Our weekend in the rain forest

A view of the rain forest from the aerial tram.

Our tour in the rain forest didn't leave San Pedro until 10:30, which was very nice for a relaxing morning. Our guide in the bus told us all kinds of interesting information about the history of Costa Rica. After stopping for lunch, we got to the Arial Tram in the rain forest. Katherine and I left our bags in the cabin and then saw a video about the rainforest and how it is being endangered and then took the arial tram. Our guide was very interesting and pointed out lots of plants, trees, and flowers. Afterwards. we had a private walking tour with our guide, Leo. He was one of the most knowledgable people I've met. He seemed to know the names of every plant we saw! We saw a sloth, toucans, and a bird somewhat similar to a wild turkey, as well as wicker growing down from the trees, and tons of ferns and other plants. Below is the "hot lips" flower.

The picture below is of a tree with giant buttresses. Because the trees don't put down deep roots, this is one way for the tree to anchor itself. There are many types of trees that do this - very interesting to see!

After dinner we also went on a night walk, which was nice for seeing the stars, listening to the cicadas and owls, and even seeing a whole line of army ants making their way back home. One very interesting thing was that the night was pitch black! You couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. And at 9:00, the generator shut down and all the lights went out! The next day Leo took us on the tram again and we got off halfway through for a short hike. We saw a great view of the area, more toucans and a beautiful blue trogon, which is not spotted very often in that area. We also heard a macaw, but didn't see it. After the arial tram, Katherine and I got brave and did the canopy zip line!! Yes, we really did zip through the canopy strapped to a cable! It was a lot of fun, once I got over my initial fear. What a fantastic weekend!