Carate

Once we arrived at the end of the road, we unloaded our packs and gear, Brookie laughing at my little shoulder bag and high heeled sandals, and began the 45 minute walk along the misty beach toward the entrance to one of the parks. We came to a heavily rip-tided stream and had to take off shoes, roll up pants, or take off pants, which several young women did, wading - or swimming - across in their underpants. Funny, I didn't notice any of the men stripping down like that... There was this little cart that La Leona Lodge sends over for its guests, but I didn't notice how the heck THEY got across...

Once we got to Leona, I was set to stay. We'd had several days of long adventures and drives, and I was happy to settle in for a day, so we booked a cabin/tent here, close to the park, overlooking the waves, and hammocked to the hilt. Meals were included in the price, so we had a hearty lunch and lounged awhile before we trekked off into the rain forest to see an endless array of Macaws, monkeys, etc... Before we left, Alehandro, our friend who steered us to this haven, walked us up to the top of the hotel's trails to show us the panoramic views. He built the steps along the trail and some of the cabins on the site; he also was responsible for one of the wooden sculptures in the open lobby, a whimsical depiction of a macaw with an egg nestled into the belly of the piece of wood. In fact, Alehandro had to return to Jimenez that night, but he met us when we returned the next day and brought me two plants

of Momochino, which is the spanish word for the red spiky asian fruit called rambutan. I bought a kilo of them on the way down, and we munched on them in the car. I polished them off by lunchtime.

Here is one of the raucous macaws we saw in the rainforest, which was dark and dense in places, so we went down to the beach and lolled on the black, poppy-seed sand. The waves were gorgeous, and I wallowed just long enough to feel the tug and pull of the rip-tide but allowed myself the pleasure of floating and drifting back to shore.

After the evening meal in the main lobby, we were ready to crash but had no real flashlight, and the hotel has no electricity although they do provide candles. When we stumbled back to the tent, we tried to light the candles, but the matches were so wet that we had to hunker down on the floor to get out of the wind and wet. Here is a photo of our garden bathroom where the toilet sat to the far left, overlooking the shower (through a coconut head) and the little garden. We slept soundly and left at 7:30 in the morning, forging the tidal stream andco bumping along the ride in the refugee truck back to Jimenez. Then a 6 hour drive brought us safely back to Bejuco and our beddies. We ate a comforting dinner of shrimp rice at Hotel Bejuco where I also use the internet. Bless them.