Day 2: From Sunrise to Sloths: A Day Deep in Selva Verde (Written by Samantha Raymon)

Today we were filled with adventures starting from our 6am birding walk (+ Troy, Bonnie and I tried to catch sunrise) followed by a lovely breakfast and morning hike (deeemed sloth scouting) and whitewater rafting. We ended the day with a night walk around Selva Verde

At the ripe hour of 5am, Troy, Bonnie, and I ventured to the sort of sketchy suspension bridge at Selva Verde to try to catch the sunrise. While we couldn’t catch much color, it was still a beautiful peaceful morning on the river.

Following up our sunrise, we joined the rest of the group for a morning bird walk where we got to see some pretty cool birds, amphibians, and ants (that are probably smarter than i’ll ever be). The ants formed highways through the forest grounds and marched leaves from various trees to their home. We learned from Chito’s great brain that these leaves were used to grow fungus that the ants could eat (geniuses).

Throughout the hike, Chito would spot a bird in various places we would never think to look and focus a scope on it for us to see. I think this pretty green bird was my favorite:

After our morning hike we had a noteworthy first breakfast of various fresh fruits, rice, beans, eggs, and sausage. Now, we heard our whole class from various readings that Costa Rican fruit is the best fruit ever but truly it was. The mango was so soft and juicy and the banana was so naturally sweet. I got to try papaya (unfortunately a little too melon-y for me) and passion fruit for the first time.

The passion fruit was fascinating to all of us as we ripped it open to find what looked like a gelatinous sac of eggs. Contrary to the mouthwatering description I just gave, it was very tasty. The gel around the seeds was sweet and melted in your mouth and the seeds had an interesting crunch that grew on you as you ate it. I would 10/10 eat again, which seemed to be a collective among the group (Please help, Bry
an won’t stop talking about passion fruit.

I would also like to take a moment here to acknowledge that yesterday Troy was so willing to eat beef tongue but drew the line at tasting this fruit.

After breakfast we met up with Chito to explore the intriguing locked other side of the suspension bridge. Venturing through the vast rain forest, Chito filled us with knowledge as we saw various types of plants and animals. We happened to spot a group of spider monkeys, who we learned don’t have thumbs and are deemed their name because of the ways they have to travel and hold on to trees (Thanks Chito). This is a rare siting for Selva Verde so it felt like we were the chosen ones. I’ve never really seen monkeys at home so this is definitely going to be a highlight of the trip! Although, they did start to get mad at us for being loud and very graciously threw sticks at us.

After some relaxing post-hike swimming and devouring our lunch, we got to whitewater raft down the Sarapiquí river that flows alongside Selva Verde. We powered through the rapids with no one falling out of the boats (win). During the ride we saw many different types of birds, a howler monkey, and a sloth! The guides pulled over to let us all cliff jump, very unexpected, and very fun. Normally, I think I’d be more hesitant to jump off a cliff of any form but the adrenaline from the rapids was high. In my boat, we managed to talk about a range of topics from anime to life advice all within the span of an hour with the guide. What happened in the other boat, I have no idea but I’m certain ours was better. #bestboat

When we got back to the whitewater rafting grounds, we got to scavenge some more fresh fruit and we saw another sloth, this one with a baby! After sloth hunting from the second the plane landed, this was the perfect way to end the evening.