Poco Sol (3/17 - 3/18)

We left Peñas Blancas (east of Monteverde) and hiked further east till we got to Poco Sol. This was another really long hike up one of the longest and steepest hills I have ever climbed with a 30 pound pack. At certain points I was literally on all fours. It was a really hard hike, but SO much fun and such a great experience.

Got to wash up and take a quick dip in the rivers:


Seeing this sign was the second most beautiful moment of my life (second to seeing Eladio's cabin a few days earlier).


Then we saw the little lake we were told about, 200m from the station. Another beautiful and welcomed sight:


The station:





Dinning room:



The lake in the morning:


A dude's cabin that lives near the station at the top of the world. Beautiful.



Saw some more cool stuff, too:


Poco Sol was a short two day, two night stop that involved some bird watching, some plant identification, great food, and a statistics lecture involving shots of rum (to find the correlation between our taste for good rum to the price of rum - I had the second cheapest taste with a loose correlation).

After Poco Sol, we traveled a bit further east to Tirimbina.

Peñas Blancas (3/13 - 3/16)

Here are some shots from around Eladio's "house".








Serving up some food:

View from the cabin:

My bed, bottom left:

Chillin:


We got to hike around a lot on our free afternoons.


It was pretty muddy...



Got to swim in the river and use the rapids as a waterslide - Wisconsin Dells in the middle of nowhere. I hiked up a small stream that fed this river. Completely secluded. Completely free. I could scream as loud as possible and no one could hear.




Saw some cool stuff. Below is a parasitic fungus that attacks specific species of bugs (like in Planet Earth when the fungus forces the ant to climb a tree and then it explodes out of its head). This fungus attacked a beetle larvae. SO COOL!


Cool herps:



We also did a lot of bird watching while here. Below, Yimen (my TA and bird-lover):


Where the cool kids hang out:


Some of us just enjoyed playing with our binoculars:



The magic of the forest:


After spending 4 days in Peñas Blancas, we left on the 17th to travel to Poco Sol. Another 8 mile hike. Another endless adventure. Another journey that began with a single step.