Day 4 - Arriving at Lost & Found

Tegan and Elliot were outside in the courtyard early checking out the parrot Coco and they both got to have the parrot perching on their arms. They really loved the parrots and the toucan, Tegan liked the 2 labradors that lived there as well. When I completed the latest blog entries we went on down the street to get some breakfast. The crepe place just a few doors down was closed so we opted for the bakery across the street.

Elliot and I each had a cinnamon bun for breakfast while Mom and Tegan had some local styled pastry, coffee and juices. Nearing our checkout time we quickly ran back to our hostel to get packed and grab a taxi to the David bus terminal. I paid $14 for the 4 of us to go about 100 kms in distance and to our next few nights of accommodations. I, Correen and the kids jumped on the bus and settled into the back seats.

We passed by many small farms where the family worked together working the land by hand and on horses. The drive up into the Fortuna Reserve was amazing with vistas of rolling hills and clouds blanketing the mountains at the higher altitudes. The roads were quite good considering the shear slope of the hills the mini-bus was tackling. Only about 1 1/2 hours into our ride and we were dropped off at the foot of the hill that our hostel resided. Correen's reaction to me reading that we had a 10-15 minute walk uphill to reach the hostel was priceless.

It was lucky for us and more for me that Patrick, one of the owners of the Lost & Found hostel, had also just arrived and was willing to assist me with getting our big black bag up the hill. I had to stop about 5-6 times on our ascension of the road that turned into some gnarly singletrack. Reaching the top and the hostel the kids encountered the capuchin monkey that they had rescued and was now leashed into an area on the property.

While we waited for our room to be organized for us, we got a tour of the place including where everything was and how everything operated. Tegan and Elliot liked the hammocks right from the start. Elliot really liked one of the girls staying there, her name was Diana and they swung on the hammock, played games or watched movies together. Tegan was always getting herself involved in card games with others as the hostel including learning Poker and an Israeli game called Yannif.

We suggested to the staff that we would like to do a couple of tours while we were there and the 2 we selected were the coffee plantation and the hot springs. Tegan upon learning that there was a treasure hunt immediately engaged her persuasive self to asking us if we could do this. Elliot was also keenly interested in the treasure hunt.

The pantry at the Lost & Found will keep you out of hunger, but the diversity of dishes you could create from the stocked ingredients is few. If you wanted to expand your mealtime choices you would surely need to resupply with some food from a super-mercado. I made spaghetti with meat sauce and fresh veggies including a native root vegetable that had the same consistency of an apple but with just a watery taste.

Not long after our supper we all went to bed and half-enjoyed the rain as it pelted the metal roof all night long.