)

So we came around the corner to meet Domingo. He was a pleasant Costa Rican man who looked like he’d been farming his whole life. When we use the term “first world problems”, he’s the guy that I’ll forever think about. He didn’t speak any more English than Chris speaks Spanish – which means Chris could probably order at Taco Bell in Spanish and Domingo could order at McDonald’s in English, and that’s just about it.

Domingo carried a long machete on his hip, presumably for harvesting sugar cane, and he had the wounds to show for it – including a fresh avulsion on the lateral tip of his left index finger – which he told Isidro he’d done the day before. We agreed later that he probably needed a Tetanus shot.

Domingo led us over to an old machine and had us insert sugar cane into the machine which ran the cane between two cylinders which squeezed all of the cane sugar water out of it and into a bucket. The rinds would then be dried and used as firewood. The cane water would then be boiled and concentrated into syrup and eventually brown sugar, and the rinds would be used as firewood for that whole process. They then led us around a corner and sat us down each to a seat with a shot glass, a dried bean, and a mug. Domingo poured us each a glass of cane water and a shot of rum and gave us a stick of sugar cane. We were instructed to shoot the rum then chew on the sugar cane – this was really nice although Adrienne was perhaps not quite ready for it (edit: but she downed the rum anyways). Domingo also expertly sliced into the cacao fruit with the machete to show us what the inside looks like. We were instructed to each take an individual pod and to put it in our mouth, but not to bite on the bean. It looked kind of gross but it was nice and citrusy tasting. Then we got to try the bean at our seat that had been dried. We crunched it up into nibs and ate it. It was a touch bitter but quite nice. We also got to try some hot chocolate.

After our toast and warm welcome, it was time to head back. We were not told anything about our visit with Domingo beforehand and we were excited to have met him and learned about sugar cane and chocolate! We piled back into the van and drove about 1.5 hours back towards the resort, but we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. This was in a town near the resort called La Fortuna at Tiquicia Restaurant (it’s rated 1/184 in the area on Trip Advisor). Isidro later confirmed that it’s the best and that it’s authentic. Chris had an app of ceviche which he was coaxed into topping with their homemade hotsauce and Lizano Salsa (this stuff is on all of the tables). Adrienne had an app of three fried green plantain baskets – one topped with gauc, another with pico, and the last with a chicken mix. For lunch, Chris had chicken casado, which our driver from the airport had described as an authentic Costa Rican dish, and Adrienne had chicken fajitas. We each had a scoop of homemade ice cream with chocolate sauce, climbed into the van, and headed back to the resort.

Just at the entrance to the resort, the driver pulled over and we got to see Freddy, the 3T sloth and her baby. Again, the spotting scope was helpful here.

We got back to our room and took it easy for a few hours, before heading up to La Terraza for dinner, and then heading back to the room for a quick dip in the pool and then to bed. Whew! Who knew having this much fun would be this exhausting?