Costa Rica Day 3

 5/28/26

God is so good - let me say it again, God is so good. 

Last night the storms were so heavy.   Hard rain, thunder and lightening - I woke up several times and every time I prayed Lord please don't let it rain tomorrow.   I wake up to get ready - the rain stopped.   It was such a blessing as this morning's adventure is likely the best I've ever had, anywhere.    I mean literally the best.

We left the hotel at 7 with our tour guide Zender - very nice guy and headed to Hanging Bridges Nature Preserve. Were we proceeded to spend 4 hours seeing the most amazing plants, animals, birds and reptiles anywhere in the world.  We did a private tour which normally takes folks ~ 2 hours by the brochure; it took us 4, so worth it though.  The forest itself was magnificent, but because of the storms last night the creatures were also super active.  Every tour guide we saw was commenting on how rare it was - did I tell you God is good?

We saw

• poisonous dart frogs
• a snake
• 3 different types of monkeys
• a ant eater or relative thereof
• A squirrel type thing that wasn't a squirrel
• a tarantula
• 2 types of Toucans
• Beautiful flora
• Trees galore with entire ecosystems growing on them

Word and images can't describe.  Seriously the best excursion experience or may any trip experience I have ever had.   I highly recommend but if you do it get a guide - you won't see the stuff otherwise.  Zender was amazing,  You could tell he was actually enjoying being there; he loves nature and sharing it with others.   

After the hike we came back to the hotel, showered, and went to eat some foods.  We at at the Costa Rican inspired restaurant on the property and it was tasty but I think both of us were ready for a nap so we headed back to the room and rested for a couple of hours before getting up to go on our next adventure.

We met our tour guide at 4:40 and drove 45 minutes.  The is a family home that has been slightly converted to support tours; but still 100% owned and operated by the family who live there.   We got there and it started to rain... hard which put a damper on our plans so we pivoted a bit.   Instead of doing dinner at the end they served it first.   Costa Rican dishes are what we call "meat on the bones" back home - this dish was chicken cooked into a rice mixture with black beans and salad.  It was so good - we also had a lentil soup that was amazing!  

By this time the rain had at slowed down to a drizzle and the lightening had stopped so we decided to go ahead with at least some of the tour - frogs at night.  We saw so many cute little guys - we only did I think 1/2 of the regular tour but it was wet and raining... that being said it was also fun.  How many folks can say they hiked in the rain, at night, to see frogs?    Hike... well that may be an exaggeration; walked around a person's well established yard trail...   It was cool and I'm grateful we pushed on and did it.

We came back; enjoyed the hot springs for a bit and are now both tired and about to go to bed.   Fun day for sure!    Tomorrow more adventures are on the horizon.

Jack's Favorite Thing: Seeing the monkeys in the wild.