God-Damned Golden Sulphur

I woke up at 5:30 again to do some bird watching on our last morning at Pocosol. Saw many of the same birds I’d been seeing but also a beautiful white hawk in the distance.

We decided to hike down to the bridge and meet the taxi’s there after breakfast. It was a nice path down. Saw a swarm of army ants. They’re nasty little bugs and their sting packs quite the punch. Played with some cool mimosa plants that fold up when you touch them as an insect defense. Evan was finally able to identify the yellow butterfly that had been following him for 3 days as a golden sulphur. I picked a ton of flowers and put them in my hair. Evan, Amanda, Yong-Ju, Adam and myself took our sweet time getting down to the bottom of the hill.

We took the taxi’s back to Pocosol where we picked up our vans. We drove about 3 hours to St. Elena Cloud Reserve. It was a two hour downhill hike down the mountain through the mud to our next destination; San Gerardo Station. At one point on the trail there is a clearing and an absolutely breathtaking view of Volcan Arenal. Besides that, the hike wasn’t anything special. We had to carry all of our gear with us (25ish pounds) and we basically ran down to get it over with. At least it was an entirely downhill journey.

San Gerardo Biological Station is another really cool place. There is a balcony with a lot of hammocks set up on and a view of the volcano. There was no electricity in our rooms, just the kitchen had electricity and only when the owner was cooking. The food at this place was once again spectacular. I shared a room with Yong-Ju, Katherine, and Amanda at this place.


Quote
"No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time."
-Lewis Carroll