Costa Rica Day 7

Our last full day in Costa Rica!
I went birding in the morning with Dr. Kanter and few other students. It was incredibly windy, so there weren't many birds out. We had breakfast at the cabins (rice and beans and eggs and cheese).
We went to MVI and got a really cute lecture from on of the original Quaker settlers in Costa Rica. He talked about the reason for the immigration and the difficult journey into the country. It was really inspiring. After the lecture, we took a walk through the forest and got to a gigantic strangling fig tree. The strangling fig is a vine that climbs up an existing tree and out competes it for light. Over time the original tree will die and rot away, leaving a hollow tree in its wake. This hollow tree is very easy to climb. It was so fun! The tree is all tangled and full of foot and hand holds. I got 20 ft or more up the tree without even noticing.
We got lunch at a local restaurant. I shared lunch with Laura and Dr. Kanter. We got a soup, and a salad, and a cheviche and a plantain chip with dip and it was all delicious and entirely too much food. We were then picked up by a van for our free afternoon activity. Some students went zip lining, some students hung out on the cabin grounds or hiked. Dr. Kanter and Laura and I went for a hike on the Suspended Bridges at a park nearby. It was very cool. We were the only ones on the trail the entire time. We got within 5 feet of a family of howler monkeys as they crossed one of the bridges. The bridges themselves were very cool. The traveled across ravines in the forest and let us get right into the canopy of the trees. The plant life here is so diverse and complicated and beautiful. I had a great time on the hike. The running joke was that it looked like a was a kid out for a hike with Mom and Dad.
On the way back we just missed the last bus so we got a taxi and rushed back to the cabins. We went to a nice restaurant for dinner. I had steak and potatoes and peppers with soursop juice. Then the group went to a Quaker compound where we were taught some square dances. It was a whole lot of fun and my partner, Kris was very enthusiastic and great to dance with.
Then most of the kids went to town for more dancing and I went back to the cabins. Partially because I was completely out of cash and partially because I wasn't feeling great. I then spent most of the night puking. Oh well.