Today we left Eladio’s for our 9.25 mile hike to Pocosol. I started the hike with N again. The first part of the hike was so steep I had to use my hands to pull myself up, and my legs weren’t really long enough to scale all the big steps. I began feeling pretty dehydrated after the first hill and had to drop back. I took it easy and ended up feeling pretty healthy by the end of the BIG HILL (Johel warned us that this part was pretty difficult, and advised us to have a “heavy snack” once we got to the top). I felt 100% better after eating my heavy snack and was able to make good time down the hill. I caught up with N again and we finished the hike together. About ten minutes from our destination, we came upon a beautiful lake, that actually reminded me a lot of lakes I’ve seen in the States. Some people jumped in and were swimming, but N and I decided to make it to the end first. We were greeted at the end of the upward slope with a magnificent view of the misty rainforest, a tree full of odd hanging nests, and a large and inviting wooden dorm building with a mural on the side. The forest looked exactly how I’d imagined a rain forest to look, with layers of trees in varying shades of green fading off into the distance and got swallowed by the mist.

The morning was spent walking around the area and doing species reports. It was cool to be in a real rain forest (it’s the first time we’ve really been in one, besides on the continental divide in Monteverde). We spent the whole morning walking, which was a bit tiresome considering we did so much walking yesterday. After dinner, we learned a little background on the place we’re staying. We’re staying a place called “Eladio’s,” because it is, in fact, a place owned by a guy named Eladio. He used to live and farm out here, but then became employed by one of the National Parks in the area, sold his land to them as part of a nature preserve, has worked as an assistant to several biologists for the past 30 years (so he knows nearly every species in the area), and also hosts student groups. Eladio has seen the transformation of the land from primary old growth forest, to pasture, to completely deforested (the land was used to mine sulfur for napalm during the Vietnam War), to the beautiful secondary forest that we hiked through today. He has also seen all the changes that the government and nature preserves have imposed on the land as it has changed hands. (Also we’re all getting eaten alive here by mosquitos and giant horse flies. I look like I have some sort of terrible medieval disease).