The World’s Longest Freedom Review: Part 9.2featured
So I kind of forgot my Photobucket Pro account was set to expire. No good. Thankfully, I got that sorted out so we’re all good to go here for another year 🙂 Yay! Okay. Back to the review (which I will now be constantly saving so I don’t waste four hours writing something that gets lost in cyberspace when Blogger spazzes out).
The rain had subsided to a light mist when we arrived at the Veragua rainforest. The main restroom facilities were near the entrance, so we were urged to use them before we entered the rainforest. They also had a booth with souvenirs and rain ponchos for purchase. I put my poncho on but about 15 minutes into our tour, I just gave up on it since it was too hot to wear and the drizzle wasn’t that bad.
Our group was split into three smaller groups based on who wanted to go to the waterfall or not. See, what they don’t tell you on the boat is that while the visit to the waterfall is one of the most alluring elements to the tour, it’s 350 steps roundtrip to see said waterfall. Yeah. This excursion? Definitely not for the faint of heart or out of shape. Stephanie really didn’t know if she wanted to do 350 steps in the rain, but I really pulled for it since it was one of the reasons she wanted to go on this tour in the first place. We were placed in a group with 12 or so other people and Johnny, our bus tour guide, was also our rainforest tour guide and again, he was just really knowledgeable and fantastic. And with that, we ventured into the rainforest.
The Veragua Rainforest isn’t just a rainforest with an aerial tram. It also features many live exhibits, both indoors and outdoors…kind of like a zoo. We first set off for the outdoor exhibits, where we saw various species of insects, snakes and reptiles. Me? I didn’t go on a rainforest tour to look at lizards and snakes behind plexiglass windows so I kind of walked ahead a little bit and explored some of the sights around me. BTW, of the pics below, the snake was part of an exhibit and was behind glass. The spider was not.
After the outdoor exhibits, we walked over towards the indoor exhibits. Johnny stopped to point out some cool things, like the walking palm trees. See, these trees will literally walk until they find the perfect place to settle. Pretty cool, huh?
The first indoor exhibit we saw was the amphibian exhibit, which was split into two separate exhibits. In one, it was a regular exhibit, but the second was in a dark room. We had to wipe our shoes off and sanitize our hands before entering and the room was nearly pitch black, with just enough dim light coming from the lights studding the walkway to find our way around. Each exhibit window had a flashlight so we could try to spot some of the frogs, but half of the flashlights didn’t work.
The next indoor exhibit was also a two-fold exhibit. The butterfly exhibit was split into a kind of research lab and exhibit kind of room and then the actual butterfly sanctuary. I don’t remember much of Johnny’s spiel about the butterflies in the exhibit room because I was too busy looking at all of the different species of butterflies they displayed.
After that, we were led downstairs into the actual butterfly sanctuary, where we were free to frolic amongst the butterflies. I was kind of squicked out at the idea of a butterfly touching me, but someone on our tour told us they had been to another butterfly sanctuary in the Keys that week and they told them there that if a butterfly lands on you, it’s good luck. Nevertheless, a butterfly never landed on me (or anyone else, for that matter). I guess I’ll have to find my luck elsewhere.
Our last exhibit after the butterflies was outside in the hummingbird garden. It was a small area with lots of bright flowers (because hummingbirds are attracted to bright colors) where the hummingbirds are known to congregate. Much to my disappointment (and I was heavily disappointed), we didn’t see any hummingbirds.
After that, we were taken to a small cafeteria/shopping area for a short break before the next portion of our tour- the aerial tram ride. At this point, it was pretty obvious our tour wouldn’t be the advertised 4.5 hours, which wasn’t so good since we had no way of letting Mom know that we would be late but that we were okay. And we were hungry since we were expecting to be back on the boat for lunch. I didn’t see any actual food for purchase so I went into the small gift shop and grabbed a bag of M&Ms…for $2. Yes. A regular sized pouch of M&Ms that you buy at the grocery store check out…$2. And Stephanie bought us some water bottles because we were parched from the wet heat and constant activity. See, this tour is only advertised as a level-two of activity. It’s definitely a level-three, if not a four at some points (like the waterfall hike). Even if you forego the 350-step hike to the waterfall, this is a walking tour. We didn’t sit the entire tour unless we were eating, on the tram or on the bus. And it’s uneven walking on various inclines.
