Saturday, April 21, 2012
We heard howler monkeys off in the distance this morning. Early, when the birds were at their peak. Happily, Mick and I both got back to sleep and managed to sleep in until after 6:30. Oh, frabjous day!
Delicious coffee, piña empanadas, and almonds once again tided us over until breakfast was served at the restaurant here. After breakfast, Jim Gale took us on a tour of Osa Mountain Village. It is very cool, what they are doing here. They have a large organic community garden as well as chickens, goats, rabbits, and a couple of tilapia ponds. All the food produced is free to the OMV residents as part of their $150/month homeowners dues. They have other plans to help themselves become energy self-sufficient. What I like even better is that they seem to be good neighbors with the Costa Rican community around them. In addition to providing good jobs at good wages, they do business with local farmers and other businesses. They are not just rich gringos in an isolated community.
After our tour, we hung out and napped and read, had lunch, napped & read some more, then went to the pool for a dip & some sun. It was late enough by then that we did not get fried. The beauty and peacefulness here are almost beyond description. As evening arrived, the birds and insects started up big time, and the howler monkeys were MUCH louder than they were this morning.
Now, after a delicious dinner of paella, we are set for the evening. We also have some eggs and onions to make breakfast for ourselves in the morning, since Ricardo who runs the restaurant won’t be there as he’s heading to Panama early. So we’ll be eating eggs from the hens we saw this morning!
Tomorrow: the zipline tour, then off to our next destination.