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I had a few days in La Guacima to get caught up on personal things and to work up my Journal entry for La Fortuna. I had no destination on Monday when the breeders arrived but a phone call to Omar Castro set plans for Wednesday. I would spend a couple of days with another family, this time in Grifo Alto de Puriscal, southwest of La Guacima.
As a crow would fly, Grifo Alto is but 20 kilometers away. But to drive there is more like 60 kilometers as the road winds up the mountain to the Front Range overlooking the Central Valley. Omar doesn’t own a car so a neighbor friend, Anna, drove him down to meet me at The Butterfly Farm. The area has been pretty heavily impacted by coffee growing and timbering operations. There is also a reserve for some of Costa Rica's rapidly dwindling indigenous people. Like in the States, the natural habitat in the reserve appeared less damaged than the areas surrounding it.
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A number of towns in the area are perched on the ridge—mostly one street towns with houses lining the main road. Grifo Alto was no exception. Omar’s family lives in the house shaded by palm trees. Across the street is a huge park and soccer field at the end of which is a church. Nearby, as in many communities, is a truck loading chute for coffee and two doors down are the sheriff's office and then a well-stocked general store. |
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It is a quiet community. The most notable difference here was the weather. Like much of Costa Rica now, invierno (rainy season, or winter) is here. But in Puriscal, there is a fresh crispness to the air, especially following the daily rains. |
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We arrived in Grifo Alto just in time to sit down to lunch. After lunch, Anna took me to the vivero and guesthouse where I would spend the next two nights. It is located about 800 meters down the road. Seeming out of place where snow is unheard of, the A-frame house was quite comfortable—once I moved the bed on the first night. A group of bats lived in the peak of the roof and the first night gave me a shower of droppings. The view of trees and birds from the upper floor was nice to wake up to though. This bird’s nest was in a coffee plant just out the back door.
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