Costa Rica - Day 6 (Jan 8, 2009)

Although our adventures while staying at La Quinta were marvelous, it was also very hot and humid in the lowlands rain forests. I'm anxious to reach our next destination high in a mountain valley where the air will be drier and cooler. Packing the bus is fairly simple with a group the size of ours and Niño is expert at the stowing the gear. We are en route to Savegre Hotel de Montaña shortly after 8:30 am.

As usual, our travels are made easy by stops for baños (bathrooms) as needed, bird and wildlife sightings, pleasant conversation and informative stories from Mark about the region through which we are traveling. We also make a stop for lunch en route to Savegre.

If I could only return to one place in Costa Rica, I would pick Savegre. Our rooms are beautifully appointed and clean, the gardens on the grounds are filled with over 50 varieties of plantings, the hummingbirds feed continuously at the feeders provided giving us ample opportunity for photographs, the air is cool and dry (mostly, more later on that topic), the food wonderful, the staff friendly and helpful, and so on! There are even special touches in our rooms... the spare roll of toilet paper on our bathroom counter is decorated with orchid blossoms, our towels are butterflies on the beds and our washcloths are flowers with soap as the blooms.

From Costa Rica - Day 6

We arrive in the afternoon after traveling a mostly unpaved, twisty, mountain road and manage a short hike around the grounds before gathering for dinner. We have fresh trout (among other choices at the buffet) for dinner from Savegre's aquaculture program which takes advantage of the mountain stream to funnel water to ponds where they raise trout for the table.

After dinner, we purchase a couple of bottles of wine from the bar, get wine glasses and head to Nancy and Evan's room where we attempt to start a fire in their fireplace and share some fun drinking wine while doing so. Our attempt at having a fire is largely unsuccessful due to the rock hard wood provided... and their is NO kindling either. At one point, we are all laughing so hard about the "fire fail" that we are sure the neighbors must hear us. Tamar tries to fan the fire into flames but even that doesn't work.