Previous page Because of the muddy conditions, we spent most of our time in the rancho, a thatched structure built for entertaining. Dennys did most of the cooking calling on Angie when she needed help. On the first night, Albert caught seven tilapia in about 20 minutes, using a hand-line and worms as bait. Fresh fish is always great, but so was the chicken killed the following night. These meats were of course accompanied by a basic food type I have eaten daily in just about every home—gallopinto, rice and beans. Also commonly served is fried ripe bananas, or green bananas cooked with the beans. . .. When we weren’t in the field, or sleeping in the house, this is where we called home. A chicken sitting on seven eggs in the cabinet behind the bar also thought it was a pretty good place. Dennys was sad that I wouldn’t be there on Monday when they hatched so I could take some pictures for her. . .. We set up the black light across the road at the forest’s edge for the first night. Fortunately Johnny had a fully charged auto battery so we were able to run it for all three nights. We were fighting a full moon so even when we moved it a hundred yards into the forest, there was a very poor showing. One species of termites had a major flight, and of course, the ants loved the easy pickings in the morning. Click here to see the few things that did come in. . . While the rancho and garden were nice to be in, it was the forest we had come to explore. On Thursday, all of us went for a long hike further up the road. They really wanted me to see a catarata (waterfall) deep in the forest. After breakfast and chores on Friday we headed out, Dennys staying behind. I am not sure how far we went but it was a good workout as we went down and back up a deep canyon to get to there, following the trail that Johnny blazed with a machete. The river wasn’t flowing as much as they would have liked me to see, but it was still a nice place to spend some time. Unfortunately, it started rain so we had to head back. Even with my poncho and plastic garbage bags covering the others, we were pretty well drenched by the time we got back. On these two hikes and in the evening nearby with flashlights, we encountered many creatures and interesting plants. Click here to see the waterfall and other natural wonders we saw. . . After the hike we took our turns in the shower and I puttered around, photographing things that caught my eye, like these pre-Columbian artifacts that had been found around the farm. A neighbor boy had come by, and we just hung out, played cards and socialized before and after dinner. Really quite a nice time. . Saturday morning had come too quickly. Dennys and Johnny would have liked us to stay longer but Carlos needed to get back to his butterflies and I needed to get back to La Guacima. Since Dennys and Johnny were headed to town for shopping, they drove back down the mountain, giving us a last chance to visit. My ride was waiting at the pavement and this is where I thanked everyone for a great time and promised that they would see me again. Everyone else was headed to Guacimo but since bus service is better from Guapiles, my "chauffeur" was taking me there. Within 10 minutes I was headed back to San Jose, arriving with an hour to kill before catching my ride back to La Guacima. .