Our cabin at Hacienda Baru
We woke to the sound of birds. Everywhere and loud, wow what a greeting. There were hummingbirds coming to the flowers near the screened porch and black and RED, really red, tanagers flitting from tree to tree.
We went to breakfast at the café, no sign of Sam, we figured he's nocturnal. We had a delicious breakfast and trotted off to the butterfly garden.
Jack had told us there was a baby owl there; he had apparently fell out of his nest and wandered into the reserve. They are trying to make sure he can fend for himself so they can release him. He was perched on the ladder and we got really close to him. It was so tempting to try to touch him, but we knew it was not in his best interest.
The butterflies were gorgeous, there were signs telling you what was there and we found all of the ones they described. After the butterflies we opted to walk the short path to the beach. The entrance to the park is included with your room too, what a bargain! We walked really slowly looking for monkeys and sloths and whatever else we could see. We saw nothing lol.
Oh we saw leaf cutter ants, everywhere. These ants travel far to find leaves, we still don't understand why since there are leaves everywhere, and cut the leaves into manageable pieces about twice their body size. They then cart the pieces back home so they look like a train of little leaves walking down the path. Cute.
The beach was indescribable. We were the only people on it for as far as you could see. The water was warm and shallow.
There were holes all over the beach like someone had poked it with a pole. If you waited quietly they exploded with a flush of red crabs until they saw you and then they dove back into their holes. There were iguanas running over the sand. Paradise. Mary took tons of pictures. I sat under the palms not burning and just enjoying the breeze and the atmosphere. We went in the water for a bit but some guys came by to clean the beach and told us that there was a strong undertow and to go up the beach to swim. We opted to wade and enjoy it where we were.
On the way back we came upon a couple staring into the trees. Mary whispered, "What do you see?" The woman whispered, "monkeys". Sure enough there were white faced capuchin monkeys jumping through the trees right above our heads! Mary got out her camera and focused. All of a sudden she grabs my arm and starts dancing all over. Lol she accidentally stood in the trail of the leaf cutter ants and they called out the guards! The guards are big black ants that have big pinchers and come at you on their hind legs. She whipped off her shoes and started beating them on the ground trying to rid her feet and shoes of biting ants. The monkeys scattered and the people looked really annoyed. I could feel my face flushed with embarrassment! I made a quick get away and Mary stayed behind. This is why I love her, she got the ants out, the monkeys came back, she got great pictures and made friends with the people. I need to learn not to feed into my emotions and go with the flow. I really regretted running off and missing the monkeys. At least we have the pictures.
When she finally emerged from the jungle, we went back to the room and decided to drive into Dominical. Dominical was disappointing. The beach is nice but crowded, very touristy. The hotels which were mostly hostels were not picturesque, they were run down and dank looking. We bought some towels and serapes from a charming Costa Rican couple at a roadside stand. Their son was there and spoke perfect English. He said he learned it from the kids that come to Dominical on vacation. Mary took pictures of the most incredible sunset on the beach. We ate at a little restaurant that had gotten good reviews online. It was OK but nothing to write home about. Poor Mary is vegetarian, apparently in Costa Rica that translates to broccoli and cauliflower. They had it in eggs, pasta, burritos, every way you could imagine, lol, she was so tired of it by day 3! We stopped in a little market and bought some supplies for the room (beer and chips). I spoke Spanish with the girl and they charged Mary double, speaking Spanish has its advantages.
When we got back to the cabin Sammy was waiting for us, we shared our chips and he hung for a while. Bedtime.
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