adios al carretera

Here we have pictures from our time at La Iguana Chocolate. Above is yet another ruined church, in Puriscal - the closest main town two hours from the farm.
A cocoa pod, which holds the soft white beans that you can chew and suck on for a nice fruity flavor.
Grinding chocolate.

Long-Billed Hermit hummingbird (we IDed it from an animal book they had at the farm, which we also used to ID venomous and false/venemous snakes, green poison arrow frogs and other jungle creatures) which wasn`t shy at all, as it sat on that branch while I shot it for a good ten minutes, with flash!
The babies make it look easy.
Notice the concentration.


Long sweaty hike in the mountains.
Look at that stream!
Drying walnuts.


The color my shoes are now stained.
some kind of fruit squash
The majestic mango tree.




My toes on a regular day.

Spreading out the rice to dry.
An artifact from Zapatòn.

Plastic bottle wall, just cover with cement.



We`ve been in the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, for the last few nights, milling around the city. Taking my brain out of rural mode, I`m not bumping into people on the sidewalk and walking out in front of traffic anymore! I like this capital, because it`s great for walking around, and there are a lot of museums and galleries here we`ve been making an effort to visit, as well as a ton of beautiful plazas and and shady parks. Parque La Sabana is a bigger park with lots of fields and walking trails, and on Sunday it was filled with families and dozens and dozens of soccer games happening on every inch of grass.





And so the day has come. We`re savoring the last day of our 8 months on the road, reflecting on everything we`ve learned and what we have to look forward to at home. I appreciate everyone who`s been keeping up with our travels and sending along encouragement, it`s been a life changing experience.