After leaving Rancho Margot yesterday morning, we made a quick stop to Arenal National Park to walk on some lava flows (and I stupidly left my camera battery in my suitcase in the back of the bus, so no photos) and then set out for our cross-country drive. Here's a map:
We arrived in Puerto Viejo shortly after dinner. Puerto Viejo reminds me of time spent in Jamaica on account of the Afro-Caribbean influence found in the dialect, food, Rastafarian style, etc. Very different atmosphere from the northwest part of the country, but as with anywhere we go in Costa Rica, the east coast Ticos are incredibly warm and accommodating.
At dinner, we were met by three representatives from ATEC. ATEC is a local non-profit dedicated to promoting tourism of the Talamanca region through LOCAL guides and businesses. Read about ATEC here. ATEC is responsible for coordinating our activities while we are in Puerto Viejo. One of the representatives, Junior, is this funky Rastafarian with a great sense of humor and laid-back attitude. He has and will continue to accompany our group on all of our excursions while we are in the region.
Oh, I should mention that our hotel accommodations in Puerto Viejo are pretty baller. We are staying in La Costa de Papito, which is a local restaurant, spa, and hotel. But really, it's not a hotel. It's a bunch of beautiful bungalows.
Okay, onto Day 10.
We woke up and ate breakfast, met Junior, and set out for the Manzanillo Wildlife Reserve. We were met by our two local guides, Omar and Tino, who split the students into two groups (one guide per group). Marta and Junior went with Omar, and I went with Tino.
Before we entered the Reserve, Tino had us stop by his house so he could change into shoes that were suitable for trekking through the jungle. En route to his house, he gave us a tour of his INCREDIBLE garden. For about half an hour, we played "guess what plant this is" using our senses of taste, smell, sight, and touch. We got to see/try/taste/touch cinnamon, ginger, all-spice, starfruit, breadfruit, cashew, turmeric, lemongrass, citronella, tattoo ferns, mimosa, and probably 3-4 other things that have slipped my mind already.
Oh, and pipa (green coconut).
Our tour through the Reserve was incredible. Interestingly enough, each tour group got a very different tour experience. Marta/Omar's group carried a theme of "Nature is kind! Look at all the wonderful things nature wants to share with you!" They got to try all sorts of wild plants (cacao, banana) and see cute, cuddly sloths up-close on the beach.
Our group, on the other hand, got the "Everything in nature wants to kill you" tour. Don't get me wrong, we LOVED it. But I just found it funny that our tours were so different.
Things that we saw/did on our tour:
1) Lots of plants with barbs sticking out of them--nature will defend itself by any means possible!
2) The bullet ant. According to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index (a real thing--read about it here), the bullet ant has the most painful sting of any insect in the world. Schmidt, the entomologist who came up with the pain index, actually allowed himself to be stung by all of the animals included on the scale. Yowzers.
3) Red poison-arrow frog.
4) Spectacled caiman.
5) Tiger ant. Not as bad as the bullet ant, but still looks pretty gnarly.
6) 2 eyelash pit vipers. Surprisingly enough, the Gerbers kids have always been interested in learning about snakes, and this was probably *the* animal that I wanted to see the most while in Costa Rica. Eyelash vipers are arboreal venomous snakes that are known for their distinct superciliary scales over their eyes (hence the name) and for their color variations. We saw a bright yellow viper and a brownish one that really, REALLY blended in with its surroundings.
7) Some big-ass spiders. And I let one CRAWL ALL OVER MY FACE.
8) The most adorable red-eye leaf frog.
8) Howler monkeys, sloths, birds, butterflies--you know--the boring stuff (I kid, I kid...).
Everything in Costa Rica wants to kill you. Except the cute little red-eyed leaf frog.
After the Reserve, we stopped for lunch at a local family's house (the Caribbean chicken was delicious), and with with beach-ready-food-bellies, we went to Punta Uva for a service project and a few hours of beach time. In half an hour, we picked up approximately 45 lbs of trash that had either washed down the mountains during heavy rains or washed up on shore from careless tourists and locals. The students were all very enthusiastic and worked hard during the clean-up. After the morning's trek through the jungle and beach-clean-up, we were ready for a swim.
After a short break at the hotel, we headed to Miss Veronica's Place, a local B&B where Miss Veronica and her family offer cooking classes and a bunch of other historical/cultural activities for visitors.
Miss Veronica is of Afro-Caribbean descent. She wanted to prove that not all Afro-Caribbean dishes involve rice and beans, so we cooked an absolutely-mouthwatering-jaw-on-the-floor-it-was-so-good-I-would-have-bathed-in-the-sauce fried mackerel with boiled yuca and a salad. Miss Veronica was lovely--such a kind, hospitable woman...and a hell of a good cook.
I am going do to my best to recreate the recipe here, but I have no measurements (because, like all real cooks, Miss Veronica doesn't need to measure) and I'm trying to piece ingredients back from memory--students, help me out!
Fish:
Dry rub:
3-4 cloves fresh garlic
turmeric
black pepper
salt
oregano
Batter:
Corn flour or brown flour (we used corn --gluten free!)
Salt
Pepper
??
Coat fish in dry rub, dip in corn flour mixture, fry in oil until cooked
Serve with onion/pepper mixture:
1 LARGE onion (white or yellow, but it needs to be big) cut into very thin slices
1 scotch bonnet pepper thinly chopped (CAUTION: this sucker is really, REALLY spicy. It gives the dish a great Caribbean flavor, but scotch bonnet peppers are not for the faint of heart)
Organic vinegar (she used banana vinegar...not sure what a banana vinegar substitute would be)
Sauté the onion/pepper in the vinegar until the onions are soft. Serve over fried fish.
Yuca --we boiled the yuca and she served it in some sort of secret vegetable sauce. The sauce was tasty but too complicated to learn during the duration of our class.
Salad dressing A.K.A. Best Dressing in MY LIFE:
juice of 4-5 mandarin limes
2 heaping tablespoons of honey
1 clove garlic
turmeric
salt
pepper
olive oil (a splash)
...what am I missing??
Okay, that's as good as I can do to recall the recipe for tonight. In short, it was delicious and we had a great time making it!
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