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| From San Jose to Turrialba |
1/27/26 Tuesday
I was very tired last night and was sound asleep by 8:30.
Unfortunately I was awake by 4:30, and got up a little after 5.
We were in the bus and on the road by 7:30. It was a 3 hr drive to our hike at La Marta wildlife refuge, with a break along the way.
Still beautiful sunny cool weather.
The bus stopped at the ruins of a church for our break. The town there grows squash called chayote on vines that look like grape vines.
The La Marta Wildlife Refuge protects the La Marta, Atiro, and Gato river basins and includes axamples of primary cloud forest.
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| We only did a small portion of these trails, about 2 miles total |
On the La Marta hike we saw all kinds of birds, plants and insects. I noted a few things that I thought were especially interesting. One was a leaf with red spots to attract hummingbirds and guide them to the plant’s very small flowers.
We saw a plant with a large red spike that is called the shampoo plant because of its foamy looking flower.
Leaf cutter ants - we see these everywhere we go. Little trails of ants carrying pieces of leaves from a particular plant to their nest, with other ants climbing on top of the leaves to inspect them and make sure they are free of fungus.
After the hike (and lunch) we drive to Guayabo Lodge in the mountains above the town of Turrialba. It reminds me of places I stayed when my friend and I came to Central America 50 years ago, but with actual beds and indoor toilets! It’s cool up in the mountains, no need for ac. The ground of the lodge are covered with all sorts of birds, plants and flowers, plus the view is wonderful. I knew this is what Costa Rica is famous for but I’m still impressed by the amount of biodiversity!
That evening we had a lecture about the natural history of Costa Rica. It was another very good lecture, helping us to make sense of everything we’re seeing, and understand better all the different ecological areas of this country.
At dinner it was fun listening to the scuba divers talk about their experiences and then sharing sailing stories with some of the other guests.
1/28/26 Wednesday
In the morning we visited CATIE. CATIE is the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center. It provides post graduate education, research and outreach programs to promote green development, increase human well being and reduce rural poverty. And yes, I got this synopsis off their website! https://www.catie.ac.cr/en/nuestra-esencia/
First we visited their botanical garden. I was wearing hiking sandals and that turned out to not be the best choice. Some ants decided I was delicious and bit the heck out of my feet! After cursing and retreating to wipe them off my feet I was ok, but I was very careful where I walked for the rest of this tour.
We saw too many plants to mention them all but some highlights were a pink pineapple, an immense bamboo clump (not native to Costa Rica, and invasive here just like it is anywhere else where it has been introduced.
The bitter melon plant - very stinky!
A male Ivory nut palm.
Cannonball tree.
A Kapok tree, known as the “tree of life” , just like the tree in Animal Kingdom at Disney World, but real!
Then we walked to the main campus of CATIE for lunch, about 1.5 miles. It was a nice flat walk, just much warmer than it's been so far on this trip!
After lunch we got back on our bus and drove to Sitie de Mata for our sugar cane tour and demonstration. This was up on a large hill/mountain. The views were spectacular! We walked around the grounds, visited an old church, And then had some coffee and snacks. We were given some pastries and a muffin. I liked the muffin and the coffee, the pastries were not so great.
Then we were given a sugar cane production demonstration, of the old way it used to be processed, oxen and all. This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.
First we watched as the sugar cane was put through a grinder that was moved by oxen. Lee helped with this demo.
At each step we got to taste the product so at this point we tasted a bit of squished sugar cane,.
Then we watched the process to make molasses and sugar. We tasted the caramel at different stages, soft, medium, and powder (sugar). The men making the molasses had so many years of experience; they didn't need a thermometer, they did it all by texture and smell!
Then they made candy by adding butter and powdered milk to the caramel. Of course I liked it all!
Finally they showed us how they made the sugar into blocks in molds and then removed them from the molds and wrapped them in banana leaves for transport.
After bididng fairwell to the sugarcane plantation we hopped back on the bus and drove down to the town of Turrialba. We went on a short walking tour of the town, saw the defunct railway, and then walked up to the park at the center of the town. Some of our members walked around and looked into shops but most of us just sat around the park and relaxed. We were tired!
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| We had our picture taken at a nearby playground so that we could show Emi we were having fun! |
