Tirimbina Rainforest

11/26/2012  Dan: Heavy rains during the night. We wanted to return to Tirimbina to hike its trails, since we had only had a short time to do so the afternoon before. Assured that we could take the bus, we did so, but it was a bit of an adventure considering no one on the bus spoke English. We checked in at the reception (it was free to hike the trails since we had purchased tour tickets the previous day) and we purchased lunch tickets.

 

We hiked very good trails past some enormous trees. An especially notable tree was near a wooden footbridge on the Ceiba trail. All of the huge trees are made far more spectacular by the tremendous diversity of vines, ferns, mosses, bromeliads, and other epiphytes that the trees support. We hiked much of the morning in rain and almost had the trails to ourselves.

When we finished lunch, we started back on the trail system and discovered a large group of Montezuma oropendolas feeding in a very large palm nearby. They are large and exceptionally beautiful birds. Indeed, the suspension bridge over the Sarapiqui river was a great place to see many beautiful birds and an entire family of howler monkeys.

We hiked the long Corteza trail in intermittent rain and had it completely to ourselves. The wildlife deep in the rainforest was much less abundant and much more shy than what we experienced near the river. Nevertheless, there were places that were just magical. Susan and I stopped on a boardwalk where the trees were huge. We both gaped in awed silence at this great cathedral of trees and tropical vegetation for a long time, we only spoke in smiles.

Squirrel Cuckoo

 We had spent much of the day hiking in rain and sometimes it came down strong. However, we did not put on our rain gear. Dairy boots and our small umbrellas proved very adequate. We would have gotten too hot in our rain jackets and rain pants.

The bus ride back to the retreat was again an adventure without English. We waited at the bus stop with two women who smiled at us while they made numerous cell phone calls. I had already noticed that people here typically have cell phones even if they live in what we gringos would consider build-it-yourself tin-roof shacks. 

Beautiful roots

Apparently, many more people get by without cars since bus service appears widespread and reliable. In this area, the covered official bus stops have no postings of the schedule or prices, not that we could read them anyway. We were a bit uncertain where to get off the bus, and pulled the bell a stop too soon, but better than a stop too late.

Moss grows everywhere, even on the palms!

Susan: The humidity of the rainforest is incredible. The nights were cool enough to be comfortable in our cabin without air conditioning, but everything became damp in time. The covers to my field guides curled while sitting out in our cabin, and our sheets felt slightly damp to the touch. They changed our towels often, because once used, they wouldn’t dry. Thankfully our cabin included two fans, which helped to dry out our dirty clothes somewhat. The fresh cheese served with breakfast each morning was very salty, no doubt to keep it from spoiling in the warm climate. But no salt was put on the table:  I bet salt would congeal in no time in the intense humidity.