La Reserva Juanilama

 This morning I scratched the two well fed dogs from Miss Junie's. 

Then I walked into a quiet town, sat in the park and observed a heron in a boat!

While I was waiting for breakfast the rest of the group joined me. I offered to correct mistakes in the English part of the menu and they soon put me to work ("batter spaghetti" puzzled me but, of course, they meant spaghetti with butter).

We left at 8:30 and had a slow boat ride back to La Pavona to wait nearly an hour for the bus due to a road closure. Some of our group readvthis 10 minute guide to learning Spanish in CR:

(photo by Werner Eberle)

Daniel talked to a Spanish traveler (the one who told me to use the jungle as my bathroom when I was suffering from diarrhea)

 It was a comfortable van but it took a long time to reach Centro Turistico Las Iguanas restaurant in Muelle. We did see iguanas next to the restaurant! And a sloth or two on the way there but they were high up in a tree.

Sloth

               Iguana

Finally we got to our destination for the evening,  a community where women hosted tour groups like us and offered tours, salsa classes, cooking classes, etc. I had a room with a fan and my own bathroom.  The tiny Chihuahuas and the cat were friendly but everyone was friendly.  The meal was good but I had eaten too much at lunch and my stomach has shrunk from not eating that much lately.

I got to speak Spanish to my host's 18 year old daughter and their 19 year old male friend who acted as a guide to the waterfall. The Hungarian man came back soaked and I thought for sure he had ignored the rule of not going in the waterfall but no, it is just that hot and humidity here that he was soaked from sweating during the hike! 

Sandra and her daughter, Ali

I stayed behind and walked a bit, three local dogs coming with me. I recovered a little from a small dog this morning (who I fed some dog treats to) jumping in the water when we got in the boat, trying to keep up with us. We saw her give up and go back to the hotel but where did she live?

Most of the group except me and Carolin (probably in part because of her lower level of English) got obsessed with a riddle that Daniel posed, and it went on for hours and the next morning! Here it is:

Mary is 24 years old. She is twice as old as Ann used to be back when Mary was as old as Ann is now. How old is Ann now?