Today I did better and slept until 5. The night had been filled with more hard storms and as I woke I saw the storm had passed. Our cabin had a full wall of glass facing the volcano. Until now we had only seen glimpse of it. I had seen a peek of the top for about a minute and never the full thing. Even when it was sunny there seems to always be a layer of clouds up top. To get a clear view of the volcano AND the eruption is special. Our first trip we got it the full time and we had no clue how rare that was. As the sun rose the clouds lifted and I got to watch from the comfort of my bed as the rest of the family kept sleeping. It was quite the unveil.
As we got ready for the day, my son asked "is that the volcano?". He was the only one who had noticed that it had completely been exposed. Minutes later we were treated to an eruption before the clouds swallowed up the view again.
Breakfast was just as good as yesterday. The kids were excited that the tortillas were replaced with French toast. We gobbled it down before getting directions to our morning destination Proyecto Asis.
When I was planning this trip I read about Proyecto Asis several places. People seemed to rave about it. They are an animal refuge that you can tour. For those really interested you can spend a half day there and volunteer with them too. It sounded like people really enjoyed the volunteering and it was a worthwhile organization.
We got there 2 minutes late and they were starting so we hustled. Our resort had been dead on with directions and times this whole trip. I had read that a lot of people have gotten lost here but we had no problems with our map.
Our group was us another family with two I kids a few years older and a couple in their twenties. We were a "small" group. We met our guide Carlos and were reminded not to hug any animals.
The next two hours were filled with up close and personal meetings and stories about Costa Rica's most abundant animals - boar, monkeys, ocelot, parrots , toucans, boa constrictors and macaws. It was fascinating to learn that most parrots were sold to Mexico illegally from Central America so they could be sold "legally" to the rest of the World. The birds want to exist in pairs which is another reason they don't make good pets. You can only tell their sex my blood samples. At the refuge all the parrots pair off. It was obvious why one was "set free" by its owners. It had decided that it would mimic the sound of the crying baby at its home. Seven times a day, it was crazy.
We learned a lot about monkey behavior and how to (or not interact) with each type. We also heard that Justin Bieber was loathed for his ignorant idea at owning a white-faced monkey that has caused many local Costa Ricans too think it's okay to bring one in as a pet.
They had a baby howler monkey which was very unusual. First one in two years. He was a highlight for everyone in the group. One of the toddler spider monkeys likes to play and be tickled. We were told it was ok to play but to keep our heads back. All the monkeys like hair. My daughter couldn't help herself and had to get a closer look. Before I knew it the monkey had let go of Josh and had her hair. One bun in each hand. Screaming ensued. We got the monkey off her hair without a problem. She wasn't in any danger. He wanted to play but she listened and stayed back from the cages from there on out.
After the two hour tour was done we officially transitioned into the volunteer portion. Our entire group remained for it. We had about 15 minutes for a bathroom break and to grab some lemonade and fresh fruit. Just enough down time before we were put to work. The kids were given a pile of bananas to peel. The adults were given an assortment of fruits to slice. Everything was broken up into baskets and each kid was assigned something to be in charge of. Even our three year old was given a bucket of bird seed and corn mix to carry.
We then proceeded around the refuge revisiting all the animals and feeding them.
I think the kids enjoyed the monkeys the most but I thought the birds were pretty spectacular. Having a toucan eat straight out of your hand or walking into a cage with 40 parrots rushing at my food-filled hands was pretty crazy. The macaws were gorgeous up close, too.
At noon our visit came to an end and we said our goodbyes. We agreed it was one of the best tours we had ever been on and made sure to support the property. They invited us to come back for a few days sometime where we could work with the animals and work on our Spanish while staying there. We might have to take them up on that offer.
We had an hour before we were to be at our afternoon activity so we headed into La Fortuna for lunch. Both the kids wee asleep in minutes. We found one of the restaurants Josh remembered eating at before, Lava Lounge, I have no recollection of this place but it is actually named on the map from Leaves and Lizsrds. Other places in town had been labeled with "not good". I took this as an indirect recommendation.
Since the kids were still asleep I stayed in the car with the kids while Josh grabbed a table and ordered. Naps didn't last long in a 90 degree car. I didn't think keeping our diesel machine running next to an open air restaurant was a good idea. My meal was good. Josh said it was more commercial than he remembered. We brought home leftovers in case we needed a backup plan for dinner...
That morning we had talked to the owner at the resort about the weather and the weather forecast for the day. We were told to expect storm around 3:30 or 4 and then they'd be done around 5:30. We had reservations at our favorite family owned hot springs from 1-5. Our other option was 5-9 but that seemed too late. The weather looked fine so we headed Ecotermales. As we got closer the clouds started in. We got to the parking and we were the ONLY ones. Not a good sign since it was 1:30. We talked to the guy at the front and he said they expected the storm to hold off for an hour and a half to two hours. That would put is closer to 3:30 and may be all the kids could take. We decided to do that and just have dinner whenever the storm started. We still dreamed about this dinner after 9 years.
5 minutes later we were all changed and dipping into the coolest hot pool. Our own paradise hot spring pools all to ourselves. Pretty magical. For about two minutes. And the skies opened. My son ran for the nearby shelter. My daughter and I splashed around. Enjoying the ice cold rain drops mixing with the hot water. This has to be a bucket list item I didn't know to add.
Quickly my fairytale was interrupted by thunder and gathered the family. We decided to wait it out under the shelter. Thirty minutes went by and Josh and I realized this might not pass anytime soon. Our parenting gymnastics could only keep them occupied for so long. As the thunders became louder Josh went to speak to the front desk and was offered a full refund. It was really nice but they probably shouldn't have told us 2 hrs when it was 2 minutes. We should have had more common sense too. Oh well. It was another adventure.
As we headed back to the resort the thunders had turned into strong lighting bolts across the entire area. We made the right choice. We have to make a hard decision tomorrow as to whether to keep our original plan or try again earlier in the day.
It was pouring again when we got back. We had missed the cutoff for telling them our dinner selections but Josh caught the staff in the kitchen and was able to get them before they started pulling their cooking list. We got back to the cabin and decided to just rest and enjoy the storm through the open windows. The bunkbeds were transformed into a fort that became a game of Animal. I only caught pieces of it but the kids were acting our different animals in the wild and from the refuge that morning. We got some time to just chill. As Josh said. How can you come to a rainforest and not enjoy the rain? True.
The biggest lessons we learned this day: Probably not to over plan a day during rainy season. It's going to rain. Enjoy it.
Part of the fun is the unexpected. Go with it. Especially with kids - they have no idea.
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