Atlanama Here I Come!

So I just finished a fantabulous trip to the atlantic coast in which i was physically and mentally challenged. We backpacked through the Reserves surrounding Monteverde to the Peñas Blancas valley. Which is around 10 miles of ups and downs, slipping and sliding, river crossings, mudholes, and at the end it was raining. But overall we had a really nice day for the hike, and the guides helped us. We're hands down the fastest group they've ever had. For lunch on the hike day we stopped shortly after a river crossing and swam in the river and ate lunch on a huge rock on the edge of the river. Scary moment: one of the girls got sucked down river.
She went a pretty good distance before she was able to grab a rock, and one of our guys ran down the rocky bank and was able to get to her and bring her to safety. No serious injuries, just a lot of bumps, bruises, and scratches. It was so hard to watch we were dead silent as the boys chased down the rocky bank. But she's great!

 Finally we got to Eladio's (The man who has the cabins) where we bunked in 2 large rooms (girls and guys separate) and Eladio cooked amazing food, and told us the story of his house, which is only accessible by foot or horse, but when we arrived the horse trails were blocked due to recent storms. We also hiked the surrounding forest wading through mud, and water every time we went out. We learned a lot of birds, and spent a lot of time with binoculars in hand birding. We went on an amazing night hike where we saw frogs, snakes, spiders, even a small mammal. It was incredible.

 Eladio's stories were the best though. He told us the story of how he came to claim land because there was a mining industry starting so everyone was rushing to claim. He cleared a lot, but eventually the mining crews found nothing and left, after not getting very far. Then he was approached by a man that basically taught him about biodiversity and conservation, and Eladio eventually agreed to sell his land and let it regenerate. But he kept his house, and the man still brings groups of students there to teach them about the woods and just because it is such an incredible place. There are only 3 groups that make the hike to Eladios. Us, EAP(a Cali program), and that gentleman every couple years. No one gets to make that hike. and of those groups, we are the only ones that then hike to Poco Sol which is a research station on the other side of the mountains.

Can you say experience of a lifetime?! this isn't the first time we've done stuff on this program that no other program does. Crazy, I did well when I picked this Program for sure! Eladio has also been bitten by a Fer de lance, the most poisonous snake in Costa Rica. and he wasn't bit just once but almost 20 times in his hand. He made it to the hospital (which was sketchy) and was treated there for quite a while in yucky conditions. Basically he got the anti-venom, but survived because there was only one that was not a "dry bite" in which the snake actually injected a larger amount of venom. At one point he almost lost his finger, but didn't because he disobeyed the doctor, and drained it himself. It's an incredible story.

 From Eladio's we hiked about another 10 miles out to Poco Sol. We stayed there and birded, we also celebrated Moncho's (TA)birthday by tasting and rating different brands of rum. It was pretty fun. They tricked us into thinking we had class and that's what our class was :) From Poco Sol we went to La Selva which is well known biological research station. We did our classes there and were able to hike around the trails and witness other research projects in progress. One of the highlights was getting to see white tent bats. they make a tent out of the leaves and sleep in it during the day. 

After La Selva we went out to the Caribbean Coast- Tortuguero. Known for it's sea turtle nesting. in the area we canoed around and birded, identified plants both from the boat and on the beach. We had time to shop and took a night hike where we saw a turtle trying to lay it's eggs. Unfortunately I think we might have disturbed it and it didn't finish. In the mornings we got up early (of our own accord) to walk the beach in the hopes of seeing a baby turtle scuttling to the sea. I wasn't fortunate enough to see a live one, but others did and I got to see their pictures. After Tortuguero we took a long bus ride to Panama we stopped on the coast to eat lunch at a really pretty beach. We were headed to Panama because we were reaching our 90 day limit in Costa Rica. You're allowed to stay in the country for 60? days with out a Visa but then you need to be out for a minimum of 3 days to come back in and have another 60? days in the country. So we went to the Bocas del Toro region of Panama and stayed on the Island Boca del Drago.