We got to the waterfall during our hike!

We arose in the morning to packed bags, a bus, and a wonderful breakfast prepared by Dona Cecilia, our host for the past six days.  We ate, packed our bags, and loaded onto the bus while bidding a fond farewell to our World Leadership School guide, Javier, and a small dog named Preston who had been appearing throughout our stay.

After a little while on the bus, we arrived at the Paraiso Quetzal, an eco lodge designed to preserve forest between two national parks.  We spent time before our hike with the hummingbirds at the back of the main building.  The birds were very used to humans and calm.  They were very colorful from the front, but from the side they looked brown and gray.  We then spent about an hour while hiking through the rainforest.  We looked for quetzals, a rare but beautiful bird.  Sadly, we did not see any.  We did see many different plants, including a one-thousand-year-old Cyprus and a leaf that, as our new guide, Walter, explained, is perfect for toilet paper when in survival situations in the jungle.  We finished our hike by going up a ladder to a tower in which we saw the picturesque view of the Talamanca mountains covered by Cloud Forest.  We then moved on to lunch and souvenir shopping.

Shortly, we were on our way to Hacienda Baru.  An hour into the trip, we found out that there was no time for zip-lining, which was disappointing, but Walter had rescheduled for early Monday morning, which will be nice because it will be cooler and dryer than in the afternoons.  We were very happy to find that the wildlife-reserve/hotel we were staying at was clean and beautiful.  We swam in the pool, surrounded by iguanas, and eventually moved on to the beach, where we found many smooth, clean sea-stones and hermit crabs.  After the beach we continued on to having pizza at a restaurant and coming home to a storm complete with thunder, lightning, and a downpour.

We could not upload the blog last night because we could not get WiFi.

A note to my family (Mae wrote this blog): I miss you guys so much but I am having so much fun here.  Please feed my guinea pigs and get Sunshine a mouse.  I love you guys!