Costa Rica Day One - Blog (Jules!) "Arrival en la Pura Vida"

Arrival en la Pura Vida

 Hola from Costa Rica!

Last night our plane landed at about 8:40 in San Jose, we were welcomed by our bus driver and got on the road to the Cedrela Eco Lodge. The drive was about two hours through mountains, fog and twisty roads (it was pretty terrifying). We got to the lodge at 12am and walked up a small hill to get to the rooms, which are actually small wood cabins. So after a long trip we got to our rooms and, quite literally, crashed. Well up until Maestra Novak knocked on our doors at 7:30 in the morning...

Here we are, 7:30 in the morning, getting ready for the day and hopefully breakfast. At 8 we met at the dining room in the lodge and ate a very filling breakfast with yogurt and rancho pinto, and wonderful Costa Rican coffee. 

At 9 we left for the strawberry tour! We get to the farm about 30 minutes in and were welcomed by the nicest people. We entered a beautiful garden and walked down to see multiple strawberry fields and rows of tomatoes. The first thing we did was a strawberry testing! We tasted two different types of berries and ranked them from taste, color, and smell. After a short walk around the facilities we walled to the strawberry fields and started weeding the clovers and other weeds out of the strawberry flowers (as well as eating some along the way...)

After our very hard work we sat down and drank freshly pressed strawberry juice paired with strawberry and pineapple dulces. After our snacking we planted some strawberry plants in soil mixed with chicken poop (how delightful!). 

We left the farm at 12 to go to the Centro Ecoturisto y Robles Milenarios and eat lunch. We ate beans, chicken, salad, rice and raspberry juice. We spent about 40 minutes eating and then embarked on a hike around the Centro. 

The hike was beautiful, it went through the lush forest and jungle with threes over 1000 years old. And thirty minutes in we found ourselves in the heart of an ecosystem, breathing and connecting with itself in ways you would never see in the city. Our tour guide, Pablo, has been working in this Centro his whole life, ever since his father founded the centre and vowed to protect Costa Rica's ecosystems and forests. We saw a rare palm tree and a tree who's roots have been eroded at for years, revealing how long they really are. It was a long hike, but every minute we learned and discovered more about the unique system these forests have. 

After the hike we found our way to the bus and we drove back to the lodge, its been a long day, but its also been a very relaxing day, thanks to the calming greenery of Costa Rica. 

See y'all next time

Jules