Day 3: Morning walks, Chocolate, and the Journey to La Fortuna (written by Bonnie Monte)

So far throughout the trip, we have been staying at Selva Verde Lodge in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, and it has been wonderful! Lush rainforests, wildlife, rafting down the river. There is still so much more to explore, so while we wrap up here at Selva Verde, we move on to La Fortuna in San Carlos, Costa Rica!! 

Morning Walks

At the start of the morning at Salve Verde, me and Sam went on a walk to the bridge that crosses over the river. We stood there for a moment taking in the scenery and the sunrise, at least, as it rested behind the clouds. 

Around six in the morning, Chito took us on another bird walk. We saw a yellow billed toucan sitting in a tree, then we saw some howler monkeys. I have only ever seen these monkeys in a zoo, so seeing them in their natural habitat made the moment even more special. You could hear them howling from where we spotted them, they sat high up in the trees across the street. Which only leads me to imagine they are even louder if standing directly below them. I can picture these monkeys being the loud, annoying neighbors of the rainforest. 

Along with seeing the wildlife, Chito spoke to us about the ecosystem and natural history of Costa Rica itself. One of the things he had mentioned was the biological corridor; forests that rise from sea level to the mountain tops, protected areas, and tons of biodiversity

At eight, we took off about five minutes down the road to learn all about chocolate! Obviously, it was amazing because we all got to taste the natural cocoa that grows on the property and all over Costa Rica, but it was also amazing because there was so much history and information that came with it.

Chocolate Tour

For example, did you know that only one type of insect pollinates the cacao fruit? Without this little bug, (nicknamed “chocolate midges) there would be no chocolate! 

Throughout the tour we were shown what these cocoa fruits looked like, they were almost a foot long, and came in different colors depending on how ripe the fruit was. They grow on trees, starting off as tiny white flowers and blooming from there! We also learned that when you plant a cacao tree, it takes about 3 years before you can see the cacao fruit grow! 

Later, we learned about the process to make chocolate with the seeds! To start off the process a sacrifice had to be made to ensure that these fruits we “just discovered” were not poisonous (these sacrifices would be made thousands of years ago when these fruits were first discovered, to ensure the safety of the village) and Bryan was that sacrifice! 

After Bryan successfully broke open the fruit and tasted the slimy, white outer shell of the seed inside the fruit (and didn’t die) we were next! We were advised to only taste the outer part of the seeds first, it tasted very sweet and the texture was slimy. After that, when we bit down, it went from sweet to bitter very quickly. Different from the white, slimy shell, the seed inside was brown. However, when we bit into it and chewed, we then spit it out and it was purple! I’ve never seen so many colors and tasted many different flavors in one fruit!

A little while later, Troy and I competed to see who could crush the cacao seeds faster, one person using an older method and someone using the new method. I took the old method and crushed the seeds with a wooden stick that had a rounded end. Meanwhile, Troy used a machine and, by the end, I won. 

Trust me. I raised my hand first when I finished and everyone else saw. 

After we finished up the chocolate tour, we headed to our next destination, La Fortuna. There we would be staying at a resort at the base of the Arenal Volcano. Before we headed to the resort, we hung out for a couple of hours in the village. There, we wandered around, taking it all in. Grace and I spotted a beautiful Catholic Church that sat in the center of the town, it was stunning, it stood in between the volcano and a fountain. We both went inside to look at the many designs and pay our respects.

Finally, after a long day, we get to the resort. We had some time before dinner to explore the and visit the hot springs! There were many different levels to the hot springs and the ones we tried were wonderful! Today has been amazing and I am very grateful today was the day I got to blog! I cannot wait to see what other adventures await!