Day 23 - Laying low at Finca Mystica

The howler monkeys started their vocal choir this morning around 4am and they sounded like they were no more than 50m from our cabana. The whole jungle sounded as though it was waking with the coming sun. I stayed in a half sleep state until Elliot woke up and we went up to they in the hammocks and play his DS.

We had a good hour or more to ourselves and it was very nice. When Mom and Tegan stumbled up the walkway, we got to ordering our breakfast. The food here is very delicious and everything seems to be grown locally or onsite. I spent some of the morning updating the blog, Correen enjoyed her coffee and reading online updates from friends while the kids played with everything.

After a equally yummy lunch experience, we set off for the beach where there were suppose to be tons of kids for Tegan and Elliot to play with. However we went to the wrong beach and it was just the 3 of us. Correen stayed back to baby sit the coffee and pay me back for leaving the kids with her back in SJDS. The beach we were at was of black sand and rocks. Entering the water with bare feet was challenging as there were bands of sand and rocks, the later being uncomfortable on the feet. We played with the soccer ball we brought from the retreat in the water. Monkey in the middle was fun and keeping Elliot out of the middle required some creative cheating and play.

No kids ever did show, so we went back to Finca Mystica. On the walk back we saw a mom and her young Howler monkey. While back relaxing in the common area I stumbled upon a large quantity of ants moving across the front of the steps. It was like a super highway for ants and there must have been many thousands crawling down the path. The kids and I spent a good amount of time observing the ants. We tried to find where they were coming from and the direction they were heading. We were told by Angela that sometimes the ants move across the property and they will cover the entire walls of the cabanas. They basically clean out the spiders and other insects as well as any food they can find. We observed the ants walking on spider webs and crawling down the tunnels made of webs. We even shot a video of the action.

The sunsets were incredible and you could sit and watch the dropping sun cast shades of red and orange onto the clouds as it sunk deeper in into the horizon. Thinking that the sky might clear up and stay clear throughout the night I setup my tripod and camera to photograph the stars. Up to the common area for a snack and then to bed.