Anyways. As we were eating what are quite possibly the world’s most expensive M&Ms, our attention was drawn to the family at the table next to us. You know how there’s always one family that just is lacking self-awareness and you don’t know if you want to facepalm at their lack of awareness or shake them? This was them. There were two parents and their three kids who seemed to range in age from like 9 to 13. The kids fought the entire time. One of the boys just would constantly push his way to the front of groups, never saying “excuse me.” He’d scream a lot. The entire group was irritated by this family. So when we were sitting and resting before the tram ride, they caught our attention because the Mom pulled milk cartons out of her fanny pack. Yes. Milk. That she had smuggled off the boat. Not only am I quite certain that’s illegal, but it’s nearly 90 degrees and we’d been off the boat for at least three hours at that point. That’s just…not kosher. I avoided them like the plague from thereon out sheerly out of fear they’d puke near me from the spoiled milk.
After our short break, we were taken out to the tram dock to load the tram. We were broken up into two groups and loaded into two different trams. Thankfully, we weren’t with that family (and gosh, wouldn’t you hate to be known like that? As that family?) but the people who were loaded into a tram with them weren’t too happy. Yes. That family was that grating. I have to say…the tram ride was one of the main reasons we booked this tour. It sounded *so* cool. And frankly? I was a bit disappointed. It’s basically the same thing as the skyride to Paradise Point in St. Thomas. And all we really saw was greenery and trees (though someone claimed to see a sloth on the way back up). And it was gorgeous and all…but I expected *more*. Anyways, it was a 10-minute or so ride down and we congregated at the bottom to begin the hike to the waterfall.
The hike to the waterfall…it was a hike. 175 steps each way, both up and down…uphill inclines, downhill declines on uneven steps and stone-crusted walkways. This is not for the faint of heart. *Everyone* in the group was out of breath and aching by the time we got to the waterfall. And my feet were killing me because, smart person I am, I wore a brand new pair of gym shoes. Yeah. Not smart. We stopped at this insanely large and old tree for photos before making our way over to the observation area near the waterfall.
And this was the waterfall.
Yes. That’s it. To say it was disappointing would be, again, an understatement. It was small. It was unimpressive. And it really wasn’t all that pretty. And our view of it? Wasn’t so great from the observation area. So not only had Stephanie wanted to go on this tour for the waterfall, I had convinced her the hike was worth it…for this. And we had another 150 steps…up and down…just to get back. Yeah. It wasn’t a happy moment.
But back a-hiking we went. By the time we all got back on the tram, we were hot, sweaty, out of breath, achy, hungry, thirsty and just generally not feeling well. And we were already more than an hour overdue on our tour…and our tour wasn’t over…and we had an hour drive back to the boat…and no way to tell Mom we hadn’t been, like, kidnapped. The tram ride back up was just as uneventful as the ride down, but as disappointed as I was, I still took the time to take it all in. If you don’t stop and think “I’m really here…I’m really doing this” every once in awhile, you’ll look back and wonder why not. So everywhere I go while I’m traveling, I pause and reflect. I’m here. I’m doing this. I’m in Costa Rica. I’m in a real rainforest.
We made our way back to the shopping/cafeteria area and were served our “snack,” which was a cold bottle of juice, a plate of fresh fruit and a sandwich (I believe it was ham). I don’t eat deli meat so I just kind of picked at the bread and ate the fruit (which was very yummy and refreshing after the day in the wet heat). We had some time to check out the shop again (which was some random souvenirs, some handmade goods and things like $2 bags of M&Ms). It was becoming very clear that despite the limited shopping near the pier, we’d have no time to check out anything when we got back so I bought a few things that I had wanted to purchase here. I got a bag of Costa Rican coffee, a bag of chocolates and a bottle of locally-made coffee liquor. It was all pretty reasonably priced, too, which was surprisingly nice.
From there, we were led back to the front of the facility, given another chance to use the bathrooms and loaded back onto the busses. It began raining again on the drive back. And it was *really* bumpy. Stephanie told me later that she thought she’d be sick. She distracted herself by telling me that every tree we passed was a banana tree. “Look! Bananas!” Johnny told us a little more about the local area. How the area is broken up into little towns of sorts, each one having the same five things: a school, a church, a store, a soccer field and a restaurant/bar type place. But the ride back was just as sad as the ride there. It’s just a very poor area and it’s hard to see that. I don’t know how to describe it. It just kind of…aches…to know that as I’m sitting here, in my air conditioned house, on my nice, large bed, on my Macbook, there’s people in Costa Rica who live in houses that are barely bigger than my bedroom. It’s just…it’s sad. And it just makes me appreciate my life so much more and it makes me want to do something to help others.
As I said earlier, Johnny didn’t pander for tips AT ALL at any point in this tour, including when he wished us well and sent us back onto the boat. We tipped him anyways. Stephanie and I took our obligatory “We are here” pictures and hightailed it back on the boat. Stephanie ran to tell Mom we were, indeed, alive and well and me? I had a little mission to accomplish and not much time to do it in.
