Day 5: Beach-bound

For my last morning at La Selva, I wanted one final short walk in the jungle with a more peaceful feel than my previous one. It was a pretty tame trail, but I did manage to spot another poison dart frog and appreciate the sunlight breaking through the trees. 

Poison dart frog

How I want to remember this forest

Our van left right after breakfast to head back to San Jose, and with Carlos in our van, we had a mini-tour en route, stopping at a waterfall and a scenic overlook where they had hummingbird feeders and fruit set out to attract the local birds. It was such a colorful variety, but if I had to pick a favorite it was a purple hummingbird.

View from the overlook

Possibly my favorite bird at this stop

Taking in the view and identifying birds

Just a sample of the variety we saw

Lured by bananas

Also one of my favorite birds at this stop

We made great time to the airport, and it was a little hard saying goodbye to the group, but I was excited for the adventure ahead. My colleague Kayva was staying a little longer in San Jose, so she joined me for lunch at a restaurant near the offsite car rental. It was local fare and so filling! Picking up the rental was easy, but I got a bit of sticker shock when I was informed I’d need to buy additional insurance that basically doubled the cost. There weren’t really alternatives, but between that and the traffic caused by road construction and an accident, my road trip got off to an unpleasant start. My first stop was the San Jose temple, which I’d seen as we’d landed on Monday and which appeared to be just on the other side of the airport. Expecting a quick detour, I hadn’t expected the traffic would be so slow, but it was lovely and a bit of calm once I finally made it. 

Lunch with Kavya

San Jose Temple

Back on the road to the beach it was weekend traffic, so I didn’t make it to Playa Hermosa until after dark. It didn’t help that roads there aren’t always signed, so more than once I missed a turn and had to double back. My hotel was right on the beach, and between the long drive and an early start the next day, I was content to unpack and eat a granola bar for dinner listening to the waves from the balcony before calling it a night. And after a week at La Selva, it was pretty exciting to sleep with air conditioning again.