Day 3 The Age of Geraldo

Our cabin was so beautiful and the view virtually unequalled anywhere else at the resort. The view from our deck featured the ocean in the background with the same rainforest that completely surrounded our cabin stretching straight to the ocean. We could hear the insects and frogs of the jungle very clearly at any time of day or night. More importantly the monkeys of this rainforest lived in the trees that surrounded our cabin. They were up early in the morning (particularly the Howler Monkeys) also active late in the afternoon/early evening when the soaring temperatures and humid conditions of the jungle began to abate. The Howler Monkeys in particular made their presence known to us while we were in our cabin. At 5:30am on this day, Jess and I were awoken by the early morning call of a group of Howlers in a tree not 50 yards from our cabin. The noise of the Howler's call was so loud it reverberated through the jungle and seemed to fill our cabin. Our Howler's calls were echoed by the calls of the many other Howlers in the rest of the rainforest. Off in the distance you could the calls of these other Howlers. The calls got fainter as monkeys who were further away responded to the call of our monkey until the Howler nearest us resumed the chant. At first we were annoyed with this ruckus at such an early hour but we quickly began to appreciate the uniqueness of the event and went out to the deck with our binoculars to get a closer look at the Howler who had started the festivities.

Given our cabin's position and location in the rainforest we decided to trade the canopy breakfast from our package for the guided morning hike. The price difference was negligible but we thought that saving the experience of taking the zipline to a platform from where we could have breakfast, the concept of eating while the rainforest wakes up would not be so unique for us.

The guided hike turned out to be a great success. Geraldo, our guide, met us at the lodge. Our companions on the hike were Ray and Daleen. Two newlyweds from the Bay Area. Geraldo led us on a Ridge Trail that took us all the way to the beach. With extremely detailed knowledge of the flora and fauna of the rainforest as well as numerous mammals and reptiles, Geraldo found numerous plants, insects and other creatures that we never would've spotted on our own. On this hike we saw squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, hummingbird, woodpecker, a large colony of leaf-cutter ants, coati, poison dart frogs, garlic trees, walking trees and numerous geckos. The sun was bright but the air temperatures was not too hot.

The spider monkeys we ran across on this hike were high in the trees and paid us no mind except for one juvenile who took exception to our presence. He swung over to us by himself and started shaking the branches near him to try to intimidate us. When we just laughed he started tearing off small twigs and branches and throwing them at us in order to get us to leave. We laughed again and took his photo but soon moved on.

The poison dart frog was at first completely invisible to us amongst a clump of leaves and underbrush but not to Geraldo. He pounced on the frog and then when it escaped deftly trapped it in his hands. While he was handling it we couldn't help but wonder if he was endangering himself on account of the poisonous nature of the frog's skin. But Geraldo said he should be fine. After he held the frog for us and we took some up close pictures, Geraldo released the frog. Not 5 minutes after leaving the frog Geraldo started to complain of some dizziness and light-headedness. He said that he felt weird. Of course, we were concerned not knowing what he meant but he seemed fine. When his condition persisted he knew that he just needed to thoroughly wash his hands and then face with fresh clean water which he had in abundance.

After resting, and then lunch we spent time relaxing by the pool and on the large deck of our cabin that literally stretched out over the rainforest floor. At dusk, right before dinner we rose to meet Geraldo again for our night hike. This time it was just Jess and myself with Geraldo and we went down to the Carrabianca Trail that we had explored the day before - albeit by ourselves and in the daytime. Geraldo had some specific ideas about what to find in the forest at night and we hoped to find noctural cats and other creatures. While no big game were sighted we did spot, black spiders, scorpion, a hog-nosed skunk, ting frog, paca, giant toad, cockroach, praying mantis and we heard a peccary but were unable to actually see it. While Geraldo did supply us with flashlights we often had to extinguish the light or let him lead the search with his flashlight so as not to scare away any wildlife.

Early in the hike as we were carefully negotiating the trail we heard a loud squwak of a bird alerting the other rainforest dwellers of our presence. This noise broke the silence of the rainforest at night and was a perfect way for the bird to sound an alarm. We turned off our flashlights and let the moment pass. As we stood in the darkness and waited we distinctly heard the soft grunting and snorting of what had to be a peccary. A jungle-dwelling pig related to the wild boar. Once we shone our lights in the direction of these sounds however, there was nothing to be seen.

The skunk we saw was running away from us as we approached. Looking off the trail and down the hill that led to the creek we saw the skunk scooting away and hiding underneath a fallen tree.

Our dinner was fabulous. Mahi Mahi with rice and beans (obligatory with every meal), red wine and fresh vegetables.