June 27, 2017- Day 2

(The view from the morning walk)

To whom this may concern, today was another great day in the rainforest! It all started with a wake up call from the mysterious birds at 5:30. A few girls went on a morning walk to test out their rain boots and to see the views around Finca la Anita. They saw a creek, as shown in the picture above, and walked in it to test our waterproof rain boots (well, we thought they were). Once everyone else woke up, we went to breakfast at 7:30 and had eggs, rice, beans and yogurt with cacao nubs, which are small pieces of the cacao bean. The eggs tasted like fried rice to some people (cough cough Shea). 

After breakfast, we went on a cacao (chocolate) tour, which was basically just everybody eating a lot of chocolate. A highlight was homemade hot chocolate with chili powder and whole vanilla beans (we may bring some home). We had two types of hot chocolate, an American way with lots of sugar and the traditional way with more chili and less sweet, but the hot chocolate did not contain any milk. We learned a lot about the process of making chocolate and the quality of cacao in Costa Rica. After we ate a lot of amazing chocolate we made a quick turn around to lunch. We had a heart of palm salad, beef, potatoes and carrots. After lunch, we all piled into vans to head to ziplining!

On the way there, we received some mangas (different than mangos) from the locals. When we got to ziplining, we were outfitted with harnesses, helmets, and gloves and began our trek up many stairs and loose rocks to get to our first platform. In total, there were 11 platforms and we ziplined to each one, except for a quick hike between platforms two and three. Apparently, there were howler monkeys at the second platform, but only a few saw them. Everyone enjoyed the ziplining, even the people who had never been before or were afraid of heights. On our way back to Finca la Anita we tried water apples, which tasted like you were eating a pollinated flower. 

After we got back, we rested for a little while and then went to dinner, where we had chicken, a yellowish soup, potatoes and carrots. The dessert tonight was flan with cacao nubs and many people enjoyed it. It was already dark by the time we finished. Exhausted, everyone headed back to their cabins to relax and sleep for the night. We hope you all are having a great time back in good ol' Minnesota. 

Adios!

- Anna, Shea, Gabriel